Making Lucy iconic: How writers crafted Lucille Ball's TV character
When we all first watched I Love Lucy, writers were perhaps the profession furthest from our minds. Lucille Ball was such an incredible performer that it seemed brilliant physical comedy routines flowed from her very veins. The "Lucy" character seemed like such a natural extension of Ball's own personality, that surely she just drew from experience, right? At least when we were all kids, it felt like the whole world was self-contained, and it all revolved around Lucy.
The truth, though, is that it takes a village to create a show as incredible as I Love Lucy. These facts don't take away from Ball's talent at all. In fact, they may just supplement and accentuate all that we see onscreen. The full story, as explained by the people who made the series, paints Lucille Ball as not just a naturally gifted performer, but also a vessel for incredible writing.
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Madelyn Pugh, writer for I Love Lucy recalled how the writing sessions revolved around Ball. The other actors in the series were important, but they were mostly foils for Lucy. So, when Pugh is quoted in Charles HIgham's Lucy: The Life of Lucille Ball, she focuses on how the writers centered everything around the star of the show.
"Jess, Bob, and I would come up with a one-line idea, a 'What if?'" Pugh explained.
"Like, 'What if Lucy bakes her own bread?' Then the three of us would figure out all of these crazy situations that could emerge from that one premise. Bob and I would write the script during the week and turn it in to Jess on Friday; he would make any additions or changes he thought might improve it, and the script would be delivered to the four stars over the weekend."
Pugh continued, "When Lucy first met you, she tended to be a bit wary, a little challenging. But once you convinced her you knew what you were doing, she would trust your ideas all the way. Some of the stunts we wrote for her could have been dangerous. Yet never once did Lucy back off from any of them, although Desi frequently wanted her to because he was concerned for her safety. She trusted us enough to know that Bob and I had worked out every piece of business ourselves beforehand to make sure it could be done.
"If Lucy had to climb into a barrel, say, then she'd know it was possible because we'd done it ourselves. In one script, we had her working with an elephant. You don't realize just how big and unpredictable an elephant can be until you're standing next to one. If the script called for her to hide dozens of uncooked eggs inside her dress, she knew that I'd tried it myself first to see if it was possible and if it was funny."
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