You Got Some ‘Splainin To Do! Fun And Crazy “I Love Lucy” Facts

Fred and Ethel

The famous cranky couple, Fred and Ethel, did not get along at all. There was a significant age gap between the two, over twenty years, so the duo already had their differences. William Frawley, who played their landlord, Fred, actually struggled with alcoholism in real life. You can sometimes see his hands shaking in up-close scenes.

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Frawley’s alcoholism, doubled with the fact that Vivian Vance resented their age difference resulted in a lot of friction in their onscreen relationship. However, this helped the pair play off each other quite well. The two were supposed to have the essence of an old married couple, and their disdain of the other contributed to the authenticity of that.

Expecting

Lucille Ball made history as the first actual pregnant woman shown on television. Ever. Crazy, right? Instead of hiding the pregnancy, as many television shows have done and continue to do, it was written into the script.

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In real life, Ball was pregnant with their second child, Desi Jr., but on the show, it was Ricky and Lucy’s first baby. The episodes that depicted Lucy as pregnant had to be worded very carefully, as not to offend a ’50s television audience. The episode where Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky was one of the most popular, with about 44 million viewers.