Twelve hours before the original broadcast on January 19, 1953, the actress who played Lucy, Lucille Ball, had given birth to Desi Arnaz Jr. by cesarean section.
)[2] When the episode premiered on January 19, 1953, 73.9% of all American homes with television sets tuned in, amounting to 44 million viewers watching the episode, a record until September 9, 1956, when Elvis Presley appeared for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show, at CBS, which drew a share of 82.6%, a figure unrivaled since.
[4] According to the Indian newspaper The Telegraph, scripts for the episode were reviewed by a rabbi, a minister, and a priest in order to make sure it would not be offensive.
The cover story of Newsweek on January 19, 1953 was about the episode (which had not yet been aired when the issue went to press).
The first issue of TV Guide, dated April 3, 1953, featured a cover photo of newborn Desi Arnaz Jr., captioned as "Lucy's $50,000,000 Baby".