Lucille Ball perfected I Love Lucy on the road before it ever aired its first episode
Despite the fact that I Love Lucy premiered in the 1950s, the show still manages to entertain and captivate audiences everywhere. Not only is it the gold standard for television everywhere, but a series like I Love Lucy has the sort of class and quality, to the point where it can still hold its own against modern television.
Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball built the series from the ground up, and while they worked hard to ensure that they were creating a comedic series, they had no idea just how long audiences would be laughing at I Love Lucy.
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In an interview with The Oregonian, Arnaz maintained that the production of each episode was developed around some sort of feeling.
"We took some basic human emotion - fear, jealousy - and from that solid foundation, we could take off in seventy-two directions," Arnaz said. "Lucy, a great clown, could go to extremes as long as the basis was there."
Apparently, "clown" is a more than appropriate description. Arnaz revealed that some of Lucy's bits originated from one of his old fishing pals, Pepito the Spanish Clown. "I said she might be able to use some of his old clown routines," said Arnaz. There are multiple moments throughout the pilot that utilize Pepito's musical bits.
Ball and Arnaz also had further assistance from radio writers who had previously worked on Ball's show, My Favorite Husband.
But like any great recipe, the best thing that went into the preparation of I Love Lucy was time. Lucy joined Desi during live performances, and used her time on stage to workshop possible bits for I Love Lucy, testing what the audience responded best to.
"She went on the road with me and the band," he said. "And the material she used was 85 percent of the future I Love Lucy show."
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