I Love Lucy is a classic series and absolutely no one could predict just how popular and enduring it would become. The black and white series starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley first premiered on October 15, 1951 and ran until May 6, 1957 during which time it won five Emmy Awards and was applauded by an enormous fanbase. I Love Lucy was a trailblazer, and despite being off the air for more than five decades, fans still love to watch the series on reruns and even new fans discover how special it really is.
9. Getting It Started
Before I Love Lucy hit the small-screen, it was originally a radio program called “My Favorite Husband” and it was Lucille Ball’s decision to try it out on TV. According to Ball, she had a dream featuring her late friend Carole Lombard who had died in a plane crash, who told her to take the risk of entering television and getting off the radio. Of course, the show instantly hit obstacles, beginning with the fact that her one condition with CBS was that her real-life husband Desi Arnaz would play her on-screen spouse. CBS argued that no American viewers at the time would believe that an all-American housewife would be married to a “foreign” man, even though the pair had already been married for more than ten years in real life. In order to convince the network how great they were together, Lucille went on tour with Arnaz’s band in the summer of 1950 and inserted a skit in the middle of their concert that audiences loved, and CBS knew they couldn’t pass up on it.
Everett Collection