"I Love Lucy" was a historically funny show, but that doesn't mean that making it was all fun and games. From marital issues to a near-death experience, here's what took place when the cameras weren't rolling on the Ricardos.
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00:00I Love Lucy was a historically funny show, but that doesn't mean that making it was all
00:04fun and games.
00:06From marital issues to a near-death experience, here's what took place when the cameras weren't
00:10rolling on the Ricardos.
00:12Lucy, I'm home!
00:14I Love Lucy changed the way that women were portrayed on television.
00:18Lucy Ricardo wasn't a meek and mild housewife sitting around and waiting for her husband
00:22Ricky to come home.
00:23She showcased a colorful personality and held her own grand ambitions.
00:28Proposing this premise to a female actor in the 1950s would certainly be a major selling
00:32point, but that wasn't the thing that convinced Lucille Ball to do I Love Lucy.
00:37At the time, Ball had a budding film career and a successful radio show called My Favorite
00:42Husband that secured her $136,500 per year.
00:47My Favorite Husband would serve as the main source of inspiration for I Love Lucy, but
00:51Ball remained apprehensive about the sitcom since she had guaranteed film work.
00:55Her husband and soon-to-be co-star Desi Arnaz also had a musical career.
01:00Ball's decision to take a gamble on the sitcom was made after she had a dream about a close
01:04friend who died in 1942.
01:06According to Warren G. Harris' book Lucy and Desi, the legendary love story of television's
01:11most famous couple, the beloved actor once said,
01:14"...then I dreamed about Carol Lombard.
01:16She was wearing a very smart suit.
01:19Carol always dressed very beautifully.
01:21And she said, Take a chance, honey, give it a whirl."
01:24After that, I knew for certain that we were doing the right thing.
01:28Ball added that Lombard would often appear in her dreams to provide advice, but this
01:32particular recommendation was definitely her most impactful.
01:37Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz didn't just play Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on I Love Lucy.
01:42They seemingly were Lucy and Ricky.
01:44Their real-life chemistry as a married couple shined onscreen, convincing viewers that the
01:49two characters genuinely cared about each other.
01:52However, Ball's relationship with Arnaz had been on shaky ground before I Love Lucy, as
01:57there had been rumors of infidelity on Arnaz's part.
02:00As director William Asher explained to People magazine,
02:03The couple had separated briefly for a period before the show started.
02:07Their marriage struggled as Ball continued to work as an actor, while Arnaz was on the
02:11road with his band.
02:12They weren't together much, leading to mounting issues between them.
02:16It was something that I said that started this whole thing.
02:19What'd you say?
02:21I do!
02:22Ball's solution to their problems was to get Arnaz a part as her husband on the sitcom,
02:27but not everyone was convinced.
02:29I Love Lucy writer Bob Weisskopf recalled,
02:31At the time, the consensus was,
02:33"...what the hell do we want with a Latin bandleader who can't speak English?"
02:37But she wanted him because she knew that if he went on the road with the band, he'd be
02:41catting around all the time.
02:43She wanted him at home, where she felt the marriage would have a better chance of lasting,
02:47which of course it did.
02:49The couple lasted the length of the show, but eventually divorced in 1960.
02:55Ball put all her eggs in one basket, as she hoped that I Love Lucy would save her rocky
02:59marriage to Desi Arnaz.
03:01Not only had they experienced turmoil because of Arnaz's purported affairs and their time
03:05apart, but they also wanted to start a family together.
03:08As fortune would have it, Ball gave birth to their daughter, Lucy Arnaz, a few weeks
03:13before she began work on I Love Lucy.
03:15According to Lucy Arnaz, her parents thought they would do the program for a short while
03:19before finally getting the chance to enjoy the happy and cozy family life that followed,
03:24not anticipating life-changing success.
03:27She told Desert Sun,
03:28They thought,
03:29"'We'll do this for a year and we'll have home movies for our kids.'
03:33And it became the biggest thing ever.
03:35So it was one of those things, be careful what you wish for.
03:38It was almost impossible to be with the family you said you wanted to have all your life."
03:43She added how her parents' burgeoning production company, Desilu, also complicated matters
03:48in terms of allowing them time to be a family.
03:51At one point, Arnaz suggested they keep their enterprise smaller and spend more time at
03:55home, but Ball decided to go all-in and grow the operation instead.
04:01Ball's friendship with Vivian Vance has become the stuff of Hollywood legend.
04:05The pair not only played best pals Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy, but they were
04:09also the best of friends when the cameras stopped rolling and the live audience left
04:13the building.
04:15When Ball filed for divorce from Desi Arnaz, Vance was one of the select few people who
04:19knew about it before the news became public.
04:21While they built a lifelong and cherished friendship after their paths crossed on I
04:25Love Lucy, Ball wasn't a fan of Vance's casting initially.
04:28She didn't have a say in the hiring of Vance as Ethel, as it was director Mark Daniels,
04:33producer Jess Oppenheimer, and Arnaz who made the decision after scouting her on stage.
04:38When Ball found out about Vance's casting, she wasn't pleased, as she'd envisioned Ethel
04:43as looking much different.
04:44Frank Castelluccio, co-author of The Other Side of Ethel Mertz, The Life Story of Vivian
04:50Vance, suggested that Ball went as far as trying to get Vance booted from the show altogether.
04:55Castelluccio quoted the show's writers, Bob Weisskopf and Bob Schiller, as saying,
05:00"...Lucy came from the old school, and she learned pretty fast that you don't have any
05:04younger, prettier people around."
05:06"...You think they could make a glamour girl out of me?"
05:08"...Sure."
05:09"...Says right here, we work miracles."
05:13Fortunately, Ball and Vance learned to overcome any initial animosity, becoming strong friends
05:18until Vance's death in 1979.
05:22In May 1955, Vivian Vance opened up to McCalls about her mental health issues and the effects
05:27they had on her life.
05:28She referred to a specific incident as a nervous breakdown, while also discussing the positives
05:33that I Love Lucy had brought to her life and career.
05:36According to Albuquerque Museum's history curator Deborah Slaney, Vance continued to
05:41experience mental health issues because of the pressure to perform alongside her own
05:44desire to be seen as a star.
05:47Vance reportedly had ambitions of moving beyond her time as Ethel Mertz, wanting to score
05:51big parts and be seen as a leading lady.
05:54As Slaney put it,
05:55"...She lived with the knowledge that continual performing could send her over the edge.
05:59She freely admitted in the 50s that she spent at least a couple of years in therapy.
06:04That's why she felt it was so important to volunteer to help mental health organizations."
06:08Still, Vance never stopped performing, even after she received her cancer diagnosis in
06:141973.
06:16Every good sitcom needs a curmudgeon, and William Frawley's Fred Mertz was one of the
06:20first and most influential.
06:22Frawley was no stranger to the world of showbiz, having starred in dozens of films before being
06:27cast in I Love Lucy.
06:29His casting, however, proved to be controversial at the time.
06:32Desi Arnaz needed to vouch for him, as CBS was concerned about Frawley's reputation as
06:37being a heavy drinker.
06:38As Arnaz explained in his autobiography, A Book,
06:42"...Frawley called him to find out if he could be considered for the role of Fred.
06:45Familiar with his talents and believing him to be the right fit for the part, Arnaz took
06:49the suggestion to CBS, but the executives pushed back on the idea.
06:54Arnaz used his position as an executive producer on the show to hire Frawley anyway.
06:58Still, his reputation was on the line, so he explained to Frawley,
07:02"...The first time you are not able to do your job, I'll try to work around you for
07:06that day.
07:07The second time, I'll try to manage again.
07:10But if you do it three times, you are through, and I mean through, not only on our show,
07:15but you'll never work in this town again as long as you live.
07:18Is that fair enough?"
07:20Frawley agreed, and the rest is history.
07:24There was no disputing William Frawley's talent, and he left his undeniable mark on
07:28I Love Lucy as Fred Mertz.
07:30However, it seems that Fred's cynical and unpleasant mannerisms were closer to reality
07:34than most viewers may have imagined.
07:37As author Geoffrey Mark explained, I Love Lucy writers took a lot of inspiration from
07:41the real-life Frawley for the character, for better or worse.
07:45Mark told Closer Weekly,
07:46"...He was not an easy man to work with.
07:49He was very set in his ways.
07:50He was Irish Catholic, I believe.
07:52He did not have a very strong taste for Jews.
07:55He was a little anti-Semitic, which is not a good thing if your boss — in this case,
07:59Jess Oppenheimer — was Jewish.
08:02He didn't like people who weren't white, which is not a good thing when you're working for
08:05Desi Arnaz."
08:07Another person who Frawley didn't like was his on-screen wife, Vivian Vance.
08:11J.K.
08:12Simmons, who played Frawley in the 2021 biopic Being the Ricardos, told Vanity Fair that,
08:17through his research, he discovered the animosity between Frawley and Vance was real and present
08:22from the very first table read.
08:24After Vance made a comment about playing the wife of an old coot, their personal relationship
08:28fractured and never recovered.
08:30Professionally, though, they certainly made it work.
08:33"...I'm sorry I called you a dumb bunny."
08:36"...And I'm sorry you're so fat you broke my glasses."
08:39While co-starring in I Love Lucy was an attempt at keeping Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz closer,
08:44it appears like it wasn't without incident, either.
08:47According to Stephan Kanfer's book Ball of Fire, the tumultuous life and comic art of
08:51Lucille Ball, there were heated incidents between the pair that sometimes resulted in
08:56physical violence.
08:58Maury Thompson, who worked behind the scenes on the show and collaborated with the couple
09:02thereafter, reported that Ball hurt Arnaz on occasion.
09:05He alleged,
09:06"...She loves to hurt a man.
09:08She's kicked Desi in the nut several times, just bowled him over.
09:11She laughed about it.
09:13If he's stooped over, she'll kick him in the butt.
09:15And she'll aim low and she'll hit him right in the balls."
09:18There were also allegations that Ball hit Arnaz over the head with a hammer and knocked
09:22him out at one point.
09:25Fans might have had a laugh at the season five episode of I Love Lucy, titled Lucy's
09:29Italian Movie.
09:30But Lucille Ball wasn't laughing during the filming of an infamous grape-stomping scene.
09:34As Ball recounted on The Dick Cavett Show,
09:37The moment called for a play-fight between her and Italian actor Teresa Torelli in a
09:41vat of grapes.
09:43Torelli didn't speak English, though, only receiving basic instructions from the person
09:47who brought her to the shoot.
09:49Ball explained that she slipped and crashed into her co-star, recalling,
09:52"...She took offense, so she hauled off and let me have it."
09:56Of course, the scene did call for a fight between the two, but Ball's limbs were supposed
10:00to pop up out the vat to add to the comedic effect.
10:04Torelli didn't let up, though, and Ball started to struggle as she drowned in the grapes.
10:08She continued,
10:09"...She kept me down by the throat.
10:11I had grapes up my nose, in my ears, and she was choking me, and I'm really beating her
10:16to get her off."
10:17Ball fought Torelli off and called out for the director, who thought they were only hamming
10:21it up for the sake of comedy.
10:23In the end, the scene needed to be shot again.
10:26Ball joked,
10:27"...To drown in a vat of grapes was not the way I had planned to go."
10:30"...Lucy, why don't you go wash that blue stuff off?"
10:33"...I tried to.
10:34It won't come off."
10:36Filmmaker William Asher is renowned as sitcom royalty, having played a vital role in bringing
10:40iconic series such as Our Miss Brooks and Bewitched to life.
10:44He also had an important part in the success of I Love Lucy, as he joined the show in the
10:49second season after the departure of Mark Daniels and oversaw over 100 episodes.
10:54His first day on set proved to be eventful for all the wrong reasons.
10:58According to the Directors Guild of America magazine, Asher stepped away from the rehearsal
11:03to deal with another matter, and when he returned, he saw Lucille Ball issuing instructions to
11:08the crew.
11:09Asher wasn't a fan.
11:11In his words,
11:12I said,
11:13"...Lucy, there's only one director.
11:15I'm it.
11:16If you would like to direct, then don't pay me and send me home."
11:19When I said that, she began to cry and ran off the stage.
11:23Everybody disappeared.
11:24At that point, Asher feared he might have tanked the gig.
11:27It didn't help that Desi Arnaz had a go at him, too.
11:31Asher managed to explain the situation to Arnaz, and the actor saw his point and encouraged
11:35him to speak to Ball.
11:37Asher approached Ball and apologized for making her cry, and according to Asher, they never
11:42had a problem thereafter.