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LUCILLE & DESI SOLVE A PARENT PROBLEM
November 22, 1952
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were on the cover of TV Digest for the week of November 22, 1952. The inside article was titled “Lucille and Desi Solve a Parent Problem.”
“With a baby due in January, how does the show stay on the air?”
The article reveals that the past summer hiatus was spent ‘banking’ enough episodes of the show to last through March 1953. Using a photo of Lucy tumbling through an open window in “The Anniversary Present” (ILL S2;E3) aired on September 29, 1952 but filmed on May 9, 1952, the article asserts that physical comedy will be temporarily omitted from future episodes. A candid photo depicts Lucille and Desi relaxing with their infant daughter, Lucille Desiree.
The inside listings include the original broadcast of “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) first aired on Monday, November 24, 1952. At the time of filming, Lucille Ball was already four months pregnant, although it was not yet part of the storyline on the show. To hide her condition, Lucy dressed in loose-fitting clothes throughout the episode. The big announcement would come two weeks later in “Lucy is Enceinte” (ILL S2;E10) aired on December 8, 1952.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Also on November 22, 1952, an Arlington Heights, Illinois, cinema offered a double bill of Cuban Pete (1944) starring Desi Arnaz and Lover Come Back (1946) starring Lucille Ball, which was retitled for its’ 1952 re-release Lucy Goes Wild to capitalize on the success of “I Love Lucy.” In the early 1950s cinemas were worried that competition from TV would make them obsolete.
The State Theatre in Richmond, Indiana, also wooed people away from the television into their popcorn palace, this time with second-run screenings of Look Who’s Talking (1941) and Too Many Girls (1940).
Nationwide, other cinemas were taking a similar tact with re-bookings of:
Fancy Pants (1950) in Bunkie, Louisiana and Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Sorrowful Jones (1949) in El Paso, Texas
A double bill of The Fuller Brush Man (1948) and The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) in Dorchester, Massachusetts
The Magic Carpet (1951) in Vancouver, British Columbia
Too Many Girls (1940) in Miami Beach, Florida
In a San Mateo, California, newspaper, Bob Foster credited the success of “I Love Lucy” with saving General Services Studios from bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, one of Lucy and Desi’s favorite vacation spots, an appliance dealership in Honolulu was tempting potential viewers to buy a set in order to see “I Love Lucy” and other great shows when network television broadcasts finally arrived on the island in December 1952.
Groff’s Hardware in New Holland, Pennsylvania, took out a classified ad to let readers know they were selling the “I Love Lucy” baby doll.
Erkskine Johnson did a story on the ubiquitous laugh track, getting a quote from “I Love Lucy” DP Karl Freund.
SATURDAY’S SYNDICATED STORIES!
Lucy’s friend and future co-star Hedda Hopper claimed Lucy often wore ribbons in her hair, making her look like a Christmas tree. B. Kaper is composer Bronisław Kaper, who scored Without Love (1945) starring Lucille Ball and would also score Forever, Darling starring Lucy and Desi in 1956.
Walter Winchell’s “Broadway and Elsewhere” reported that the latest “I Love Lucy” episode was “30 minutes long and a smile wide...” There was no new episode the previous Monday (November 17, 1952), so Winchell must be referring to “The Courtroom” (ILL S2;E7) which aired on Monday, November 10, 1952.
Erskine Johnson’s November 22, 1952, syndicated column “In Hollywood...” provided an anecdote about an “I Love Lucy” fan and the show’s record-setting viewership.
Dorothy Kilgallen’s syndicated column “Broadway: Gossip in Gotham” reported that Lucy and Desi were thinking about moving production of “I Love Lucy” to Cuba for tax reasons! As history knows, this never happened and sounds highly unlikely knowing Desi’s patriotic love of the USA.
Earl Wilson’s November 22, 1952 syndicated column “It Happened Last Night” closed with a barb attributed to Lucille Ball: “Will you please excuse me while you leave my table?”
TV DIGEST
August 9, 1952
On August 9, 1952 Lucy and Desi were featured on the cover of TV Digest, a competitor of TV Guide as part of their inside story “Visiting The Stars on Vacation”. The Digest was eventually absorbed by TV Guide when it went national in March 1953.
The Atlanta edition of TV Digest used this same cover image two weeks later, on August 23, 1952. The back cover is a full page ad for Atlanta’s Pat Murphey, an appliance business. Coming on the heels of the July presidential conventions, Murphey is pitching renting or buying a DuMont TV in preparation for the November election between GOP incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower (IKE) and the Democrat challenger Adlai Stevenson.
The three bathing beauties also gracing the cover are not identified. This is a composite photo and the Arnazs’ and the three women were not photographed together.
Both magazines feature this Jerry Doyle cartoon “How TV Stars Take Vacations”.
Lucille Ball is depicted with knitting needles and a stork with a doctors’ bag nearby, anticipating the birth of her baby in January 1953.
Abe Burrows was a Broadway and radio author who spent the summer furiously writing (hence the sweat) and appearing on the TV panel show “The Name’s The Same”.
Bob Hope and Sid Caesar, two of radio and TV’s most prolific comic actors, spent the summer of 1952 playing golf.
Bert Parks is probably best remembered as the emcee of the Miss America Pageant. During 1952, Parks had several TV shows ending in the spring and beginning in the fall. He spent his summer boating.
Red Skelton later talked about his summer vacation in the mountains and the beach on the September 28 episode of “The Red Skelton Show”. On the October 5 episode he talked about an earthquake that summer. On July 16, 1952, Central California was rocked by a 7.5 earthquake with 12 casualties. Skelton was hospitalized for an undisclosed ailment in the summer of 1952, explaining his depiction carrying a large bottle of prescription medication.
Sam Levenson was a panelist on the CBS series “This Is Show Business” along with playwright George S. Kaufman and Abe Burrows. On the same date this issue of TV Digest was published (August 9, 1952) Levenson was featured on the cover of their rival TV Forecast. Levenson spent the summer being a new father.
Perry Como was joining other recording artists of the time by transitioning to television. The summer of 1952 looks to have been spent on outdoor activities like fishing.
Jimmy Durante was a vaudeville comic and film star who, during 1952, hosted “All Star Revue”. On July 28, 1952, Durante was featured on the cover of TV Forecast, a rival publication of TV Digest.
Donald O’Connor was a song and dance man who had two films in release during the summer of 1952: Singin’ in the Rain and Francis Goes To West Point.
Of the above celebrities, only Sam Levenson and Abe Burrows (both basically writers) never appeared on television with Lucille Ball.
Other articles, ads, and features in this edition of TV Digest:
Bob Hope Exhibition Golf Tour with Jimmy Demaret ~ Both Hope and Demaret appeared on “I Love Lucy” as themselves. Golf was a favorite pastime of Desi Arnaz.
Perry Como & Ed Sullivan ~ Lucy and Desi made several appearances on “Toast of the Town” aka “The Ed Sullivan Show” starting in 1954. Como appeared on the show in 1950 and 1956.
Sid Caesar’s Family ~ Caesar married Florence Levy in 1943 and they had three children together. Caesar guest-starred on “The Lucy Show” in 1968.
Arthur Godfrey (below left) ~ Hosted the lead-in program to “I Love Lucy” in 1951. He guest-starred on “The Lucy Show” in 1965. He was also an aviator.
“Guiding Light” (above right) ~ The soap opera began airing on CBS on June 30, 1952. It was canceled in 2009. In 1977, CBS stopped network reruns of Lucille Ball sitcoms in order to allow “Guiding Light” to expand to a full hour.
Guy Madison & Andy Devine (below left) ~ played Wild Bill Hickok and Pete ‘Jingles’ Jones in the TV series “The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” (1951-58) on CBS.
“Racket Squad” (above right) ~ was a CBS crime drama from 1950 to 1953 originally sponsored by Philip Morris, just like “I Love Lucy.”
Robert Montgomery & Angela Lansbury (below left) ~ were then collaborating on a second installment of his NBC show “Robert Montgomery Presents” (1950-58) which aired in 1953. They first collaborated in 1950. Lucille Ball later played the role Lansbury made famous on stage in the musical Mame.
The Dave Garroway Story (above right) ~ Dave Garroway was then the host of the new NBC morning program “Today”. In 1952 he also hosted the first five episodes of “All Star Summer Revue” until it was taken over by Jan Murray on August 2. He interviewed Lucille Ball on his short-lived series “Garroway” in 1970.
Lucille Ball was also seen on the cover of TV Digest in October 1951 (her first on such a guide), May 1952, October 1952, November 1952, and December 1952.
The cover photo was part of a larger photo shoot of Lucy and Desi in a motorboat.
Carol Burnett on tv digest cover
A few years ago, before I ever got a tumblr, TV digest held a contest for which show would be put on the next cover. Fans could vote for certain shows, and I voted for How I Met Your Mother. Supernatural won, and I remember thinking, "Really? People watch that show?" Now I understand.
(via and everything else too: TV Digest (July 11 - 17th, 1964) STL)