OLD FORMULA

July 24, 1957

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball’s new format next year [five one-hour filmed shows] won’t be flamboyant star-crammed musicals. (1) They’ll use same characters, including William Frawley and Vivian Vance, in same type of stories. The first program, for instance, with Ann Sothern, Cesar Romero and Rudy Vallee as guests, will describe how Ricky and Lucy met in Havana 17 years ago. (2) 

All five films will be completed in January. (3) Asked what she and Desi will do the rest of the time, Lucy shrugged, “We might appear in spectaculars or do some guest shots,” she supposed. In the following graph Lucy probably sums up why ‘I Love Lucy’ is consistently top show in ratings:

“Instead of giving up TV for other things, we gave up other things for TV, and we’ve been richly rewarded. "We haven’t asked people to look at us on TV, in the funny papers, on the stage and in a movie at the same time. We stick to the one medium.” (4)

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FOOTNOTES FROM THE FUTURE

(1) The new format was called “The Lucille Ball – Desi Arnaz Show” (aka “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”). The statement that they “won’t be flamboyant star-crammed musicals” is untrue. The very first episode featured stars Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee and Ann Sothern and two original production numbers.  The fourth episode showcased Betty Grable and Harry James in a production number called “The Bayamo”.  The other three episodes may not have had musical numbers, but they were also star-crammed: Tallulah Bankhead, Fred MacMurray, June Havoc, and Fernando Lamas.

(2) The premiere episode explained how Lucy and Ricky first met in Havana in 1940. It was titled “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” and first aired November 6, 1957.  Filming was completed on June 28, 1957. Some location footage in Cuba (without actors) was used in the final program. 

(3) Actually, the fifth episode, “Lucy Goes To Sun Valley,” was completed sometime in February 1958. For this episode, the actors went on location, causing the editing of studio and location footage to take extra time. 

(4) “We haven’t asked people to look at us on TV, in the funny papers, on the stage and in a movie at the same time. We stick to the one medium.“  Lucille is really stretching the truth here. Yes, their main claim to fame was television, but by 1957 there had been an “I Love Lucy” comic strip in the newspapers, the feature films “The Long, Long Trailer” and “Forever Darling”, and a stage adaptation of “I Love Lucy” that was available to produce at school and community theatres!  So much for sticking to one medium!