http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yccfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iNgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=888,6019653&dq=lucille+ball+lucie+arnaz&hl=en

It looks like their salaries were public knowledge, given that they had to have the consent from Superior Court to work. Here's what they each got paid for the first three seasons, 20% of which had to be invested in government bonds:

1st Season: $17,600
2nd Season: $20,400
3rd Season: $25,000

In 2012 dollars, that amounts to:
1st Season: $115,139.91
2nd Season: $126,548.37
3rd Season: $146,690.08

That's hardly a rich person's salary, but not bad for just 24 weeks of work a year. The third season salary in 2012 dollars works out to $152.80 an hour (assuming a 40-hour work week). That sure beats what I was paid when I was that age, bagging groceries in a grocery store!

That's only about $700 per episode during the first season.

That's only about $700 per episode during the first season.

In 1968 dollars. Adjusted for inflation it's nearly $4800 per episode -- not too shabby for a teenager for one week of work. It was over $18 an hour at a time when minimum wage was only $1.60 an hour.

^ That is a very good wage for a teenager or an adult.

I think Lucie Arnaz once said they didn't consider it a salary, but a "large allowance". But those are modest paychecks to say the least, for being in a Top Ten series even in the early 1970s.

Considering minimum wage was a $1.60 an hour in the early 1970's, it seems they were getting a very nice wage indeed.


http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

In 1968 dollars. Adjusted for inflation it's nearly $4800 per episode -- not too shabby for a teenager for one week of work. It was over $18 an hour at a time when minimum wage was only $1.60 an hour.
True, i think a friend of mine was getting 2.25 an hour as a snack bar manager at that time.

True, i think a friend of mine was getting 2.25 an hour as a snack bar manager at that time.
LOL! Too funny BDL! Pretty interesting LittleRicky. Thanks for sharing that.

LOL! Too funny BDL! Pretty interesting LittleRicky. Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, he does come up with very interesting comments.