The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
Encyclopedia
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a CBS
television
situation comedy
. The show is a collection of occasional specials rather than a regular series and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
. Its original network title was The Ford Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the first season and The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Presents The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the following seasons. It was the successor to the classic comedy, I Love Lucy
, and featured the same major cast members. The production schedule avoided the grind of a regular weekly series. Desilu produced the show, which was mostly filmed at their Los Angeles
studios with occasional on-location shoots at Lake Arrowhead
, Las Vegas
and Sun Valley, Idaho
. CBS reran the show under the "Lucy-Desi" title during the summers of 1962-67, after which it went into syndication
.
, which reflected the growth of the suburbs throughout America
. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was also set in the new suburban locale, only at a one-hour length (note: the first episode, "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana," originally ran 75 minutes), and with guest stars such as Ann Sothern
, Rudy Vallee
, Tallulah Bankhead
, Fred MacMurray
and June Haver
, Betty Grable
and Harry James
, Fernando Lamas
, Maurice Chevalier
, Danny Thomas
and his Make Room for Daddy family, Red Skelton
, Paul Douglas
, Ida Lupino
and Howard Duff
, Milton Berle
, Robert Cummings
, and (in the final episode, called "Lucy Meets the Moustache") Ernie Kovacs
and Edie Adams
. While the new Comedy Hour shows were longer, an hour in length, they did not air weekly (as I Love Lucy had done), but instead aired sporadically, usually with new episodes airing once per month, or sometimes once every couple of months.
For the 1957-1958 and the 1958-1959 seasons of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, the ratings were very good. However by the start of the 1959-1960 season, with the habit of viewing Lucy broken up every few months, as well as the obvious tension revealed between Ball and Arnaz due to their marriage unraveling, the ratings for the specials began to slip. Critics began to notice a lackluster quality not only with the scripts but also with the performances of the cast members as well. In fact, there were many episodes in which constant bickering between Lucy and Desi was noted. Because of their personal problems (and Desi spending more time trying to maintain the Desilu "empire"), the live studio audience was replaced with a laugh track
by the final season. (Although both comedian Milton Berle
and writer Bob Schiller
stated in The Lucy Book by Geoffrey Mark Fidelman that for the ninth season premiere show, "Milton Hides Out At The Ricardos", a live audience was brought in for some of the scenes to give a sense of timing.) In the penultimate episode of the series, titled "The Ricardos Go to Japan", Lucy appeared on screen red-eyed due to her crying during the arguments between herself and Desi (although not seen on camera due to the show being filmed in black and white). In the making of the last episode, Lucy and Desi did not speak directly to each other except when their characters were required to do so. The series ended April 1, 1960, and their marriage ended May 10, 1960. (Actually, the final episode was filmed March 2, with the divorce proceedings starting the next day.) The song "That's All", with its title taking on extra meaning, was sung by Edie Adams
in that final episode. Adams later commented that she personally chose the song, unaware of the magnitude of the Ball-Arnaz marital woes or the pending divorce, and Ball's look of anguish and sadness was obvious in the finished airing of the episode.
Critics have generally regarded the series as a rather pallid continuation of I Love Lucy, with not enough of the original show's brisk pace and memorable sketchwork, and an excessive use of celebrity guest-stars. Still, many fans enjoy the series due to the cast, which remained intact from the original. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour is occasionally seen on nostalgia outlets like the TV Land
cable network or in edited thirty-minute installments (beginning in 1987) under the title We Love Lucy, where stations run it directly after the sixth season of I Love Lucy. This allows them to have 26 additional "episodes" that run like a seventh season. The final seasons of the Lucy-Desi comedy hour were slowly cut shorter and that is why seasons seven to nine were short enough to fit on one DVD box collection.
The show is memorialized in the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center
in Jamestown, New York
.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
. The show is a collection of occasional specials rather than a regular series and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960...
. Its original network title was The Ford Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the first season and The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Presents The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the following seasons. It was the successor to the classic comedy, I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, and featured the same major cast members. The production schedule avoided the grind of a regular weekly series. Desilu produced the show, which was mostly filmed at their Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
studios with occasional on-location shoots at Lake Arrowhead
Lake Arrowhead
-United States:Bodies of water* Arrowhead Lake * Lake Arrowhead Reservoir* Lake Arrowhead * Lake Arrowhead * Lake Arrowhead * Arrowhead Lake in Sanders County, MontanaCommunities* Lake Arrowhead, California...
, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and Sun Valley, Idaho
Sun Valley, Idaho
Sun Valley is a resort city in Blaine County in the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum, lying within the greater Wood River valley. Tourists from around the world enjoy its skiing, hiking, ice skating, trail riding, tennis, and cycling. The population was 1,427...
. CBS reran the show under the "Lucy-Desi" title during the summers of 1962-67, after which it went into syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
.
Description and evaluation
During the final season of I Love Lucy, the Ricardos and Mertzes moved to Westport, ConnecticutWestport, Connecticut
-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
, which reflected the growth of the suburbs throughout America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was also set in the new suburban locale, only at a one-hour length (note: the first episode, "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana," originally ran 75 minutes), and with guest stars such as Ann Sothern
Ann Sothern
Ann Sothern was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...
, Rudy Vallee
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
, Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
and June Haver
June Haver
June Haver , was an American film actress. She is most well known as a popular star of 20th Century-Fox musicals in the late 1940s, most notably The Dolly Sisters with Betty Grable and John Payne and also for playing the 1920s Broadway actress Marilyn Miller in Look for the Silver Lining...
, Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
and Harry James
Harry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
, Fernando Lamas
Fernando Lamas
Fernando Álvaro Lamas was an Argentine-born actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early life and career:...
, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
and his Make Room for Daddy family, Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
, Paul Douglas
Paul Douglas (actor)
Paul Douglas was an American actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer.-Career:...
, Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
and Howard Duff
Howard Duff
Howard Green Duff was an American actor of film, television, stage, and radio.Duff was born in Charleston, Washington, now a part of Bremerton. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle in 1932 where he began acting in school plays only after he was cut from the basketball team...
, Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
, Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
, and (in the final episode, called "Lucy Meets the Moustache") Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
and Edie Adams
Edie Adams
Edie Adams was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most...
. While the new Comedy Hour shows were longer, an hour in length, they did not air weekly (as I Love Lucy had done), but instead aired sporadically, usually with new episodes airing once per month, or sometimes once every couple of months.
For the 1957-1958 and the 1958-1959 seasons of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, the ratings were very good. However by the start of the 1959-1960 season, with the habit of viewing Lucy broken up every few months, as well as the obvious tension revealed between Ball and Arnaz due to their marriage unraveling, the ratings for the specials began to slip. Critics began to notice a lackluster quality not only with the scripts but also with the performances of the cast members as well. In fact, there were many episodes in which constant bickering between Lucy and Desi was noted. Because of their personal problems (and Desi spending more time trying to maintain the Desilu "empire"), the live studio audience was replaced with a laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
by the final season. (Although both comedian Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and writer Bob Schiller
Bob Schiller
Bob Schiller is an American screenwriter, most notably for the television series I Love Lucy and All in the Family . For the latter series, he received an Emmy Award in 1978 as one of the writers of the episode "Cousin Liz".Schiller, born in San Francisco, California, began writing for television...
stated in The Lucy Book by Geoffrey Mark Fidelman that for the ninth season premiere show, "Milton Hides Out At The Ricardos", a live audience was brought in for some of the scenes to give a sense of timing.) In the penultimate episode of the series, titled "The Ricardos Go to Japan", Lucy appeared on screen red-eyed due to her crying during the arguments between herself and Desi (although not seen on camera due to the show being filmed in black and white). In the making of the last episode, Lucy and Desi did not speak directly to each other except when their characters were required to do so. The series ended April 1, 1960, and their marriage ended May 10, 1960. (Actually, the final episode was filmed March 2, with the divorce proceedings starting the next day.) The song "That's All", with its title taking on extra meaning, was sung by Edie Adams
Edie Adams
Edie Adams was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most...
in that final episode. Adams later commented that she personally chose the song, unaware of the magnitude of the Ball-Arnaz marital woes or the pending divorce, and Ball's look of anguish and sadness was obvious in the finished airing of the episode.
Critics have generally regarded the series as a rather pallid continuation of I Love Lucy, with not enough of the original show's brisk pace and memorable sketchwork, and an excessive use of celebrity guest-stars. Still, many fans enjoy the series due to the cast, which remained intact from the original. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour is occasionally seen on nostalgia outlets like the TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
cable network or in edited thirty-minute installments (beginning in 1987) under the title We Love Lucy, where stations run it directly after the sixth season of I Love Lucy. This allows them to have 26 additional "episodes" that run like a seventh season. The final seasons of the Lucy-Desi comedy hour were slowly cut shorter and that is why seasons seven to nine were short enough to fit on one DVD box collection.
The show is memorialized in the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center
Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center
The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center is a museum in Jamestown, New York, dedicated to the lives and careers of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The museum officially opened in 1996 "to preserve and celebrate the legacy of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and enrich the world through the healing powers of love...
in Jamestown, New York
Jamestown, New York
Jamestown is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the United States. The population was 31,146 at the 2010 census.The City of Jamestown is adjacent to Town of Ellicott and is at the southern tip of Chautauqua Lake...
.
Cast
| Actor/Character | |
|---|---|
| Lucille Ball Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy... |
Lucy Ricardo |
| Desi Arnaz Desi Arnaz Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to... |
Ricky Ricardo Ricky Ricardo Enrique Alberto Fernando Ricardo y de Acha, III, a.k.a. Ricky Ricardo is a main character in the television show I Love Lucy, played by Desi Arnaz... |
| Vivian Vance Vivian Vance Vivian Roberta Jones was an American television and theater actress and singer. Often referred to as “TV’s most beloved second banana,” she is best known for her role as Ethel Mertz, sidekick to Lucille Ball on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, and as Vivian Bagley on The Lucy... |
Ethel Mertz Ethel Mertz Ethel Roberta Louise Mae Mertz is one of the four main fictional characters in the highly popular 1950s and 1960s American television sitcom I Love Lucy, played by Vivian Vance. Ethel is the main character Lucy's middle-aged landlady - supposed to have been born about 1905, and raised in New Mexico... |
| William Frawley William Frawley William Clement "Bill" Frawley was an American stage entertainer, screen and television actor. Although Frawley acted in over 100 films, he achieved his greatest fame playing landlord Fred Mertz for the situation comedy I Love Lucy.-Early life:William was born to Michael A. Frawley and Mary E.... |
Fred Mertz Fred Mertz Frederick Hobart Mertz, born in 1887 is a fictional character in the 1950s American sitcom I Love Lucy, originally from Indianapolis before his relocation to New York City. He is a World War I veteran and often talks about his times in the war. He is married to Ethel Mae Potter Mertz , and they... |
| Keith Thibodeaux Keith Thibodeaux Keith Thibodeaux is a former child actor and musician, best known for playing "Little Ricky" in the I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour television shows.-Career:He is credited for those series as Richard Keith... credited as "Richard Keith" |
Little Ricky Ricardo |