LUCY & THE SPACE RACE

April 12th – International Space Day

International Day for Human Space Flight takes place across the world on April 12th. The day celebrates the first space flight and the first human being in space — Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin – on April 12, 1961. Naturally, the space age ramped up on TV as well. 

Long before man actually went to space, people wondered what might be up there. 

In the 1950′s, America was fascinated by the idea of aliens – mainly Martians. Books, films, and television shows all captalized on this fear of the unknown. 

The fascination and fear of outer space can be traced back to “War of The Worlds”, an 1898 novel by H.G. Wells. In 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Radio Theatre used it as the basis for a broadcast that many believed to be an actual invansion from outer space! 

In “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (November 5, 1962) Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley successfully spend 24 hours in a simulated space ship as part of a ‘Women in Space’ experiment.

Lucy just calls it “the space program,” but her daughter Chris knows that it is actually called NASA – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. President Eisenhower established NASA in 1958. Alan Shepard became the first American in space in May 1961, just three weeks after Russian Yuri Gargarin. Although the American team planned to launch earlier, delays continually pushed the launch back, allowing the Russian program to scoop the headlines. 

“The Lucy Show” wasn’t the only TV show to use the space program as the basis for storylines.  Three months later “Dennis the Menace” aired “Junior Astronaut,” where Dennis and his classmates  participate in the ‘Junior Astronaut’ savings-stamp program. This episode starred Gale Godon, who would join “The Lucy Show” cast in season two. Star Jay North did a short promotional film for the real-life savings-stamp program to support NASA.  

Also in January 1963, “McKeever & the Colonel,” a one-season sitcom that premiered on NBC a week before “The Lucy Show”, explored the topic in “McKeever’s Astronaut,” where a visiting astronaut turns out to be a chimp. Although not in the cast of this particular episode, Charles Lane (Lucy Carmichael’s banker Mr. Barnsdahl) was featured on the series in November 1962. Shirley Mitchell (Lucy Ricardo’s friend Marion Strong) was in the series premiere.  

The most famous example of the space program on television is the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” which premiered in 1965. It not only featured astronauts as the central characters, it was set in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  After John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, the name was changed to Cape Kennedy. It reverted to Cape Canaveral a decade later, although the NASA facilities are still known as the Kennedy Space Center. Jeannie was played by Barbara Eden, who made her sitcom debut on a 1957 episode of “I Love Lucy.”  

Lucy revisited the subject on October 11, 1971 on the “Here’s Lucy” episode “Lucy and the Astronauts”. When Harry and Lucy attend a splash down, she rushes to hug the returning crew before they can be medically cleared, meaning she and Harry must be quarantined with the astronauts. 

Barely tolerating Lucy in the isolation unit, Dr. Jamison (Roy Roberts) grumbles “We never had this trouble with Neil Armstrong.” Neil Armstrong was the first American astronaut to set foot on the moon on July 21, 1969.  Armstrong traveled with Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11. His famous quote when he stepped onto the moon’s surface was “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The episode incorporates stock footage of a televised moon walk and a splash down. 

This episode was featured in a set of View-Master reels. The View-Master system was introduced in 1939 by GAF, four years after the advent of Kodachrome color film.  

The third act of “Lucy and the Generation Gap” (1969) was set in a futuristic space age in a musical comedy context.  

In 1966, Desilu produced a science fiction series that explored life in outer space – “Star Trek”.  Each episode started with the iconic phrase:

“Space: The Final Frontier”

Ball was friends with Majel Barrett and thought Gene Rodenberry was a talented creator. She supported the show when the network rejected it. Thanks to Lucy, the now iconic franchise has immeasurably contributed to the popularity of the space program.