LOOK!  MEN ARE MESSY!

August 14, 1951

For the final shot of “Men Are Messy” (ILL S1;E8), the “I Love Lucy” props department mocked up a magazine cover using the actual August 14, 1951 edition of Look (volume 15, #17). The episode was filmed on October 25 and aired on December 3, 1951.

Lucy’s hillbilly photo covers up a trio of real Universal Studios starlets: Joyce Holden, Peggy Dow, and Julia Adams. The other cover photos are of Pope Pius XII, author Gayelord Hauser, and the B-47 Jet.

This episode is based on Lucy’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” “George Is Messy” broadcast June 4, 1950. In that script, the magazine that is mentioned in the final moments is Young Homemakers, not Look. 

Look was a biweekly magazine published from 1937 to 1971, with an emphasis on photographs rather than articles. A large-sized magazine of (11″ x 14″), it was a direct competitor to Life, which began publication months earlier and ended in 1972, a few months after Look shut down. 

Inside this issue of Look: 

• Full page ad for Happy Go Lovely, an RKO musical comedy with David Niven, Vera-Ellen, and Cesar Romero

• Full page ad for Cyrano de Bergerac, with Jose Ferrer.
• Gayelord Hauser author of the book Look Younger, Live Longer.
  

• Tarzan actor Lex Barker married Arlene Dahl, and is vacationing in Oklahoma.

• Look reporter and photographer Ben Kocivar goes up in a B-47 Bomber.

• Two page ad for Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

• The Pope’s secret plans in case of war.

• Tennis player Art Larsen.
• 16 top economists predict what the dollar will buy in December.
• America’s ten most televised women. 
• Movie review of A Streetcar Named Desire.
  
• How Hollywood stars are created: includes Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, and others. 
• The great American sandwich.

• Full page color Camel Cigarettes ad with opera star Rise Stevens.

On the date this issue hit the newsstands, the publishing world changed forever with the death of William Randolph Hearst, one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in America. He was the model for the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane (1941). Hearst, however, did not own Look magazine. Look was founded by Mike Cowles of Des Moines, Iowa, and owned by Cowles Media. 

Look is also prominently featured in “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (ILL S1;E32) with Lucille Ball on the cover… 

…and “Ricky Loses His Temper” (ILL S3;E19), with French actress Jeanmarie on the cover.   

“Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) opens with Ricky napping with the August 26, 1952 issue of Look Magazine over his face.

Model Jean Zahorsky is on the cover showing off ‘dormitory duds’. It was no coincidence that this particular magazine and issue was used. It contained:

• A full page Philip Morris ad with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. 
• An article about CBS building a 25 acre city in Hollywood (Studio City) to house its television operations.
• A review of the Bob Hope film Son of Paleface. 

It was even used for one of the flashback intro of a re-run during Lucille Ball’s pregnancy leave. Notice that Vivian Vance puts her hand over Ball’s photo, obscuring it from camera. It was common for Lucy and Desi to repay magazines providing coverage of their show with on-air placement. 

Although the script changes the real-life musician’s magazine Down Beat to Half Beat, Look Magazine plays itself. From 1952 to 1971 Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of Look nine times!  

More about LOOK, LIFE & TIME Magazines and Lucy!

RICKY: “Lucy, this man is not from Half-Beat Magazine.”
LUCY: “He ain’t?”
PHOTOGRAPHER: “No, I’m from Look Magazine!”
LUCY: “Ewwww!”