Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
Today is a story of January 19th.
_______________________________________________________________________________
It is the 19th day of the year, leaving 346 days remaining in 2023.
It was the ultimate mixing of stories of truth and fiction.
In reality, Ball actually did give birth that day to a son, named Desi Arnaz Jr. His father, Desi Arnaz, was Ball's husband in real life. On the show, he was also her husband, and his character was named Ricky Ricardo.
Also in reality, Lucy Goes to the Hospital which was episode 16 of the second season, was filmed three months before it aired. So the writers got it right -- their prediction that Ball's child was a boy was proven correct.
The real boy, Arnaz Jr., followed in his parent's footsteps and had a career as an actor and musician.
When Ball became pregnant, the popular show took a daring move for the time -- it decided to show her pregnancy on the program, and make it part of the I Love Lucy world. This was during a time when married couples on television were always shown to sleep in separate beds. Even the Ricardos slept in twin beds.
After the birth, the child was written into the show, named Enrique Alberto Ricardo IV and dubbed "Little Ricky." He was played by several actors, including two sets of twins. Once he was past the infant years, he was played by an actor credited as Richard Keith.
Little Ricky appeared in 29 episodes of the program, including the series finale, The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue, which aired in 1957.
No comments:
Post a Comment