Lucille Ball Was More Revolutionary Than You Think

From HuffPo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/26/lucille-ball-revolutionary_n_7138476.html
You probably love Lucy.
Since "I Love Lucy" premiered in 1951, star Lucille Ball has been one of America's most worshipped performers. Long after the show went off the air, new generations continue to discover her hilarity in syndicated "I Love Lucy" episodes.
But while most know Ball paved the way for future women in comedy, they may not understand the exact magnitude of her influence on Hollywood. More than 60 years after "I Love Lucy" began, the ramifications of Ball's groundbreaking strides are still hugely present in the television industry.
To commemorate the star on the anniversary of her death on April 26, 1989, The Huffington Post compiled some of the ways Ball revolutionized American entertainment.
1. "I Love Lucy" broke barriers with its depiction of pregnancy
Though "I Love Lucy" wasnot the very firstTV show to feature a pregnancy, it was an early one, and broke barriers with the huge success of the storyline. In fact, the episode in which Lucy gives birth to Little Ricky aired the day before President Eisenhower's inauguration, anddrew substantially more viewers than his swearing-in.
Though the American public was obviously ready for the pregnancy arc, it still existed in a time of very different moral standards for television. Lucy's character was pregnant, but the showcouldn't actually say the word "pregnant"because, according to site The AV Club, "CBS deemed [it] too vulgar." Executivesreportedly called fora priest, minister and rabbi to approve the scripts before they gave permission for the storyline to air.
2. Lucille Ball was not only a TV star. She had major power behind the scenes.
It's no secret that Ball was one of the first comic female leads on television. But the weight of her power in the industry may be lost on current viewers. Ball not only starred in "I Love Lucy," but co-owned its production company,Desilu, with her husband Desi Arnaz.The company -- whichproduced other hitsduring Ball and Arnaz's co-ownership, including "The Ann Sothern Show" and "The Untouchables" -- laid the groundwork for the invention of syndication, and was a catalyst for moving American television production from New York to LA.
Other indicators of Ball's iconic status? She appeared on thefirst-ever coverof TV Guide in 1953 and "I Love Lucy"finished its series runat No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings.
3. Lucille Ball was the first woman to run her own production company
After the "I Love Lucy" era of Desilu, and the divorce of Ball and Arnaz, Ball ended upbuying Arnaz out of the company. With this move, she became the first female head of a major production company. While Ball was at the helm, the company produced hits like "Star Trek" and "Mission Impossible."
4. Ethel and Lucy's female friendship was way ahead of its time
Though we now live in a "Broad City" era, it was only in recent history that television began to increase its representation of realistic female friendships. But on "I Love Lucy," Ethel and Lucy were constantlygetting up to their own adventures, without falling into Hollywood's ugliest tropes about women friend pairs. AsRookie magazine writes:
But even though it was sometimes Lucy and Ethel versus the world (or just Ricky and Fred), they always cooperated with each other. They were around the same age, from similar economic backgrounds, and were both happily married. Their relationship existed on an essentially even playing field, so stereotypical female competitiveness plots -- over men or status -- never entered the picture. Whether they were snooping, spying, scheming, or going on wild adventures, their relationship was a source of constant mutual support. (In that respect, Lucy and Ethel’s escapades often passed the Bechdel Test before it even existed.)
5. Lucille Ball had to fight the network to portray Lucy and Ricky's interracial marriage
While Lucy and Ricky's relationship on "I Love Lucy," played by the then-real life couple Ball and Arnaz, is arguably the most important relationship in the show, Ball had to fight the network to get Arnaz the role of her husband.
"CBS and its sponsor, Philip Morris cigarettes, wereadamantly opposed to this," Kathleen Brady, author ofLucille: The Life of Lucille Ball, told NPR. "They said that the American public would not accept Desi as the husband of a red-blooded American girl."
According to Brady, Ball told CBS she wouldn't do the show without Arnaz, and they eventually gave in.

 

"Lucille Ball had to fight the network to portray Lucy and Ricky's interracial marriage"

Considering the era in which her show first appeared, this was groundbreaking.

Scott

 

She was great. I remember seeing her in a Three Stooges episode. Classic.

 

"While Lucy and Ricky's relationship on "I Love Lucy," played by the then-real life couple Ball and Arnaz, is arguably the most important relationship in the show..."

I think the Lucy/Ricky relationship *is* the most important one on the show. Who else would the "I" in I Love Lucy refer to?

 

As far as Lucy and Ethel being the same age, isn't it the feeling that Ethel was born in 1905 and Lucy in 1920? Not that these things were ironclad- Ethel was given three different middle names. I would also guess the Mertz's had more money-Fred owned the building- it's just Fred was a miserly skinflint.
Granted this is an article about Lucille but Desi was an underappreciated innovator too.

 

Lucy was a pioneering, clever, no-nonsense business woman

 

Well the era was 1951 and Havana was where anybody who was anybody went. Not the Bahamas, not Jamaica, Cuba. Cuba was spring training for the New York Yankees. Rich Americans(and Europeans) drinking rum and smoking cigars. The citizens were dirt poor, over worked and underpaid. What happened six years later was, in my opinion, enevitable.

As for the "interracial marriage" Desi was Cubano Blanco. Not really that unusual in that Desi was probably more Spanish in heritage than anything.

 

FWIW, She appeared in a Marx Brothers movie back in 1938, Room Service.

 

What's funny to me is that Vivian Vance was only 2 years older than Lucy, and also that Lucy was 40 when she started I Love Lucy. So Lucy was always about 10 years older than everybody thought she was, and Ethel was really 10 years younger than people thought she was.

Lucy herself was a total pro, but she was very demanding on the set. Ironically, she was not good at remembering her lines, starting from the late 1960s on.

 

Not to pick nits, but Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Racially speaking, Cubans are Caucasian.

 

Even the Cubans who are black?

 

Thats why I called Desi "Cubano blanco"

 

Lucy was great in her early movies before ILL. She always projected strength and smarts, and was beautiful to boot. I don't know exactly why she wasn't a bigger star in those days.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YBMnzyeWhFY

Here's some early (1937) Lucille Ball from the classic "Stage Door".

 

I haven't watched many episodes, but was Ethyl and Lucy's relationship really that different from Alice and Trixie's on The Honeymooners?

 

None of this is new. Her legend is quite well documented. It's just dressed up to fit today's emphasis on the empowered female.
And on that note, how does the ever-present implied threat of Ricky's domestic violence fit in?

 

Did Alice and Trixie generate anything on their own that wasn't a reaction to something their husbands did?

 

Alice and Trixie were seldom seen outside of the apartment.

 

I watched the classic 39 Honeymooners episodes recently and Trixie was only in about half of them. Fred and Ethel must be in virtually all. They might have missed a couple in the last season when Lucy and Ricky moved to the Conneticut suburbs. Then they concocted a chicken business for Fred to help in.
My understanding is when the classic 39 first aired, reviews were mixed. Many preferred the vitality of earlier live performances.

Of course one reason why "I Love Lucy" came to being was so Lucille could keep a closer eye on Desi, a notorious philanderer.

 

I don't think she gets credit for being a brilliant actress. Not such a funny person off camera.
I think of the Mary Tyler Moore quote about Lucy--"she was a clown, I'm a comedic actress!" That's crap! Moore was great, but Ball was a bona fide genius!

 

Moore could not hold a candle to Lucy. At least in acting. Moore was more of a cutie though.

 

I agree Lucy was extremely talented. I loved watching her character as a kid. But now I find that character to be over the top, too predictable, not sophisticated enough. MTM's character's I still enjoy watching. While it may have something to do with her attractiveness, my guess is I just like those characters better now, than I do the Lucy character, not taking anything away from her talent.

 

I concur.

And she benefited from working on two shows with great writing where "the sitcom" evolved.

 

Also ground breaking - Lots of scenes were shot in their bedroom. I recall the the original pilot was shot with a shared king/ queen bed (not the classic double beds in the series) ... Yowza

 

For the entire first season their bed may as well have been a single queen-size bed. But if you look closely it's really two twin-size beds pushed to within like half an inch of each other. It's actually kind of more ridiculous than just having two completely separated beds.

Kind of amazing that even when The Dick Van Dyke Show started in 1961 they still had to show two twin beds.