It is hard to imagine that there was TV sixty years ago today, let alone that I Love Lucy, the most beloved sitcom of all time (my opinion but I have little doubt it isn’t true), premiered that long ago. Yes, for those who were there sixty years may not feel so long ago, but when I was four or five years old I sat with my mother looking through an old family album and stopped her, “What was it like when everything turned to color?”
She looked at me, confused. I continued, “You know, when you were little and everything was black and white… and then everything turned to color when you got bigger.”
My mom laughed and explained that the world was always in color, but film was only in black and white until scientists found a way to capture color and stick it on paper. “Oh, so is that why sometimes TV is black and white too?” She nodded.
We used to sit together and watch I Love Lucy, laughing at the crazy messes she would get herself into, comparing her to my grandmother (my mom’s mom) and the crazy messes she got herself into (there’s a story about two sets of false teeth and a trash fire… remind me to tell that story sometime).
When my Aunt hit a milestone birthday, my mom decided to make a tribute film to her, in the style of a Rhino records infomercial. But in this film, Lucy Ricardo would star – at least, my mother, in a navy dress with white polka dots, red wig and pearls, would star. She donned her costume, drew in her lips, and hit “play” on the boombox. Each song that blared from its tinny speakers was a march through the decades of my Aunt Judy’s life thus far and each was specifically chosen to represent each member of the family. My mom, mostly silent through the film, lip synced to the tunes and acted out scenarios associated with each song’s narrative. At one point our black lab, named Lucy for our favorite television star (we also had a Shar Pei named Ethel and yes, the two of them got into their own ridiculous adventures), nudged into view and barked at the stranger who was clowning it up in the dining room while I sat behind the gigantic camcorder and tried, failingly, to muffle my laughter. As the film went on my mother took tablespoon after tablespoon of Vitameatavegamin (ala Lucy’s classic episode). I don’t remember what she used for the Vitameatavegamin but she did pretend to get intoxicated and eventually turned the bottle up and swallowed the rest whole in a drunken stupor. It was hilarious.
We finished the tape, tears in our eyes, and showed it at Judy’s party. It was a hit.
It is memories like this that are triggered when watching I Love Lucy. Not only did Lucille Ball make my mom and I laugh uncontrollably but she also bonded us over humor and misadventures. Never once did we think, “Oh no, Lucy should never have done that” but instead thought “Wouldn’t it be fun to get into a mess like that?” My mother never shied away from a challenge.
So, here’s to you Lucy. To sixty great years of entertainment and memory making. I hope that generations will get to enjoy each episode for another sixty years… and then sixty after that and sixty after that.
Tommy Karr 