8 Great Bits of I Love Lucy Trivia

During the 10 years the I Love Lucy sitcom aired on CBS (from 1951 to 1961) her wacky antics and trademark pouting wail made her a beloved American comedy icon. Multitudes of Baby Boomers grew up watching Lucille Ball, her on-screen and off-screen husband Desi Arnaz and their best friends and neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance). The off-screen lives of Lucy and Desi were as fascinating to the public as their comedy roles. Much has been chronicled about Lucy trivia.

But, thanks to Sitcoms Online, we’ve found some little known tidbits about the show, the actors, the advertisers and more. The Web site credits Internet Movie Database for the trivia.

1. Actors Bea Benederete and Gail Gordon were Lucy and Desi’s first choice to play the Mertzes.

2. Desi Arnaz invented the rerun. He aired some episodes from the first season to give pregnant Lucy some time to rest.

3. The word “lucky” was banned from the Lucy shows: Sponsor Phillip Morris banned it because they feared the word might make viewers think about their main competitors, Lucky Strikes.

4. Because space was limited on the sound stage, the Ricardos’ bedroom is also the set for the Mertzes’ living room. They just moved around the furniture.

5. The “valentine” that appeared in the opening credits wasn’t the original opener. When the series first hit America’s TV screens, the opening credits featured animated stick figures of Lucy and Desi along with Phillip Morris cigarettes. The valentine appeared in 1958.

6. I Love Lucy was one of the first shows filmed in Hollywood. In the early ’50s, most live shows were filmed in Manhattan.

7. Lucy’s character’s age was always a running joke on the show, because she would never reveal the year of her birth. Except in a single show: Viewers of “The Passport” episode learned that she was born on Aug. 6, 1921 in West Jamestown, N.Y.

8. The Ricardos’ address was 623 East 68th Street in Manhattan. But 68th Street only extends to the 600 address, which means that the Ricardos’ home would have been in the East River.

The page dedicated to ‘I Love Lucy’ has lots more trivia and information about the show. You can even download the theme song or some episode clips and resurrect those black and white memories.