RED CROSS DAY

May 8th

May 8th is World Red Cross Day. The first Red Cross Day was celebrated on May 8, 1948. This date is the anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, who was born on 8 May 1828. He was the founder of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize. The Red Cross is a humanitarian organization founded in 1863 to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering.

On March 11, 1949, Lucy’s radio sitcom MY FAVORITE HUSBAND presented  “Charity Revue” (aka “Red Cross Benefit Revue”) in which Mr. Atterbury (Gale Gordon) asks George (Richard Denning) to work up a song and dance routine for the local Red Cross Charity Review. At the same time Liz’s (Lucy) women’s club recruits her to perform. The script was the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “The Benefit” (1952). 

American Red Cross posters were a favorite of the Desilu set decorators on I LOVE LUCY. 

They can be glimpsed in the subway during “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (1957), 

on the walls of the rented hall in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (1953), 

in the butcher shop in “The Freezer” (1952),

and in the Westport train station in “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (1957).  

On THE LUCY-DESI COMEDY HOUR “Lucy Goes To Mexico” (1958), Lucy, Ethel and Fred are stopped at the border. Trying to get released in time for Ricky’s show on an aircraft carrier, Ethel suggest contacting the Red Cross and Lucy suggests calling her mother!  

“I collect for the Red Cross. I buy savings bonds. I was with the WAVES.  How much does that man in the White House want from me?” ~ Lucy Carmichael in “Lucy Becomes an Astronaut” (1962)

On THE LUCY SHOW, Lucy Carmichael and Carol Tilford (Carol Burnett) were in a show-within-the-show in which they played World War I Red Cross nurses in France. The episode aired on December 11 1967.  

In 1979, Lucille Ball did a fundraising campaign for the American Red Cross: “Keep Red Cross Ready”. 

The second episode of LIFE WITH LUCY (1986) “Lucy Makes a Hit with John Ritter” found Lucy and Ritter in a stage play where she played a Red Cross nurse in World War One France.