History Trivia / ILoveLucy

** In most of his appearances, Ricky’s agent, Jerry, was played by Jerry Hausner. However, Hausner was not available for ''The Handcuffs'', so Paul Dubov filled in for this one instance.

** While the whole series was released on DVD, not every episode is available on streaming and [=iTunes=], which is a shame because some of the missing episodes are true classics like "Home Movies", "Lucy Hires an English Tutor", "The Handcuffs", "Men Are Messy", "The Freezer", "Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress", "Ricky Loses His Temper", "Lucy Does the Tango", the list goes on.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The show is set in the BigApplesauce, but it was filmed in Hollywood. However, almost everything on the show takes place on a soundstage before a StudioAudience, including exteriors (noticeable with wrinkled, canvas flats for scenery), so it's easily overlooked and forgiven.
** However, certain California specifics did influence parts of the set design. For instance, the back porch linking to the Ricardo and Mertz kitchen doors, while common in California apartment buildings, would never be found in New York City.

* CreatorBacklash:
** Vivian Vance greatly disliked the Ethel Mertz character, who was the antithesis of what she aspired to be in real life. Though she appreciated that Desi Arnaz thought her a talented enough actress to bring Ethel to life, Vance later said that Ethel was made up of bits and pieces of many women she'd known, but none of whom she admired.

* TheDanza: Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo. She did the exact same thing in her two later shows, despite being different characters. She also always gave her character a last name containing "'''ar'''" as a tribute to Desi '''Ar'''naz: Ric'''ar'''do (''I Love Lucy''), C'''ar'''michael (''The Lucy Show''), C'''ar'''ter (''Here's Lucy''), and B'''ar'''ker (''Life With Lucy'').
** According to [[WordOfGod Lucy herself]], though, she did the "'''ar'''" combo on the advice of C'''ar'''ole Lomb'''ar'''d, who said the double 'ar' combination in her own name brought good luck. Lucy kept up the tradition after Lombard died as a tribute to her.

* HeAlsoDid:
** Keith Thibodeaux, who played Little Ricky in the later episodes, would later become a drummer for the ChristianRock group [[PunnyName David and the Giants]].

* MissingEpisode: The Christmas episode was not included in syndication packages in order to prevent the episode from airing out of season, and also because of a supposed lack of interest in [[ClipShow Clip Shows]]. From 1990-1994, CBS had a yearly tradition of airing the episode in color as a special, which they revived in 2013 with [[TechnologyMarchesOn improved colorization.]]
** The {{Pilot}} was not intended for public broadcast, but it might also qualify. After CBS approved the show, Lucy and Desi gave a kinescope of the pilot to their friend Pepito Perez, who guest-starred. Since no one saw it afterward except for Pepito, his wife and their friends, archivists spent decades assuming it had been lost to time. Pepito's widow finally brought it out of hiding in 1990. It took over 20 more years for CBS to find the original 35mm negative for the pilot.
*** Almost the entire plot was [[RecycledScript reused for an early episode]], with Pepito replaced by a considerably ''less'' creepy clown.

** Writer Bob Schiller was quite disappointed that “The Ricardo’s Dedicate a Statue” ended up being the last of the half-hour episodes to air, as he did not feel it was their best work.[[note]]Season six wasn’t originally planned to be the final season, but Desi’s ever increasing workload as Desilu president ultimately meant he no longer had time to play Ricky each and every week, hence the transition to the sporadic hour shows.[[/note]]

* ThrowItIn: The 1952 episode "Cuban Pals" features Ricky attempting to translate Lucy's questions for his Cuban friends. Desi Arnaz mistakenly translates one question in English, resulting in him doubling over in laughter.
** Another is the scene in Hollywood when Lucy's putty nose catches on fire and she dunks it in her coffee cup to extinguish it. The script had called for her to remove the nose and dunk it; her leaving it on and lowering her face into the coffee was an ad-lib. It's notable because Lucille Ball was a very strict perfectionist who rehearsed scenes tirelessly, and that was one of the few times where a ThrowItIn moment wasn't thrown out.
*** It probably didn't hurt that, reportedly, Lucy was very concerned about the safety of a lit wick so close to her face, and figured she better not push her luck with a second take.

** Per at least one report; plans were originally made for ''I Love Lucy'' to be filmed [[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Television-Magazine/Television-1952-Jul.pdf in color]]; only for that plan to be dropped due to the fact that the film would have been too expensive (as it was, the series used 35mm film during an era when most shows during the early days of television were shot live and if recorded at all, were done on kinescope).

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* MoneyDearBoy: Desi Arnaz wasn't very interested in playing second fiddle to his wife[[note]]the series was partly conceived as a way for Lucille Ball to keep tabs on him out of fear that he was having affairs on tour[[/note]], but became much more enthusiastic when he realized how lucrative the series could be and made sure he and Lucy had an ownership stake so they could reap the profits. Studio execs, on their part, weren't sure how successful the series would be[[note]]among other things, the series starred a mixed-race couple when segregation was still the law in half the country and Desi and Lucy insisted on shooting on film in Los Angeles instead of shooting live in New York for East Coast broadcasts and using kinescopes for West Coast broadcasts (adding greatly to the costs)[[/note]] and were happy to share the financial risk.

* Does the telephone operator in “New Neighbors” sound familiar? That’s because Lucille Ball provided the voice herself! (That particular scene was shot at the last minute when the episode ran short, so Desilu didn’t bother hiring anyone else.)

* TheCastShowOff: All of them to some extent, as Desi Arnaz's singing and his band featured heavily as the Tropicana/Club Babalu house band, while Vivian Vance and William Frawley's extensive backgrounds in vaudeville played into The Mertz sharing a similar history. Lucille Ball, aside from the obvious showcases of her impressions and physical comedy chops, often got to show off her honed talents as a dancer, having had a long history as former showgirl.

** In later years, Lucille Ball admitted that she wasn't especially fond of the series' early episodes, feeling they were too silly. She felt the show improved with each passing year.
** "Lucy is Envious" was Jess Oppenheimer's least favorite episode, as he felt it was unrealistic for Lucy and Ethel to scale the Empire State Building no matter how much money was at stake.
** Desi Arnaz and his band were not fond of "Lucy's Club Dance," due to the final sight gag of the band in drag, posing as Ricky's "all-girl" orchestra.
** Lucille Ball did not like the Christmas episode, finding it "eerie and spooky."

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Some unintentional examples really ''really'' scream "TheFifties":
** The candy factory showing Lucy and Ethel working, handling food, ''without gloves''. That would ''not'' happen today.[[note]] High-level chefs to this day still do not wear gloves, but they're trained to know how to avoid contamination. In places like candy factories, gloves are required.[[/note]]
** Telephones. Notice how every telephone in the series looks the same? That's because the show was made back when AT&T required you to use their phones, which came in two styles, both black. It took no less than the Supreme Court to step in and say third-party phones were legal.
*** Also the phone numbers. "Circle-7" and "Murray Hill-5" make absolutely no sense to modern audiences. The latter of course is still occasionally used instead of FiveFiveFive as a ShoutOut to this show.
** Almost any mention of money. Occasionally a joke simply doesn't work anymore thanks to inflation completely ruining the frame of reference. It's hard to understand Ricky getting angry at Lucy for spending so much money on something since, at this point, everything on the show sounds incredibly cheap.
*** Inverted for the episodes set in Paris. When the show was made, France was still using the old Franc, the value of which had utterly collapsed thanks to two world wars – the going exchange rate at the time was 350 francs to the dollar and would soon rise. France switched it out for the New Franc in 1960, which had much saner exchange rates (around [=7F=1USD=] at the time they adopted the Euro).
*** Of course the episodes set in the UK make reference to UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney, which wasn't "old" then; Sterling would be decimalized in 1971, fifteen years after the episodes aired.
** One particular sequence – where Lucy gets stuck at the border between France and Italy and can't cross to join everyone else – makes no sense in post-Schengen Europe.
** When preparing to drive to Hollywood, Fred buys a 1923 Cadillac, which Lucy and Ethel treat as TheAllegedCar (and to be fair, it isn't in the best condition). Today that car, even in the less-than-ideal shape it was in in that episode, would be worth a ''lot''.
** As mentioned above, the episodes where the cast visit Cuba seem absolutely bizarre in an era where Americans have been banned from travelling to the island for over half a century and counting. The regular series ended two years before Castro and the communists took over (even if the ''Comedy Hours'' are included, the series wrapped a year before the embargo happened). The plot ''Comedy Hour'', broadcast on April 1, 1960, revolves around Ricky possibly returning to Cuba to run a family tobacco plantation.
** The whole idea of Ricky "wanting a wife who's just a wife". Sure, Lucy (the character) doesn't have any actual *talent* but if the show were written today either Lucy would be needed to run the business side of Club Babalu or have an outside job so the family can have health insurance.
** Ricky speaks to Little Ricky in his broken, heavily-accented English. In the 1950s it was thought babies' language development would be "confused" by early exposure to multiple languages; that's now known not to be the case, they can pick up two languages as easily as one and current parenting advice would have Ricky speaking with his kid in Spanish.
** Ricky's remarks about Lucy's attempt at a show while inside the TV during "Lucy Does a TV Commercial", mainly about how clear the picture is and the fact that it's in 3D when she accidentally drops the carton of cigarettes outside the TV. While televisions that touted 3D capabilities proved to be a bit of a fad in the early 2010's, televisions are now capable of producing VERY high definition images.
** In one episode, Lucy says there are 46 states before being corrected by Ethel that there are 48.[[note]]By the time the episode aired, there had been 48 states for over four decades, the last new ones added being New Mexico and Arizona in 1912. There were 46 states between 1907, when Oklahoma was admitted, and 1912[[/note]] - Nope, ever since 1959 there have been ''50'' states. This is brought up again in a ''Comedy Hour'' plot with the group heading to the newly-added Alaska to look for oil.
** "Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans" is all about Ricky and Fred being so obsessed with a boxing match on TV that they don't realize Lucy and Ethel are absent. Boxing matches? On network television? Unheard of nowadays outside of gimmick programs like ''Celebrity Boxing''.

* RealLifeRelative: As mentioned, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz really were married for the entire length of the series, though their marriage was failing towards the end and they ultimately divorced in 1960. Had the marriage continued, the show would've as well.
* RedScare: Lucille Ball almost fell victim to it in real life – she was known to despise Vice President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, and, after someone dug up an old registration to the Communist party done one year to appease her radical grandfather, had given a private testimony to the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) the day "The Girls Go Into Business" was filmed. She was cleared, and was one of the lucky ones to not get put onto the Hollywood Blacklist.
** When he learned HUAC was after Lucy, Desi went in front of the studio audience before one episode began taping and gave a defiant defense of Lucy, insisting that, "the only thing red about Lucy is her hair… and even ''that's'' not legitimate!"
** Oddly enough, after their divorce, Desi spent a great deal of time in Cuba – apparently with Fidel Castro's blessing, and in direct violation of the embargo. It's worth noting that Desi came from the comparatively small wave of pre-1959 Cuban expats who fled rightwing dictator Fulgencio Batista (rather than the far larger wave that fled the communists); thus, he had no particular animosity toward Fidel.
* {{Rerun}}: As mentioned, the show's creators invented this trope.

* LaughTrack: The show didn't have one – it was famously filmed in front of a live audience. However, the laughter you hear here would be used as the basis for canned laughter in sitcoms for decades to come.
** Logistics prevented studio audiences from attending several filmings, including "Ricky Minds the Baby" (the producers feared an audience would startle the infant actors playing Little Ricky), "Home Movies" (due to the technical issues of filming and editing all the home movie footage), and "Desert Island" (due to the number of sets). These episodes were subsequently screened for audiences, and their laughter recorded to the audio track.

** There was also friction between Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball early in the show's run, as Desi Arnaz and Marc Daniels cast Vance without consulting Ball. Ball was expecting someone far less glamorous and pretty to play the role of "dumpy landlady" Ethel, and gave Vance a hard time early on. Ultimately, Vance's talent as an actress and a "script doctor" won Ball over, and her loyalty became so fierce that she insisted Vance join her on ''Series/TheLucyShow'' in 1962, and the two remained lifelong friends, with Lucy being one of the last people to speak with her, visiting when Vivian was literally on her death bed.

** Desi Arnaz demanded that the second act of the episode "Lucy Tells The Truth" be rewritten. The plot involves Ricky, Fred and Ethel betting Lucy that she could not tell the truth for 24 hours. The original second act involved an IRS agent coming to the apartment to audit Ricky, and Lucy being forced to tell him about Ricky cheating on his taxes. Desi balked at the idea of Ricky cheating on his taxes, and a new second act was written.

** Though Ricky entered at least one scene with "Lucy, I'm home!", it wasn't in the memetically-ovserblown "LU-CYYYY, I'M HO-OOOME!" manner people are fond of affecting when doing an imitation of him.

** There was also friction between Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball early in the show's run, as Desi Arnaz and Marc Daniels cast Vance without consulting Ball. Ball was expecting someone far less glamorous and pretty to play the role of "dumpy landlady" Ethel, and gave Vance a hard time early on. Ultimately, Vance's talent as an actress and a "script doctor" won Ball over, and her loyalty became so fierce that she insisted Vance join her on ''Series/TheLucyShow'' in 1962, and the two remained lifelong friends.

** Toward the end of the run, Desi Arnaz asked William Frawley and Vivian Vance if they would like their own SpinOff show after ''I Love Lucy'''s cancellation. Frawley readily agreed, sensing a very financially lucrative opportunity. Vance declined, however, in large part because of the hatred she and Frawley had for each other both on and off the set.

** Despite Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley's intense dislike of one another, there were plans at one point for a spinoff series revolving around Fred and Ethel. Frawley was reportedly willing to give it a try, but Vance flatly refused to work with Frawley any more than she had already agreed to. Given that this quite surely would have been a big payday and time in the limelight for both, it had to have contributed to their already immense behind-the-camera animosity.

* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Fred Mertz is a GrumpyBear to the extreme--sour on the outside, but a big softy deep down. William Frawley, who played him, was notoriously difficult to work with, extremely and openly hostile to Vivian Vance (Ethel), and suffered from [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]] which exacerbated all of his negative personality traits.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Though not her favorite overall episodes, the putty nose gag from "L.A. At Last" was Lucille Ball's favorite comedy routine to perform, while she felt the Vitametavegamin bit from "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" was her ''best'' routine. Likewise her favorite moment from the show, on pure emotion was Lucy revealing her pregnancy to Ricky, mainly for the fact that both she and Desi got so caught up in the moment, that the feelings from Lucille Ball's real life pregnancy came rushing back to the both of them, that the happy tears the two of them shared in the scene were genuine.

** Likewise as the marriage between the two deteriorated, so did the working relationship betweeen Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. By the final episodes the two wouldn't even speak to one another, having the producers do so for each other. According to Lucille Ball however, their personal relationships did improve some time after the show ended, as coparents and friends, and Desi would always send her favorite flowers to her during major events in her life.

* In later years, Lucille Ball admitted that she wasn't especially fond of the series' early episodes, feeling they were too silly. She felt the show improved with each passing year.
* Vivian Vance greatly disliked the Ethel Mertz character, who was the antithesis of what she aspired to be in real life. Though she appreciated that Desi Arnaz thought her a talented enough actress to bring Ethel to life, Vance later said that Ethel was made up of bits and pieces of many women she'd known, but none of whom she admired.
* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Though not her favorite overall episodes, the putty nose gag from "L.A. At Last" was Lucille Ball's favorite comedy routine to perform, while she felt the Vitametavegamin bit from "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" was her ''best'' routine.

** There was also friction between Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball early in the show's run, as Desi Arnaz and Marc Daniels cast Vance without consulting Ball. Ball was expecting someone far less glamorous to play the role of "dumpy landlady" Ethel, and gave Vance a hard time early on. Ultimately, Vance's talent as an actress and a "script doctor" won Ball over, and her loyalty became so fierce that she insisted Vance join her on ''Series/TheLucyShow'' in 1962.