For the Love of Lucy

This Saturday, Professor Michael Smith presents Dance, Girl, Dance at Facets Night School, our unique midnight movie series. Beginning at midnight, Michael will introduce this 1940 movie musical and reveal what makes the movie special.  His remarks will be followed by the film and then a Q&A with the audience. I am particularly excited to see Dance, Girl, Dance because it costars Lucille Ball before she became “Lucy,” star of the series that invented the sit-com format for network television. 

Lucille Ball is considered America’s greatest screen comedienne because she was graced with such exquisite comic timing, which she honed during her early years at RKO and MGM. She could deliver a punch line with the same aplomb as her male counterparts, and she was fearless in the physical comedy that she tackled each week on her television show. Whether stuffing her mouth with chocolates or stomping grapes in a giant vat, she was unafraid of pratfalls, stunts, or ridiculous costumes that undercut her beauty and glamor. Few female stars of the classic era would risk such assaults to their glamorous images but Lucy embraced it, giving us not only an icon of comedy on par with the great silent clowns but also a character that ordinary women could relate to.  

Dance, Girl, Dance prefigures Ball’s sitcom fame by a decade and features her in a non-comedic role as a less-lovable character than Lucy Ricardo. It offers another side to the actress, in which she is less Lucy and more Lucille Ball. In honor of Lucille Ball, and as homework for this week’s Night School, I offer five little-known facts about this red-headed star that reveal why she deserves her place in pop culture history.

1. LUCY AND BUSTER. Lucy honed her comedy skills in the 1930s-40s while under contract to RKO and MGM, where she met some of Hollywood’s greatest comic stylists, including Eddie Cantor, Harpo Marx, Buster Keaton, and director Eddie Sedgwick. She liked to hang around the MGM lot between scenes with Keaton and Sedgwick, who were unappreciated by MGM during the talkie era. Lucy not only admired them but sought to learn from them. She picked up an informal education on the art of slapstick and the use of props from these two masters. 

2. LUCY STANDS HER GROUND. During the 1952-53 season, one story arc in I Love Lucy involved Lucy Ricardo’s pregnancy. No prime-time series had ever tackled the subject, but Ball’s real-life pregnancy dictated the ground-breaking storyline. Sponsor Philip Morris, a tobacco giant, was opposed to the seven-episode arc, and their execs suggested Ball conceal her condition by standing behind furniture during filming. Ball and real-life husband Desi Arnaz, who played Lucy’s TV husband Ricky Ricardo, were insulted and refused. The story arc did air, but CBS was so concerned about “good taste” that they prohibited the writers from using the word pregnant.

3. LUCY GIVES BIRTH. The birth episode of I Love Lucy aired January 19, 1953. Over 44 million viewers—or, 72% of those homes with televisions—watched Episode 56: “Lucy Goes to the Hospital.” As fate would have it, Lucy gave birth to real-life son, Desi Arnaz, Jr., on the same day that Episode 56 aired. 

4. LUCY BEATS THE HUAC COMMITTEE.  I Love Lucy began airing on CBS during the height of the McCarthy era, a time when many celebrities, stars, writers, and directors saw their careers go up in flames because of past affiliations or just minor flirtations with communism. Lucille Ball registered to vote as a Communist in 1936 and 1938 at the request of her grandfather, Fred Hunt, a card-carrying Communist. This type of information would have ruined most celebrities, but Lucy was too popular in 1953, the year her past came to light. She had one meeting behind closed doors with one member of the House on UnAmerican Activities Committee, in which she did not deny her past and did not name names. No investigation ensued. Apparently, J. Edgar Hoover felt bullying America’s favorite TV star would not be prudent—besides he was a fan. 

5. LUCY AND RKO. While Lucy was under contract to RKO in the 1930s, the studio never understood her talents and failed to make her a star. She appeared mostly in secondary roles in films such as Roberta and Stage Door before signing with MGM. By the late 1940s, RKO was floundering. Lucy and husband Desi Arnaz stepped in to buy the studio and proceeded to turn it into a successful television studio, Desilu. After Lucy’s divorce from Desi, she became the head of Desilu. Lucille Ball not only outlasted RKO, she bested them. 

Come see Lucille Ball in Dance, Girl, Dance this Saturday, March 12 at midnight. This week’s raffle prize is a unique book called I Love Lucy that offers insight into the TV show and sound clips from the best episodes.  –Susan Doll