I Love Lucille Ball

Improved Essays
In the 1950s, every Monday night nearly 16 million Americans throughout the country interrupted their daily schedules to tune in to the timeless family show, I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball and her crew explored the possibilities of television and its untapped potential that would forever alter America’s entertainment industry. Prior to Lucille Ball’s work, there were very few television shows in existence. The television business was risky, few people had a television within their home and even fewer people tuned in regularly to watch. Despite the risks, Lucille Ball pushed onward and in doing so, she became a pioneer of the television industry. Lucille Ball grew up taking risks and trying to make a name for herself, a struggle that began in her earliest years. Lucille grew up destitute and after a failed attempt in drama school, she turned to modeling which later rekindled her passion for acting. Originally, Lucille Ball was cast as background characters in movies, but slowly she worked her way up to the lead roles in B-movies. Through her acting career she met her future husband, Desi Arnaz, and the duo later become one of the most widely known couples in America. It came as a shock when Lucille’s agent proposed that she star in a television show based on the popular radio show “My Favorite Husband.” It came as a larger shock to CBS when Lucille Ball refused to be in the television show unless her latin husband, Desi Arnaz, was given a role. However CBS rejected the idea, claiming that Americans would never believe in the interracial marriage between an all American Ball and a Cuban Arnaz. Lucille Ball, undaunted by their rejection, set out to prove CBS wrong, taking their show I Love Lucy on the road, vaudeville style. While on the road, they developed a great following and were met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from their audiences. When the success of their travelling show reached CBS, they reconsidered and offered Lucille Ball the job again and gave Desi Arnaz the role as her husband on the show. Lucille Ball accepted the opportunity and became a pioneer in a new medium. Lucille has forever changed modern day entertainment through the creation of one of America's most beloved programs and one of the first television series in history. She helped shape and reflect her society both onscreen and behind the scenes by adapting movie technology for television, depicting the societal roles of men and woman and created a lasting impact on future comedians and on the television industry. During the 1950s, technological strides were made in various fields, one of which was media productions. Ball’s show I Love Lucy, was the first television show to adapt movie technology for television purposes. To effectively film the television show, Ball and her crew sought the help of cinematographer and film director, Karl Freund. Freund developed the three-camera technique, in which …show more content…
The news article entitled “America Still Loves Lucy” written by Brian Arthurs states, “The show struck a chord in American living rooms, with its comedic depictions of an everyday housewife and her hardworking musician husband” (Arthurs, 1). The show depicted the societal roles of men and women, showing Lucy’s subservience to her husband Ricky, which fit into society’s idea of a woman in her proper place. However, the show also challenged the roles of men and women set by their predecessors. Lucille Ball’s character appealed to many women of the time period who yearned for something more than being a housewife. The news article goes on to say, "Women identified with Lucy … She showed that (women) could be hungry to do more with their lives without it being too feminist (for the era)" (Arthurs, 1). I Love Lucy challenged racist views held by the audience and producers by casting Cuban Desi Arnaz as the husband to American Lucille Ball. Ball also went on to become the first pregnant woman shown on television, however because of the conservative time the writers were not allowed to use the word “pregnant,” rather they had to use words like “expecting”. Although the show remained respectful to the values of the time, it was also monumental in tearing down gender and racial barriers facing people in the 20th

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    She went against most of the social norms in the 1800’s…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1950s Sports Essay

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    TV was first developed in the 1930s, but aggressive marketing of the newest technology wasn’t a concern during the war. “In 1946, there were fewer than 17,000 television sets in the U.S. Three years later, consumers were buying sets at a rate of 250,000 per month. The buying frenzy continued throughout the 1950s and by 1960 three-quarters of all American families owned at least one TV.” (Sports in America in the 1950s)…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reading Pages Report: “Signs of intelligent Life on TV” Summary Susan Douglas’s “Signs of Intelligent Life on TV” discusses the emergence of feminism and the presence of intelligent, powerful, and hardworking women on TV. Douglas discusses how in some shows the writers will present female characters that defy gender stereotypes, however there are still signs of cultural bias against women in these shows. She acknowledges that in these three shows: NYPD BLUE, ER and Chicago Hope the writer acknowledges the significance of adult female audiences by including women as ongoing characters who work for a living, well-educated and strong.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I Love Lucy Analysis

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I Love Lucy I Love Lucy have been able to stay on the air for half a century and entertain millions. It is a comedy series in the 1950's about a couple ,Lucy Ricardo and Ricky Ricardo, who are friends with Ethel and Fred the owner of the apartment building in New York City were they live. The show I Love Lucy has some funny jokes and is interesting to watch to see how life was like back then but a lot of the times the jokes aren't funny and the show pertays women and immature and childish and sexist. I Love Lucy is interesting to watch because you get a slice life from how it was back then. Some examples are Rick is smoking which was common an excepting while now if you smoke people will glare at you.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Television plays a huge role in today’s society. The shows on television entertain most of America, but inform them in the process. When television first came out it was a large step in society, but it was also look down on by many American’s. However, even though handfuls look down on television the rise in popularity sky rocketed. Many people today still look down on television due to the belief that watching television makes the viewers dumber.…

    • 227 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moore tried to get spin-offs of The Mary Tyler Moore Show to catch on, but unfortunately they did…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    1960s Television Imagine yourself sitting in the living room with your family. It’s the mid 1960s, and you’re flipping through channels until you reach CNN, where John F. Kennedy is standing at his post, giving a speech, with Nixon right behind him. You are watching the very first televised presidential debate. You decide to watch something else, so you click the remote, and Fred Flintstone appears on the screen, living life in the town of Bedrock.…

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This shift in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, that involved an integration of African American roles into national television programs, was a reflection of what was occurring in reality. In Edgerton’s essay, he states that “prime-time television during the 1960s was always reflective of what was going on in American society and culture”(248). This new inclusion of African Americans into television was in relation to America’s values in the social and political world. The nation was changing as more people became interested in racial reform and activism. Large television networks tuned into this shift and responded by creating more roles for African American actors.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although set in the 70s, The Mary Tyler Moore Show is one of the few timeless programs that remains relatable today. As an extremely likeable character, Mary embodies an innocence along with wholesome humor and her experiences are not too out of line with the average career woman today. While modern viewers of the show would perceive Mary’s life as normal, the experiences of a single independent career woman were anything but normal in 70s society; in fact, Mary Tyler Moore was regarded a television revolutionary. The Mary Tyler Moore Show set a precedent for empowering women and incrementally redefining the mold of what an average woman’s life should look like. The show became a hit due to its confrontation of taboo topics and support for…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Claire Hartmann was the first woman to have TV in her block. She observed people come to her house every Monday night to watch I Love Lucy. (Hartmann) Sometimes, there was only one house in the block where a family could afford TV, and people would come to that house to watch TVs together. People used their free time differently than the time during which they only had radios to…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jack R. Poppele once said,“Television’s future is as expansive as the human mind can comprehend.” This is true considering the enormous advances that have been made in the television industry, since Philo Farnsworth first demonstrated it to the public in 1927. In 1945 it was estimated that there were less than 10,000 television sets in American households, which later rose to 52 million sets in 1960. Nowadays 96.7 percent of Americans have a television in their household, and the average American watches 5 hours of TV a day. Television has swiftly changed American culture in extreme ways, along with impacting the views of politics, education, and entertainment.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 1950’s was known as the Golden Age of television in the United States. During this time beauty pageants, Barbie, and Marilyn Monroe were all popular in society. Beauty pageants gave families something to watch together. Barbie’s gave young girls something to imagine and play with. Marilyn Monroe became a famous icon in Hollywood as well as movies.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fred Brooks is the first recipient of ACM Allen Newel Award. This award is presented as a token of honour to the individuals for their contributions in bridging Computer Science with other disciplines. In the article “The Computer Scientist as Toolsmith – II”, Brooks has given the opinion that Computer Science is probably not the best name that is coined for the discipline of computers which deals with solving problems for the users. Explaining the core difference between Science and Engineering, he states that Science is about discovering facts and laws of the universe, but engineering is about creating new things. In Computer Science, we are focussed on creating new things/new solutions, so the discipline can be appropriately referred as…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Women equality in the media has increased over time, but it is still not equal to the men's. Women are seen as “Just women” and the media is inferring that women are not capable of the same things that men are. Women are put in a box that labels them in negative ways. In my research paper I will be explaining the inequality for women in the news, sports journalism and also entertainment. News journalism is a demanding field for both women and men, so why is it when you turn on your daily news you're less likely to see a women representation?…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    ENGL 1515 ASSIGNMENT “TELEVISION” BY ROALD DAHL: AN ANALYTIC REVIEW NAME : NUR AFIFAH BINTI NOR HASBI MATRIC NO : 1416044 SECTION : 1 LECTURER : DR. MD.…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays