I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley.
The unaired pilot was kinescoped on March 2, 1951 and was considered lost until the widow of Pepito Pérez, a clown who appears in it, notified CBS Entertainment president Bud Grant that she owned a copy given to her husband by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball.
[7][8] The pilot was first broadcast as part of a 60-minute special on CBS television stations nationwide on Monday, April 30, 1990, 39 years after it was originally filmed.
The original 2003 DVD edition of I Love Lucy contained the pilot episode with a reconstruction of the opening titles and voiceover.
The original 35mm kinescope of the pilot was later located in the CBS archives and was included in the Season 1 Blu-ray release on August 4, 2015.
[10] Desperate to balance her household accounts, Lucy agrees to a quiz show stunt in order to win $1,000, and must introduce a stranger to Ricky as her "long lost husband."
Lucy dons a disguise and heads for the Tropicana, upset by a gossip column item that links Ricky with Rosemary, a dancer at the club.
Lucy intercepts a letter for Ricky that asks him to appear at local Army base Fort Dix.
Lucy ends up performing on stage when she agrees to take care of young twin boys who are set to appear in an amateur hour hosted by Ricky.
Guest Stars: Bea Benaderet as Miss Lewis and Edward Everett Horton as Mr. Ritter.
Wanting to be in the new act at Ricky's club, Lucy practices as a ballerina, then has a lesson in burlesque with the routine "Slowly I Turned".
Lucy tries pairing her up with another teenager (Richard Crenna) by attempting to teach the boy to dance--but this backfires when he falls for her.
In the April 9, 2020 episode of Will & Grace, Debra Messing as Lucy, Matt Cook as the director and Brian Michael Jones as Joe, re-enacted the commercial scene.
[13] After being late for dinner with his new boss Mr. Littlefield (Gale Gordon), Ricky is determined to teach Lucy the importance of punctuality, so he puts her on a rigid time schedule.
After boarding the ocean liner SS Constitution, Lucy goes ashore just one more time to kiss Little Ricky goodbye, and misses the boat.
En route to Rome, an Italian movie producer offers Lucy a role in a color film called Bitter Grapes.
[12] Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel reminisce (via flashbacks of previous episodes) as they trim the tree on Christmas Eve.
Lucy promises to produce Superman (George Reeves) for Little Ricky's fifth birthday party, but must make alternate plans when he is unable to attend.
In a flashback to 1940, Lucy McGillicuddy and her best friend Susie MacNamara (Ann Sothern whose character makes a crossover appearance from her CBS show Private Secretary) are cruising Havana, where they encounter two tour guides, Ricky Ricardo and his friend, Carlos Garcia (Cesar Romero).
Once Lucy discovers that a celebrity is in her midst, she tries to win her friendship by inviting her to an elegant dinner party—with Fred and Ethel posing as hired help.
Ricky and his band have been booked to play at the Sands Casino in Las Vegas, and Lucy hopes the trip will allow her an opportunity to go uranium hunting.
Fred and Ethel are keen on the idea but Ricky forbids it, until mysterious headlines put the entire town in a uproar.
While in Sun Valley, the girls meet Fernando Lamas and Lucy hatches a scheme to make Ricky jealous enough to join them.
Lucy does not want to be a housewife any longer and appears on Paul Douglas' "Early Bird Show" as his "Girl Friday."