I Love Lucy and Desilu Lucille Ball

a scene love lucy episode lucy goes scotland , 1956



with john wayne in love lucy, 1955

in 1948, ball cast liz cugat (later cooper ), wacky wife, in favorite husband, radio program cbs radio. program successful, , cbs asked develop television. agreed, insisted on working real-life husband, cuban bandleader desi arnaz. cbs executives reluctant, thinking public not accept all-american redhead , cuban couple. cbs not impressed pilot episode produced couple s desilu productions company, couple toured road in vaudeville act lucy zany housewife wanting in arnaz s show. tour great success, , cbs put love lucy lineup. love lucy show not star vehicle lucille ball, way try salvage marriage arnaz, had become badly strained, in part because both had hectic performing schedules kept them apart due desi s attraction other women.

along way, created television dynasty , reached several firsts . ball first woman in television head of production company: desilu, company arnaz , formed. after divorce, ball bought out arnaz s share of studio, , proceeded function active studio head. desilu , love lucy pioneered number of methods still in use in television production today such filming before live studio audience number of cameras, , distinct sets adjacent each other. during time, ball taught 32-week comedy workshop @ brandeis-bardin institute. ball quoted saying, cannot teach comedy; either have or don t.

ball , arnaz wanted remain in los angeles home, time zone logistics made broadcast norm impossible. prime time in l.a. late @ night on east coast air major network series, meaning majority of tv audience seeing not inferior picture of kinescopes, seeing them @ least day later.

sponsor philip morris did not want show day-old kinescopes major markets on east coast, yet neither did want pay cost filming, processing, , editing require, pressuring ball , arnaz relocate new york city. ball , arnaz offered take pay cut finance filming, on condition company, desilu, retain rights film once aired. cbs relinquished show rights desilu after initial broadcast, not realizing giving away valuable , durable asset. in 1957, cbs bought rights $1,000,000 ($8.53 million in today s terms), provided ball , arnaz down payment purchase of former rko pictures studios, became desilu studios.

i love lucy dominated ratings in united states of run. (an attempt made adapt show radio; cast , writers adapted memorable breaking lease episode – in ricardos , mertzes fall out on argument, ricardos threaten move, stuck in firm lease – radio audition disc never aired, has survived.) scene in lucy , ricky practice tango, in episode lucy tango , evoked longest recorded studio audience laugh in history of show; long, sound editor had cut particular part of soundtrack in half. during show s production breaks, lucy , desi starred in 2 feature films: long, long trailer (1954) , forever, darling (1956). after love lucy ended run in 1957, main cast continued appear in occasional hour-long specials under title lucy–desi comedy hour until 1960.

desilu produced several other popular shows, such untouchables, star trek, , mission: impossible. studio sold $17,000,000 ($122 million in today s terms) , merged paramount pictures in 1967.