GRAFIC LUCY

April 26, 1953

On April 26, 1953, Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of the Chicago Sunday Tribune’s Grafic Magazine.  Inside, the article is titled “Lucille and Desi. $8,000,000 TV Stars” by Hedda Hopper.  

The photo on the cover is very similar to one that also appeared on this 1954 issue of Dell’s “I Love Lucy” comics. It is likely the phots were taken at the same time during the same photo shoot. 

By HEDDA HOPPER 

LUCILLE BALL, and Desi Arnaz. in their wildest dreams during their upsies and downsies, never imagined that one day they – a couple of strolling players – would be signed to a two-and-a-half year television contract for $8,000,000.

That’s a heap of cash in any man’s language, and in American money it’s like finding the Glory Hole gold mine or stubbing your toe in your own back yard and starting an oil gusher. For actors to sign that kind of contract it’s a Disney fantasy come to life. 

Lucy has used a lot of gold dust in her hair, but she’s certain now that Peter Pan came to life and covered her from head to toe with pixie dust. But, being Lucy, her one comment after signing the fabulous deal with her TV sponsors was: “It couldn’t happen to a nicer pair of kids. I mean our two children, of course.” 

And those kids are as famous as their ma and pa. All over America last January, second in news importance to Ike Eisenhower’s inauguration, was the birth of Lucille Ball’s baby boy. The interest in the big event was fantastic. Tho they’ve been kicking around Hollywood for a long time, Lucille and Desi have grown into an American Institution in two years via TV. They’ve received more than fifty awards; their names have become household words. 

I was In Washington for the in inauguration, when Desidero [sp] Arnaz was born.

I’d like to straighten out one point. Lucy didn’t have her baby by caesarean to please her sponsors. The operation was necessary. She had her first child by the same process, and since the caesarean operation could be set for a definite date, the birth was worked into the script of the show. The writers took full advantage of it. Since the show deals with an average couple, the pre-natal period reflected that of millions who have, or were having, babies. And to make sure that nothing in poor taste crept in, the Amazes had a Catholic priest a Jewish rabbi, and a Protestant minister check each script.

Lucy wanted a boy, and her doctor told her she’d have one. “I didn’t pay any attention to his prediction,” says Lucy. “He told me my first baby would be a boy, too. So I had a girl.” 

Their show sticks to real life situations and mirrors the trials, tribulations, and fun of marriages enjoyed by millions of average men and women. 

Desi credits the success of the show to that fact “Its an average love story with humor,” he explains. “Audiences believe I’m in love with Lucy, and I am. Lucy ’ could be a straight dramatic show. In fact, I think there’s no really good comedy that couldn’t be turned into drama. I believe the average man gets a kick out of Ricky (the name he uses on the show), because he somehow always manages to dominate the woman, tho the victory is not great. Women love Lucy since she gets by with things they’d like to do, but wouldn’t dare try." 

A fan wrote Desi: "I used to think my wife was crazy. But after following Lucy, I’m convinced all women are that way, so I’m reconciled to my wife’s behavior.” 

Desi is proud of the fact that he and Lucy help many couples in distress. “Lucille and I used to fight a lot,“ says he. "Then we discovered a sense of humor about situations that came up at home. We learned to live together and like it just as Ricky and Lucy do on the show. In real life, we still have our differences, but we never go to bed without speaking. We may have a peeve between us, but one of us will always say, ‘All right What are you mad about? ’ That either settles It or starts a real battle, which gets the beef off our chests.” 

I wanted to know how much Lucy and Ricky resembled the real life Amazes. 

“A lot”  Desi laughed. “For example, we can never agree on the temperature of our home. I like it hot Lucy wants it cold. We put that In the show. For television the characters have to be exaggerated for the sake of comedy. But sometimes situations come up at home that give our writers ideas. For instance, our baby. Writing him into the script was completely natural. We knew what happened to couples expecting a baby.”  

“It was the first nine-months’ pregnancy that lasted only seven weeks,“ said Lucy, meaning that the baby business was only on seven programs. 

“And neither of our writers, Madeline Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr., is married,” said Desi. 

“But they know whereof they write,” said Lucy. “Within three weeks after the baby was born, we received 20,000 letters, 2,000 telegrams, and hundreds of packages.” 

"How many products do you indorse?” [sp] I asked. 

“It’s easier to tell you what we haven’t indorsed, [sp]” said Lucy. “We haven’t indorsed [sp] locomotives or aircraft. We have art office now on 5th Avenue in New York just to handle merchandising." 

I asked how much money they could keep from their $8,000,000 contract.

"About four dollars and fifty-five cents,” said Desi. “In the dear old days before taxes we could have retired for life In one year. But the government needs money. We’re not complaining. Lucy doesn’t have much business sense anyway. When it comes time to pay taxes, she doesn’t bother trying to get exemptions. She just says, ‘Bring me the check, and I’ll sign it.’ 

"And you’re still expanding instead of cutting down?” I asked. 

“Yes,” said Desi. “I put in 10 hours daily at my office.” 

“I don’t bother with business,” said Lucy.  “That’s Desi’s department.“ 

“We’ve got over a hundred people working for us now,” said Desi. “We’ll do 32 television films a year, and I’m getting a man to take over the business management so I can devote more time to the creative phase of our work. We. plan to produce other shows. Then there are pictures.” 

“I’m happy you two are going to make ‘The Long, Long Trailer,’ ” I said. 

“That,” said Desi, “is a dream. I read the book and tried to buy it But I didn’t have the money to compete with Metro. So Pandro Berman called me up and asked if Lucy and I would be interested in reading the script I told him sure, to send it over. And It was ‘Long, Long Trailer.” 

"It’s a honey,” added Lucy. “I once lived with my family in a trailer. It was all right until we all got claustrophobia. That’s bad enough when you get it alone, but when it hits a whole family at the same time whew!” 

“We can make pictures any time we like,” said Desi “But we’ll concentrate on television. But if either Lucy or I wants to do a movie, we can always pile up a backlog of TV films that will tide us over." 

"I’m not particularly interested in going back to movies,” said Lucy. “TV is my dish. We don’t see a script at least I don’t until 10 o’clock Monday morning. On Tuesday, we read from 10 to 12, then lunch. After that we start shooting. The writers usually aren’t even on the set If I don’t understand something, either the producer, Jess Oppenheimer, or our director, Bill Asher, explains it to me. We work four days and rest three. You cant do that in picture-making.” 

"Incidentally, Desi’s malapropisms aren’t written into the script. The script is written in straight English. But If Desi butchers the King’s English during a rehearsal, it stays in." 

"Bill Frawley and Vivian Vance are wonderful additions to your cast,” I said.

“We were lucky to get them,” said Lucy. “When Bill’s name was mentioned, I almost dropped dead. He was a big star and we couldn’t afford him. But somebody said it wouldn’t hurt to try to get him. Remember this was two years ago; and everybody here was scoffing at TV. Nobody knew.” 

People didn’t know many things. For years I’ve watched Lucy’s work and considered her one of our finest comediennes. She has versatility and great timing. But nobody gave her break. Tho he’d done several pictures, Hollywood just couldn’t see Desi for dust. He had to make a living with his band, and this put him on the road for long periods. Result: “I Love Lucy." 

"When we got the idea for the show, people said audiences wouldn’t accept us as husband-and-wife team,” said Lucy. “They didn’t think audiences would believe that a girl like me and a Cuban like Desi could be married. I remember telling you this, Hedda, and you yelled back, ‘But for Pete’s sake, you’ are married!’”. 

Because the Amazes finally decided to portray life as they found It regardless of how dizzy it was, they found their way of life, says Lucy. “If you have a hunch, back it,” is Lucy’s advice.

The headline of April 26, 1953.