Things we learned from I Love Lucy...Literally

[Ireneparalegal]

Ok, for some time now I have posted things I didn't know until ILL entered my life. I was 6 years old when I first watched ILL. By then it was 1971, over 20 years since Lucy first debuted on television.

I had learned many things from watching ILL that if it weren't for her show, I probably would still be in the dark abt. Let me start with the things I learned:

HEDDA HOPPER: Never had a clue who she was for the longest time. I mean, obviously from the show she was some sort of gossip columnist. And she obviously was well-known. What I didn't know until waaaay after the fact and many years later is that Hedda was the equivelent to Rona Barrett (a very famous gossip columnist from the 70's who appeared on Good Morning America).

TENNESSE ERNIE FORD: Again, I had no clue who he was or what it was he was famous for. I just happened to watch an episode of HEE HAW in the 70's when I seen Ernie. I was like, "Hey, that's Tennesse Ernie Ford." I had always assumed that TEF was just a character made up for the ILL show. I came to realize he was a very famous singer.

COLONEL WILDE: Who????? No clue. Yet, one day while looking at the TVGuide and seeing information for a movie, I seen that it starred this man from ILL. I watched it merely to see this man.

THE CIVIL WAR: Ok, obviously until I was old enough to be taught abt the Civil War in school, I actually got my first lesson from ILL. I was like, "Ok, fighting on opposite sides? I have no idea what that means?" I had to ask my brother what that meant.

SONGS: Many of the songs featured, sang or played on ILL was my first time being exposed to them. Whenever I hear those songs being played in movies or other shows, I can't help but think of my first time hearing them: On ILL... Songs such as "The Lady In Red" "Shine On Harvest Moon" "Anniversary Waltz" "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", etc. There are so many songs to mention but I think you get what I am saying.

OTHER MOVIES: In the episode set in California, RICKY NEEDS AN AGENT, Lucy pretends to be Ricky's agent. She inadvertently gets Ricky fired or released from his contract with MGM. In a desperate attempt to get him back in she is seen trying to convince Mr. Reilly that they can make a remake of one of the studio's biggest hits and just have Ricky star in it...she begins to ramble off a list of movies such as IT HAPPENED ONE NOCHE, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN CUBANS, etc. Well, even though she changed the titles to suit Ricky, I hadn't a clue as to what she was saying. I didn't know there were real movies with similar titles. Not until as time went by that I would come across a movie and it had a similar sounding title such as SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS...only then did it hit me that Lucy was in fact reading off a bunch of classic movies, with the slight twist in the title.

I know there are more, I will add them later as they come to me.

[Madame X]

Great post, Irene. I can see that took a lot of time and thought. Since I am a little older than you, I knew about some of the things you mentioned. I started watching ILL when I was three, so obviously many things went over my head.

The main things I learned were how life in a big city was. Subways, brownstone apartments, dressing up to shop, delivery boys, etc.

There were also many references to culture in the earlier half of the century: the old Cadillac, Vaudeville, early movies and stars, Fred's remeberences, Phillip Morris, etc. For example in "The Black Wig," Fred says that the wig on Ethel looks like "Life With Luigi." I used to laugh just because it sounded funny, having no idea that was a real TV show. Also I had to ask my mother who Xavier Cugat was. My mom filled me in on a lot of stuff and she always introduced us to the movies and music she knew as a kid. That helped me with ILL in my early childhood.

I also learned what a "sponsor" was. In those days a sponsor had control over a show, not like today where any commercials can run at any time.

And don't forgot all the Spanish phrases!

[Ireneparalegal]

"Life with Luigi" certainly made me laugh just because it came out of Fred's mouth and it sounded funny as you stated. I too later learned it was in fact a show.

The Talent Scout episode certainly brings to mind when Lucy asks Fred and Ethel to "guess who I am" when she comes out in the blonde wig and tight, sexy dress. Fred states Gorgeous George. No clue who he was referring to. Again, I later learned that was a famous wrestler.

As for the spanish phrases, being brought up in a hispanic household, those certainly were not foreign to me. If anything, I felt like I was the only one who knew what was being said while everyone else who was watching the show didn't have a clue.

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

As for the spanish phrases, being brought up in a hispanic household, those certainly were not foreign to me. If anything, I felt like I was the only one who knew what was being said while everyone else who was watching the show didn't have a clue.

What was that little phrase that Ricky always started out with when he went into a tirade? It sounded something like "mia cacia..." I know it's not spelled right, but it kind of sounds like that. Lucy even said it imitating Ricky when she kicked the tire in "Off to Florida."

[Ireneparalegal]

Ok he is saying "mira que tiene cosa esta..." which means, "look at this thing here..." It of course sounds better in spanish...things said in one language don't always translate well in another.

[Mikado]

HEDDA HOPPER: Never had a clue who she was for the longest time. I mean, obviously from the show she was some sort of gossip columnist. And she obviously was well-known. What I didn't know until waaaay after the fact and many years later is that Hedda was the equivelent to Rona Barrett

Funny thing is the way she got into that business.....
Hedda had been a silent screen actress, and was often panned by Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons ( Who became her life-long unfriendly rival in the bizz ), so, she decided that she could beat Louella at her own game and decided to do what she did and better........well, nastier anyway! It was said that Hedda had a LOT of power in Hollywood, her column could make or break a Hollywood career.....so, the stars tended to be very nice to her!!!
Hedda was known for her "over the top" headgear!

[tv star collector]

Yes, I vividly remember Tennessee Ernie Ford. Being a "baby-boomer," he is
from my childhood era (the late fifties to early sixties). He had his own NBC
variety show, which always closed with a gospel song (and he recorded
several gospel albums). He also had a No. 1 song on the hit parade ("Sixteen
Tons"). A great entertainer and one of my favorite TV personalities. His
catch phrase was "bless your li'l pea-pickin' heart!"

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Yes, I vividly remember Tennessee Ernie Ford. Being a "baby-boomer," he is
from my childhood era (the late fifties to early sixties). He had his own NBC
variety show, which always closed with a gospel song (and he recorded
several gospel albums). He also had a No. 1 song on the hit parade ("Sixteen
Tons"). A great entertainer and one of my favorite TV personalities. His
catch phrase was "bless your li'l pea-pickin' heart!"

I have the same memories!

[Larry Surrell]

I was born in 1957 and Lucy is my second memory of watching television, so I've been watching I Love Lucy for a long time.

I considered starting a similar topic to this a while ago thinking about films I've seen and actors I like because of I Love Lucy. I never would have become a Bill Holden fan if I hadn't seen him on ILL, but today "Stalag 17" and "Bridge on the River Kwai" are two of my favorite films of all time. I went out of my way to see "Blood Alley" because of the John Wayne episode, and that got me interested in other John Wayne movies. "Rio Bravo" and "The Shootist" are two great John Wayne films that I may have never seen if it weren't for his appearance on I Love Lucy.

The first time I heard of watercress was on I Love Lucy and had to find out what it was. I played the saxophone in grammar school through high school; maybe it was subconsciously because of Lucy!!

[Coffeecup]

I always liked how Lucy mentioned two presidents and their wives. In Ricky asks for a raise, one line is Bess and Harry Truman got the last seat. then I think in the episode where timid Mr Beecher comes, an earlier line is The mertzs wouldn't approve of Mamie and Ike. New viewers can learn who was president during those years.

[tdr]

Since watching ILL goes back to my earliest memories, it can be hard to recall and focus on what I learned first from the show. A few years ago I started a thread like this one on the Gilligan's Island board, and that was easier because I was 5 when GI started on television, so there were a lot of new subjects I hadn't been exposed to that I can remember seeing first on GI [voodoo dolls, volcanoes, that dates grow up in palm trees instead of in the ground, as they looked like].

But as GI also led to some misconceptions because of its nonsense stories, there were also a few misconceptions I got from ILL, which is a related subtopic here. I'm sure that I also first heard of Hedda Hopper on ILL, but for quite some time I thought here name was really Hedda Hooper, as Ricky was saying it . I got the idea that when dough rises it's heavier than before, as shown in that crazy 8-foot loaf of bread episode; actually it would weigh the same, the little extra air dispersed at normal pressure being negligible (fortunately I'm quite sure I never took the baked loaf seriously). And I thought it was true that if a someone's name had been misspelled on a marriage license the couple was not really married.

There was one misconception that my dad inadvertantly corrected once. He was in Australia in WWII and took a bullet that just missed his carotid artery in New Guinea. He told us how the troops often had motivational speakers, sometimes dignitaries or celebrities as well as military brass. One such speaker had not been introduced by name, but made a good speech; very intellectual and articulate. After his half-hour, he posed the question: "By the way, does anybody here know who I am?" He turned around where some hidden clothes and props were behind him, and put on the coat, zany tie, stopwatch, horn, then finally the wig and hat. He was Harpo Marx. I had seen the ILL ep with Harpo in it, and I thought he was really mute.

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by tdr

There was one misconception that my dad inadvertantly corrected once. He was in Australia in WWII and took a bullet that just missed his carotid artery in New Guinea. He told us how the troops often had motivational speakers, sometimes dignitaries or celebrities as well as military brass. One such speaker had not been introduced by name, but made a good speech; very intellectual and articulate. After his half-hour, he posed the question: "By the way, does anybody here know who I am?" He turned around where some hidden clothes and props were behind him, and put on the coat, zany tie, stopwatch, horn, then finally the wig and hat. He was Harpo Marx. I had seen the ILL ep with Harpo in it, and I thought he was really mute.

Wow..what a fantastic story! I always figured Harpo wasnt mute, because I knew that Chico wasnt really Italian, so I figured they were both just characters!( But then, I was always a cynical kid, who enjoyed unmasking "Santa Clauses" at Xmas time!!! )

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by tdr

...There was one misconception that my dad inadvertantly corrected once. He was in Australia in WWII and took a bullet that just missed his carotid artery in New Guinea. He told us how the troops often had motivational speakers, sometimes dignitaries or celebrities as well as military brass. One such speaker had not been introduced by name, but made a good speech; very intellectual and articulate. After his half-hour, he posed the question: "By the way, does anybody here know who I am?" He turned around where some hidden clothes and props were behind him, and put on the coat, zany tie, stopwatch, horn, then finally the wig and hat. He was Harpo Marx. I had seen the ILL ep with Harpo in it, and I thought he was really mute.

Great, great story!

Folks, for some audio of Harpo speaking, go to:

http://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/harposp.htm

That web page itself will "'splain" the context of what you'll hear. Harpo's actual voice doesn't fit his on-screen persona at all...

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

...TENNESSE ERNIE FORD: Again, I had no clue who he was or what it was he was famous for. I just happened to watch an episode of HEE HAW in the 70's when I seen Ernie. I was like, "Hey, that's Tennesse Ernie Ford." I had always assumed that TEF was just a character made up for the ILL show. I came to realize he was a very famous singer.
....

Yeah... "Sixteen Tons" was a song that we, as students, used to sing in Music class in the early 70s... never knew it was a TEF song until many years later, when we saw TEF's version of the song advertised on TV in a commercial for a record collection.

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

SONGS: Many of the songs featured, sang or played on ILL was my first time being exposed to them. Whenever I hear those songs being played in movies or other shows, I can't help but think of my first time hearing them: On ILL... Songs such as "The Lady In Red" "Shine On Harvest Moon" "Anniversary Waltz" "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", etc. There are so many songs to mention but I think you get what I am saying. ...

"The Lady In Red was a staple of Warner Brothers cartoons, particularly from the 1940s... Bugs Bunny even sang a few bars of "The Rabbit In Red" during one of his cartoons, but I'm not sure which one (but I can hear him signing it with his Brooklyn-ese accent...no, not ALL the time, but sometimes )

My first exposure to "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" was on an Alvin and the Chipmunks Album I had as a kid... The album was called "Let's All Sing Along With The Chipmunks", and "Ragtime Cowboy Joe was one of the songs on that album... I would have gotten that album in the mid 60s, and I didn't see the "twins" performance on I Love Lucy until much later... (incidentally, the boys who played the "twins" were not only NOT twins, they were not even related).

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

...OTHER MOVIES: In the episode set in California, RICKY NEEDS AN AGENT, Lucy pretends to be Ricky's agent. She inadvertently gets Ricky fired or released from his contract with MGM. In a desperate attempt to get him back in she is seen trying to convince Mr. Reilly that they can make a remake of one of the studio's biggest hits and just have Ricky star in it...she begins to ramble off a list of movies such as IT HAPPENED ONE NOCHE, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN CUBANS, etc. Well, even though she changed the titles to suit Ricky, I hadn't a clue as to what she was saying. I didn't know there were real movies with similar titles. Not until as time went by that I would come across a movie and it had a similar sounding title such as SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS...only then did it hit me that Lucy was in fact reading off a bunch of classic movies, with the slight twist in the title.

I know there are more, I will add them later as they come to me.

If I remember correctly, I think that one of the other possible movies Lucy mentioned to the scout was "Meet Me In St. Ricky". I remember asking my Mom if there was ever a movie called "Meet Me In St Louis" after hearing this reference on I Love Lucy and, of course, she told me that there was... a great movie indeed!



Great post, as usual, Irene!

[Mikado]

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