Season One Budget Sets

[Madame X]

In response to Rick's request for photos depicting some early set information:

From Bart Andrews: "Space was a premium and it became clear very quickly that there wasn't enough room on the stage to fit side by side all of the permanent sets that the first several scripts required..."

"We decided to improvise and create the Ricardo bedroom in front of the Mertz living room set. The guys in the paint department of the studio came up with a brilliant solution: they cut out panels of plywood and wallpapered them, and then hung them in front of the other set wall. Then all we had to do was pull out one set of furniture and replace it with another after putting up the panels. You'll notice that the Mertzes' living room has two windows in the same location as Lucy's bedroom. Sometimes we didn't even take down the curtains."

Mertz doors and Mertz side windows.


Ricardo doors and Ricardo side windows-same curtains. (Look how narrow that hallway was!)


Panelling.


They used it again! Littlefield doors and Littlefield side windows.

[Ireneparalegal]

Glad you posted those pics. Great job.

Let me add, why is it their first bed were twin beds pushed together, yet later on, they are separated? I realize the whole tv industry at that time couldn't cross the line of having two people "lay in bed" as if they were doing it, for heaven's sake... But it seems Lucy and Desi had established a way of making it look like one bed, when it really was two. Why did they separate them later?

Also, in the episode, Lucy thinks Ricky wants to murder her, the loveseat and the chair in the living room are never seen again. I guess those were chosen for the pilot and later when the series was established, they found the other couch and chair we would be accustomed to seeing.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Glad you posted those pics. Great job.

Let me add, why is it their first bed were twin beds pushed together, yet later on, they are separated? I realize the whole tv industry at that time couldn't cross the line of having two people "lay in bed" as if they were doing it, for heaven's sake... But it seems Lucy and Desi had established a way of making it look like one bed, when it really was two. Why did they separate them later?

Also, in the episode, Lucy thinks Ricky wants to murder her, the loveseat and the chair in the living room are never seen again. I guess those were chosen for the pilot and later when the series was established, they found the other couch and chair we would be accustomed to seeing.

According to TVLand last night, when they had the beds pushed together, they were only able to get away with that because they were married in real life. Other TV couples (played by unmarried actors), I guess, had to keep their beds separated. I think when they started separating the beds was around the time Lucy got pregnant.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Madame X

In response to Rick's request for photos depicting some early set information:

From Bart Andrews: "Space was a premium and it became clear very quickly that there wasn't enough room on the stage to fit side by side all of the permanent sets that the first several scripts required..."

"We decided to improvise and create the Ricardo bedroom in front of the Mertz living room set. The guys in the paint department of the studio came up with a brilliant solution: they cut out panels of plywood and wallpapered them, and then hung them in front of the other set wall. Then all we had to do was pull out one set of furniture and replace it with another after putting up the panels. You'll notice that the Mertzes' living room has two windows in the same location as Lucy's bedroom. Sometimes we didn't even take down the curtains."

Mertz doors and Mertz side windows.
Attachment 130465Attachment 130466

Ricardo doors and Ricardo side windows-same curtains. (Look how narrow that hallway was!)
Attachment 130469Attachment 130468

Panelling.
Attachment 130467

They used it again! Littlefield doors and Littlefield side windows.
Attachment 130470Attachment 130471

Thanks so much for posting this! It looks like, in addition to putting up those panels, they also must have unhinged and replaced the doors. That door to the right does look identical in both the Mertzes' living room and the Ricardos' bedroom, except it's a different color. I can't imagine they would have painted and repainted the door everytime they changed the use of that set? My guess is those are actually two separate doors as well that they switched back and forth.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

Thanks so much for posting this! It looks like, in addition to putting up those panels, they also must have unhinged and replaced the doors. That door to the right does look identical in both the Mertzes' living room and the Ricardos' bedroom, except it's a different color. I can't imagine they would have painted and repainted the door everytime they changed the use of that set? My guess is those are actually two separate doors as well that they switched back and forth.

On second thought, even the door frame is a different color. So maybe they did repaint that door and the frame? I suppose it wouldn't have been a huge deal because they didn't seem to use that Mertz living room set all that often in the early episodes.

That's an interesting observation you had about the Littlefield's living room. That didn't even occur to me. And I guess Lucy did her Vitameatavegamin commercial in front of her own kitchen!

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

According to TVLand last night, when they had the beds pushed together, they were only able to get away with that because they were married in real life. Other TV couples (played by unmarried actors), I guess, had to keep their beds separated. I think when they started separating the beds was around the time Lucy got pregnant.

That is what I find so damn funny. I think when after Lucy gives birth do the beds finally part. Now that the "deed is done" do they say, "Let's separate them."

Note, in that first pic where Lucy is wearing that coat in the kleptomaniac episode, we never see her wear that coat again. One Time Wonder.

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

That is what I find so damn funny. I think when after Lucy gives birth do the beds finally part. Now that the "deed is done" do they say, "Let's separate them."

well, of course Irene, in the 50s , people didnt have sex, once they had decided that they didnt want any more children!

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by Mikado

well, of course Irene, in the 50s , people didnt have sex, once they had decided that they didnt want any more children!

Well, considering how cramped they were going to be in that itty bitty apartment, I don't blame them for not wanting anymore kids.

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Also, in the episode, Lucy thinks Ricky wants to murder her, the loveseat and the chair in the living room are never seen again. I guess those were chosen for the pilot and later when the series was established, they found the other couch and chair we would be accustomed to seeing.

Looks like the table and chair were the same in the next episode, but the love seat was definitely gone.



A fun note... When they dance in the "mickey from Ricky" scene, the camera swings too wide and we see the bedroom!

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

That is what I find so damn funny. I think when after Lucy gives birth do the beds finally part. Now that the "deed is done" do they say, "Let's separate them."

Maybe we can think of it as the Ricardos' idea of birth control.

[Ireneparalegal]

The chair is changed definitely too, but I am not sure which episode. I caught that yesterday when watching ILL on my local station. I seen the murder episode and then they showed three more episodes, and the chair was different. It almost matches the loveseat that you show there in the second pic where Fred is sitting on it.

Let me also ask, remember in the gossip episode, we see the girls talking through that grate next to the fireplace? Is that the only time we see the grate? Seeing your pic there with camera swinging too much to the left, it reminded me of that.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by Madame X

Looks like the table and chair were the same in the next episode, but the love seat was definitely gone.

Attachment 130516 Attachment 130517

A fun note... When they dance in the "mickey from Ricky" scene, the camera swings too wide and we see the bedroom!

Attachment 130518

Have you ever watched closely when they switch the drinks back and forth, Ricky actually winds up with the glass with the mickey in it? Not that it matters because Lucy knocked it to the floor before he could drink it, and Lucy, even if she had the right glass, never took more than a small sip. But it still appears to be a slip-up.

[Ireneparalegal]

Also, in this episode, we see Lucy in with her hair DOWN rather than up as we are accustomed to seeing her later on.

She also wears her hair down at the end of the episode where the girls go into business having bought Hansen's store. As she and Ethel wait for the boys to come home so they could show them the $500 they made.

It is also down in the NO CHILDREN ALLOWED episode. I always preferred her hair up rather than down, only because her hair was so short. The one time she had it down and it looked beautiful was the time she was behaving like Tallulah Bankhead. Her hair was smoothed down obviously to give it that longer look.

[Madame X]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Let me also ask, remember in the gossip episode, we see the girls talking through that grate next to the fireplace? Is that the only time we see the grate? Seeing your pic there with camera swinging too much to the left, it reminded me of that.

Yeah, I caught that too. Yet another one-time-wonder! In "The Freezer," Ethel did mention that they could hear the boys through the furnace, but no grate was ever shown upstairs.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

Have you ever watched closely when they switch the drinks back and forth, Ricky actually winds up with the glass with the mickey in it? Not that it matters because Lucy knocked it to the floor before he could drink it, and Lucy, even if she had the right glass, never took more than a small sip. But it still appears to be a slip-up.

How did I miss that? I got to see that episode again.