I LOVE LUCY

The History of I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy (1951–1957) is considered one of the most popular and influential of all television situation-comedy series. The debut program aired on CBS on October 15, 1951, and after a few weeks it was the number-one-rated comedy on television. Since 1959, the sitcom has been broadcast in reruns to an international market and dubbed into many languages.

The basic plotline involves Lucy Ricardo, played by Lucille Ball (1911–1989), a zany redhead who gets involved in unorthodox adventures without the knowledge of her Cuban bandleader husband Ricky, played by Ball's real-life husband, Desi Arnaz (1917–1986). In the early 1950s, the pairing of a Cuban male with a Scottish American female (Lucy Ricardo's maiden name is MacGillicuddy) was considered a risk among potential advertisers who were worried about the public's acceptance of the mixed marriage. But, as it turned out, the public loved the Ricardos and all their quirks. Lucy was perpetually trying to break into show business, but Ricky was against her being anything but a housewife—and eventually a mother. (The broadcast of the birth of their son, Little Ricky, on January 19, 1953, was a national media event.)

Lucy is often aided in her exploits by her neighbors and friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz, played by William Frawley (1887–1966) and Vivian Vance (1909–1979). Most frequently it is Ethel who is Lucy's conspirator, and together they cook up all sorts of schemes that land the two of them in trouble with their husbands. Although the general formula of hijinks within a marriage has been used over and over through the years on TV sitcoms, it has never been done with such consistent originality as it was with the Ricardos and Mertzes. Among the best-remembered I Love Lucy episodes: Lucy and Ethel get jobs on an assembly line in a candy factory; Lucy does a television commercial for Vitameatavegamin, with unpredictable results; Lucy becomes pregnant and tries to tell Ricky the good news; and a barefoot Lucy stomps on grapes in the vineyards of Italy.

Once the half-hour episodes ceased production after the 1956–57 season, a number of one-hour shows were produced that aired as specials over the next several years. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. Ball went on to do The Lucy Show (1962–68), which also featured Vance for three years. Ball then moved on to Here's Lucy (1968–1974), and she briefly reappeared in 1986 in the short-lived Life with Lucy. In each of her post–I Love Lucy shows, veteran character actor Gale Gordon (1906–1995) was her comic foil.

One half century after the show's debut, I Love Lucy fan clubs are still flourishing, and memorabilia such as T-shirts, lunch boxes, pins, and dolls license plates and signs are sold worldwide.

License Plates are 6 by 12 inches in Size
Frames are designed to fit all standard size license plates
Frames will fit most Cars and Trucks