Loving Lucy
Since CBS All-Access made a pile of I LOVE LUCY episodes available, I've been binge-watching them. I have . . . observations.
--It's great fun looking at the 1950s lifestyle, even if it's the Hollywood comedy version. The historical and pop culture references (I had to look up who William Holden and Richard Widmark were) are also a lot of fun. And it's interesting to look at the appliances and how housework was done. We see the impact of "new" appliances like washing machines, dryers, and electric irons.
--This is definitely Lucille Ball's show. You can almost see her standing behind the writers and the director saying, "This is MY show, bitch! I get the last line, the last shot, the last joke. I get the screen time. You forget that for one minute, and VOOP! You're gone." You can tell she ran that show with an iron fist.
--There's no television in the Ricardo living room. Although a couple episodes revolve around a television, the TV always quietly vanishes the rest of the time. The Ricardos also make reference to a shower, but we never see a bathroom. I can't even tell where it's supposed to be--there's no door anywhere on the set that would lead to one!
--The show never, ever has a subplot. It's only one continuous story. It's weird, to a modern viewer. FRIENDS, as a counter-example, always had a B story and often a C story. By modern standards, the show's plots are often slow, and the jokes spaces way far apart. In an episode of FRIENDS, every line is a joke or a setup for a joke. On LUCY, you can go four or five exchanges before someone says something funny. I just watched one episode in which Lucy and Fred fall asleep on a ferry, and three full minutes are nothing but them sleeping in weird positions. Expectations were different back then!
--The scene early where Ricky tells his son "Little Red Riding Hood" in Spanish is one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen, and it deserves a lot more recognition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-k5m0OsTY
--A lot of the show wouldn't fly today, and is sometimes unnerving to watch. Ricky threatens to hit Lucy many, many times. Also many times, Lucy acts scared that Ricky will beat her when he finds out about her latest shenanigans. And I've counted three times so far when Ricky literally bends Lucy over his lap and spanks her with a look of ghoulish glee on his face. After one of these incidents, Lucy visits Ethel, who tells her to have a seat. "I don't think I can," Lucy says in a pained voice, and she remains standing. In other words, Ricky beat Lucy so badly she can't sit down. Holy shit.
--When the Ricardos move to Hollywood for a season, we get to see how powerful Lucille Ball was. The season sports an endless parade of A-list Hollywood stars, including the aforementioned William Holden. The show has him get blasted with a tray of cream pies in a restaurant, and there's one shot of Holden sitting in his booth, covered in goo, and you can see he's desperately trying not to laugh--in no small part because if he did, they'd have to do it all over again! The scene was apparently an audience favorite because every time the Ricardos ran into another male star on the show, he'd ask, "Did Lucy really hit Bill Holden with a pie?" (Also apparently, these stars lived in real-life terror that Lucy would require something equally sticky of them!)
--The show was so popular that they got Rock Hudson to appear as himself in one episode. The audience clearly didn't know he was coming--you can hear the gasps of surprise when he strolls onstage. And here, your sharp-eyed reviewer caught something. We all know today that Hudson was gay, and the studio guarded this fact strictly back then. Can't have your #1 box office draw and sex symbol be a poof! But when Hudson appears on LUCY in a scene with a swimming pool, he strolls past a group of sunbathers. As he passes by, in what seems to be a bit of improv, he stops and strikes up a brief conversation with a Handsome Shirtless Man, completely ignoring the Lovely Bathing Beauty sitting right next to him. The studio must have had a whole litter of conniption kittens! See for yourself:
--The breathless sexism in the show is staggering. When Lucy and Ethel try to open a dress shop, it's a miserable failure. When Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a candy factory (famous scene), it's a miserable failure. When Lucy and Ethel start a mail-order business, it's a miserable failure. Any time Lucy gets a job outside the home, it's a miserable failure. Because, you know, she's a woman. Lucy is expected to have Ricky's breakfast on the table, including fresh-squeezed orange juice, when he walks out of the bedroom in the morning, and she's expected to have supper on the table when Ricky gets home. She doesn't do it because she's good at it, or because she's handling the home chores so he can work. No, she's clearly doing it because HE EXPECTS IT and he'll be upset if she fails to do so. Ricky also treats Lucy like a child when it comes to money. He gives her a literal allowance each week and he "audits her books" every so often. Lucy, of course, is terrible with money because she's a woman, and we know women can't handle money. (I think it would have been funnier--and edgier--if Lucy handled the money and gave Ricky an allowance, but they had to keep this a secret so everyone wouldn't make fun of Ricky.)
--By today's standards, Fred it astonishingly mean to Ethel, calling her a cow, calling her fat (and she clearly ain't fat), carping and criticizing her every move. She's no angel with him, either, but she rarely snarks about his appearance. According to the stuff I've read, Vivian Lance couldn't stand William Frawley. She was outspoken that the studio shouldn't have cast someone twenty years older than she was for her husband. I actually agree. In an attempt to create a foil for Lucy and Ricky's happy marriage, they created a couple that come across as mean and spiteful to each other. We never see moments of love or tenderness between Fred and Ethel, and we never see the reason they got married in the first place, especially with their age difference. I think the studio should have cast a younger man for Ethel's husband and given them at least an occasional moment of affection.
--The show is still entertaining and funny and watchable, even after 65 years.
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--It's great fun looking at the 1950s lifestyle, even if it's the Hollywood comedy version. The historical and pop culture references (I had to look up who William Holden and Richard Widmark were) are also a lot of fun. And it's interesting to look at the appliances and how housework was done. We see the impact of "new" appliances like washing machines, dryers, and electric irons.
--This is definitely Lucille Ball's show. You can almost see her standing behind the writers and the director saying, "This is MY show, bitch! I get the last line, the last shot, the last joke. I get the screen time. You forget that for one minute, and VOOP! You're gone." You can tell she ran that show with an iron fist.
--There's no television in the Ricardo living room. Although a couple episodes revolve around a television, the TV always quietly vanishes the rest of the time. The Ricardos also make reference to a shower, but we never see a bathroom. I can't even tell where it's supposed to be--there's no door anywhere on the set that would lead to one!
--The show never, ever has a subplot. It's only one continuous story. It's weird, to a modern viewer. FRIENDS, as a counter-example, always had a B story and often a C story. By modern standards, the show's plots are often slow, and the jokes spaces way far apart. In an episode of FRIENDS, every line is a joke or a setup for a joke. On LUCY, you can go four or five exchanges before someone says something funny. I just watched one episode in which Lucy and Fred fall asleep on a ferry, and three full minutes are nothing but them sleeping in weird positions. Expectations were different back then!
--The scene early where Ricky tells his son "Little Red Riding Hood" in Spanish is one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen, and it deserves a lot more recognition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-k5m0OsTY
--A lot of the show wouldn't fly today, and is sometimes unnerving to watch. Ricky threatens to hit Lucy many, many times. Also many times, Lucy acts scared that Ricky will beat her when he finds out about her latest shenanigans. And I've counted three times so far when Ricky literally bends Lucy over his lap and spanks her with a look of ghoulish glee on his face. After one of these incidents, Lucy visits Ethel, who tells her to have a seat. "I don't think I can," Lucy says in a pained voice, and she remains standing. In other words, Ricky beat Lucy so badly she can't sit down. Holy shit.
--When the Ricardos move to Hollywood for a season, we get to see how powerful Lucille Ball was. The season sports an endless parade of A-list Hollywood stars, including the aforementioned William Holden. The show has him get blasted with a tray of cream pies in a restaurant, and there's one shot of Holden sitting in his booth, covered in goo, and you can see he's desperately trying not to laugh--in no small part because if he did, they'd have to do it all over again! The scene was apparently an audience favorite because every time the Ricardos ran into another male star on the show, he'd ask, "Did Lucy really hit Bill Holden with a pie?" (Also apparently, these stars lived in real-life terror that Lucy would require something equally sticky of them!)
--The show was so popular that they got Rock Hudson to appear as himself in one episode. The audience clearly didn't know he was coming--you can hear the gasps of surprise when he strolls onstage. And here, your sharp-eyed reviewer caught something. We all know today that Hudson was gay, and the studio guarded this fact strictly back then. Can't have your #1 box office draw and sex symbol be a poof! But when Hudson appears on LUCY in a scene with a swimming pool, he strolls past a group of sunbathers. As he passes by, in what seems to be a bit of improv, he stops and strikes up a brief conversation with a Handsome Shirtless Man, completely ignoring the Lovely Bathing Beauty sitting right next to him. The studio must have had a whole litter of conniption kittens! See for yourself:
--The breathless sexism in the show is staggering. When Lucy and Ethel try to open a dress shop, it's a miserable failure. When Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a candy factory (famous scene), it's a miserable failure. When Lucy and Ethel start a mail-order business, it's a miserable failure. Any time Lucy gets a job outside the home, it's a miserable failure. Because, you know, she's a woman. Lucy is expected to have Ricky's breakfast on the table, including fresh-squeezed orange juice, when he walks out of the bedroom in the morning, and she's expected to have supper on the table when Ricky gets home. She doesn't do it because she's good at it, or because she's handling the home chores so he can work. No, she's clearly doing it because HE EXPECTS IT and he'll be upset if she fails to do so. Ricky also treats Lucy like a child when it comes to money. He gives her a literal allowance each week and he "audits her books" every so often. Lucy, of course, is terrible with money because she's a woman, and we know women can't handle money. (I think it would have been funnier--and edgier--if Lucy handled the money and gave Ricky an allowance, but they had to keep this a secret so everyone wouldn't make fun of Ricky.)
--By today's standards, Fred it astonishingly mean to Ethel, calling her a cow, calling her fat (and she clearly ain't fat), carping and criticizing her every move. She's no angel with him, either, but she rarely snarks about his appearance. According to the stuff I've read, Vivian Lance couldn't stand William Frawley. She was outspoken that the studio shouldn't have cast someone twenty years older than she was for her husband. I actually agree. In an attempt to create a foil for Lucy and Ricky's happy marriage, they created a couple that come across as mean and spiteful to each other. We never see moments of love or tenderness between Fred and Ethel, and we never see the reason they got married in the first place, especially with their age difference. I think the studio should have cast a younger man for Ethel's husband and given them at least an occasional moment of affection.
--The show is still entertaining and funny and watchable, even after 65 years.
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