October 1, 2025
I Love Lucy
By Kari Smith
Editor-in-Chief
On October 15, 1951, the first episode of the popular American sitcom I Love Lucy aired.
Did you know:
- Lucille Ball agreed to star in I Love Lucy only if her real-life husband was cast in the co-starring role. Network executives and sponsors, reflecting xenophobic attitudes of the 1950s, hesitated to showcase an intermarriage on television.
- Lucille Ball was the first woman to appear pregnant on one of the three major television networks.
- William Frawley was a devout baseball fan and had it written into his contract that he did not have to work when the Yankees were in the World Series—which they were in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, and 1958.
- Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s fictional phone number was Murray Hill 5-9975. The New York Bell Telephone Company designated this unused number specifically for the show.
- The I Love Lucy Christmas episode was one of the first holiday specials in television history. In 2013, 8.7 million viewers tuned in when CBS aired a colorized version of the episode during the holiday season.
- Most television shows in the early 1950s were shot live in New York City. I Love Lucy was among the very first shows to film in Los Angeles, contributing to a trend that established Hollywood as the capital of broadcasting in the United States.
- Lucille Ball’s mother, DeDe, attended every single taping of I Love Lucy, and her distinctive laughter can be heard clearly on the show’s soundtrack.
- I Love Lucy’s credit sequences originally featured cartoon versions of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo that were created by the Hanna–Barbera animation studio. These credits were replaced by the more familiar satin heart logo in syndication.
