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This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Program PEOPLE IN

AMERICA. Today, we tell about the much-loved performer Lucille Ball. Her

famous television series, “I Love Lucy,” was first broadcast in nineteen-

fifty-one.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The “I Love Lucy” show was a huge success. It was the most popular

television show of the Nineteen-fifties. The kind of television program Mizz

Ball helped develop is called a situation comedy. Some television experts

give her credit for inventing this kind of series. Today, some of the most

popular television programs in America are situation comedies.

VOICE TWO:

One reason for the great popularity of “I Love Lucy” may have been its

real-life connection with Mizz Ball’s family. On the show, she was Lucy, the

wife of Ricky Ricardo, a Cuban musician. Ricky was played by band leader Desi

Arnaz, who was Lucille Ball’s husband in real life. The show combined issues

common to the life of married people living in the city with musical

performances and comic theater.

Often, a show would include a part with Mister Arnaz acting seriously while

Mizz Ball added a funny element. In the following piece, Mister Arnaz tries

to sing normally and Mizz Ball adds the comedy:

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Also on the “I Love Lucy” show were Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Mizz

Vance played Ethel Mertz and Mister Frawley played Ethel’s husband, Fred

Mertz. On the show, the Mertzes were friends of the Ricardos and owned the

building in which they all lived.

Fred Mertz loved baseball, which was America’s most popular sport at the

time. “I Love Lucy,” often showed Fred Mertz intensely watching baseball or

some other sport like boxing while Ethel added her own funny comments:

(COMMENTS)

VOICE TWO:

A well-known story about the “I Love Lucy Show” concerns the birth of the

Arnaz’s son, Desi Junior. Officials of the broadcasting company wondered

what to do when Mizz Ball became pregnant in nineteen-fifty-two. Mizz Ball

explains that her husband, Desi, came up with a solution:

(COMMENTS)

VOICE ONE:

Mizz Ball’s pregnancy was made part of the show. In fact, critics say the

show in which Lucy Ricardo tells Ricky that she is pregnant is one of the

best. In it, Lucy goes to the entertainment place where Ricky’s band is

playing to tell him that they are going to have a baby. Ricky suddenly

understands that he is going to be a father after Lucy secretly requests the

song, “We’re having a Baby:”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Mizz Ball gave birth to her second child on the same day that Lucy Ricardo

gave birth. In fact, Desi Junior’s birth date was planned to happen on the

same day as the broadcast.

The show in which Lucy gave birth was one of the most popular television

programs ever broadcast in America. (In fact, the story is that Desi Junior’

s birth replaced reports about Dwight Eisenhower’s first presidential

ceremony on the front pages of America’s newspapers.) OPT