"The Lucy Show" memories

[Neil]

My early memories of "The Lucy Show" part one

 

Summer of 1962: My parents, the ol' pinch-pennies, did not get the TV Guide. Nor did they get the newspaper so I had no idea what was on when. I Love Lucy was run every morning at 9:30 and I'm sure I watched it, but was not yet a die-hard fan. The earliest episodes I remember were set in Connecticut so I assume those are the ones run that summer. I kept seeing the promos for this "Lucy Desi Comedy Hour" but with a 9:00 bedtime was not able to watch it. My parents did and sometimes I'd sneak down and watch from behind them until I was caught. As the daylight hours stretched I was able to stay up later and did catch a few. But what really caught my eye were the promos for this new series that was set to debut in the fall "the Lucy Show". I always liked physical comedy and the promo that featured her bouncing on the trampoline intrigued me. Unfortunately I started school and my newly imposed school-season bedtime was set at 8:30! I wheedled, cajoled and implored (and if all else failed was prepared to cry) to get a Monday night exemption and from Oct. 1, 1962 on, I was hooked. Except for a few occasions beyond my control, I watched every episode first run through 1974!

Though these morning I Love Lucy's were only 5 years old, the styles had changed so dramatically that these shows seemed from another era. Lucy's look had also changed so much that it was a while before I realized that this morning Lucy and the evening Lucy were actually the same person.

On the evening of April 8, 1963 my mother hosted her women's club meeting at our house and I was shipped off to the neighbors, who had their set tuned to another channel! I was too shy to request a switch to channel 6 (our CBS affiliate) so I missed "Lucy is a Chaperone". It was not among the handful of episodes rerun before being replaced by "Vacation Playhouse" so I did not see that episode until we got "The Lucy Show"'s syndication version in the late 70s. When CBS started running TLS as part of their morning line up, they started with the 2nd season because it (unbeknownst to me) was in color. They eventually ran the first season after showing the 6th, but only ran those TWICE before going all-color. I would set up my reel tape recorder and would listen to these so I heard "Chaperone" years before I saw it. Even though I had seen the 2nd season, 5 years had passed between the initial showings and CBS's morning showings so my memory of the originals was a bit vague. It was an interesting way to experience TLS because it was so visual (more on that in "PART TWO").

On May 6, 1963 I was hit by a car. I wasn't severely injured but was pretty banged up because my face hit the pavement. Though relegated to bed, I insisted on being moved to the couch for that evening's showing of TLS. One of my visitors, knowing my love of TLS brought over a TV Guide which listed the evening's episode as "First in a series of reruns". I remember thinking "could this day get any WORSE??"

My spirits were lifted when I was treated to one of the best of the season "Lucy and the Electric Mattress" Episode #12. After which I could honestly say "It only hurts when I laugh".

[Mot Morenzi]

My early memories of "The Lucy Show" part one

 

Summer of 1962: My parents, the ol' pinch-pennies, did not get the TV Guide. Nor did they get the newspaper so I had no idea what was on when. I Love Lucy was run every morning at 9:30 and I'm sure I watched it, but was not yet a die-hard fan. The earliest episodes I remember were set in Connecticut so I assume those are the ones run that summer. I kept seeing the promos for this "Lucy Desi Comedy Hour" but with a 9:00 bedtime was not able to watch it. My parents did and sometimes I'd sneak down and watch from behind them until I was caught. As the daylight hours stretched I was able to stay up later and did catch a few. But what really caught my eye were the promos for this new series that was set to debut in the fall "the Lucy Show". I always liked physical comedy and the promo that featured her bouncing on the trampoline intrigued me. Unfortunately I started school and my newly imposed school-season bedtime was set at 8:30! I wheedled, cajoled and implored (and if all else failed was prepared to cry) to get a Monday night exemption and from Oct. 1, 1962 on, I was hooked. Except for a few occasions beyond my control, I watched every episode first run through 1974!

Though these morning I Love Lucy's were only 5 years old, the styles had changed so dramatically that these shows seemed from another era. Lucy's look had also changed so much that it was a while before I realized that this morning Lucy and the evening Lucy were actually the same person.

On the evening of April 8, 1963 my mother hosted her women's club meeting at our house and I was shipped off to the neighbors, who had their set tuned to another channel! I was too shy to request a switch to channel 6 (our CBS affiliate) so I missed "Lucy is a Chaperone". It was not among the handful of episodes rerun before being replaced by "Vacation Playhouse" so I did not see that episode until we got "The Lucy Show"'s syndication version in the late 70s. When CBS started running TLS as part of their morning line up, they started with the 2nd season because it (unbeknownst to me) was in color. They eventually ran the first season after showing the 6th, but only ran those TWICE before going all-color. I would set up my reel tape recorder and would listen to these so I heard "Chaperone" years before I saw it. Even though I had seen the 2nd season, 5 years had passed between the initial showings and CBS's morning showings so my memory of the originals was a bit vague. It was an interesting way to experience TLS because it was so visual (more on that in "PART TWO").

On May 6, 1963 I was hit by a car. I wasn't severely injured but was pretty banged up because my face hit the pavement. Though relegated to bed, I insisted on being moved to the couch for that evening's showing of TLS. One of my visitors, knowing my love of TLS brought over a TV Guide which listed the evening's episode as "First in a series of reruns". I remember thinking "could this day get any WORSE??"

My spirits were lifted when I was treated to one of the best of the season "Lucy and the Electric Mattress" Episode #12. After which I could honestly say "It only hurts when I laugh".

 

How fun to read! It's great hearing memories of those who experienced these shows back when they first aired. Can't wait for part two!

[chedderchester]

My early memories of "The Lucy Show" part one

 

I would set up my reel tape recorder and would listen to these so I heard "Chaperone" years before I saw it.

 

 

I don't get it; if they were running "Chaperone," and you were able to record it with the tape recorder, how did you not watch it? Dang . . . next to "Lucy Buys a Boat," that is my 2nd favorite episode of the season. If I saw the promos and was really looking forward to 8:30, I would've been so MAD that I had to miss it, especially during the days when you couldn't just DVR it, or go to the on demand channels or on Hulu. And how dare your neighbors don't have the channel switched onto Lucy! lol.

 

 

What a great read! Looking forward to P2.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

I don't get it; if they were running "Chaperone," and you were able to record it with the tape recorder, how did you not watch it? Dang . . . next to "Lucy Buys a Boat," that is my 2nd favorite episode of the season. If I saw the promos and was really looking forward to 8:30, I would've been so MAD that I had to miss it, especially during the days when you couldn't just DVR it, or go to the on demand channels or on Hulu. And how dare your neighbors don't have the channel switched onto Lucy! lol.

 

 

What a great read! Looking forward to P2.

Because when he said recorder, he referred to an audio only (albeit higher end) reel-to-reel recorder: Remember this is before the advent even of cassette tape and recorders (early 70s) and later, the introduction and fairly quick "boom" of home video recording (anyone remember Betamax??) in the mid to late 70s. The format really took off in the 80s once more folks got machines (often more than one/one for each TV) and the home video movie rental market exploded -- until then, it was unheard of to be able to "program" your own movie-night-at-home to watch whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, something we certainly take for granted today but when I stop and think how things have changed just since I was a kid!

 

Back then, you'd scan your TV Guide to look for something you didn't want to miss seeing, knowing you'd only have that "one shot" -- especially if it was the rare movie or "special" that more often than not, would end up airing only once! -- as opposed to today where I can stream from my PC to my HDTV(thank you, Netflix!) to watch movies and TV shows or if it's not available via that form yet, waddle a block over to my nearest Redbox and in seconds, have a current release DVD or Blu Ray disc in my hands!

Wonder what Lucy what think of that??

 

 

[Taylor]

Wonder what Lucy what think of that??

 

Can you imagine her trying to figure out how to work a DVD player or the Netflix streaming movies, let alone anything on a computer. LOL. Didn't she have enough trouble figuring out TV remotes and such? I could just see her saying "To hell with it!"

[chedderchester]

Can you imagine her trying to figure out how to work a DVD player or the Netflix streaming movies, let alone anything on a computer. LOL. Didn't she have enough trouble figuring out TV remotes and such? I could just see her saying "To hell with it!"

 

 

Haha lol. We saw her trying to use a computer in LWL "Lucy Makes Curtis Byte the dust," where she pressed the "1" key too long and ordered 111 lawn mowers.

 

And yes I knew what he meant, I am just asking if he could tape record only the audio, how could he have not WATCHED it if he was right in front of the TV?

[Neil]

Haha lol. We saw her trying to use a computer in LWL "Lucy Makes Curtis Byte the dust," where she pressed the "1" key too long and ordered 111 lawn mowers.

 

And yes I knew what he meant, I am just asking if he could tape record only the audio, how could he have not WATCHED it if he was right in front of the TV?

 

I did not get a tape recorder until much later than the original showing of "Chaperone". By the time this episode had its 2nd run by CBS (9am M-F) it was 1969 and I was in school. It had just one more run before the black and white shows were yanked from the rotation. Before I left for school, I'd have to turn on the TV and put my tape recorder into record, so I always had 90 minutes of lead-in: A local cartoon show and the entire "Captain Kangaroo". Each side of the reel would hold 2 hours so I had to make sure I started recording after 7:30, and do a mad dash for the bus. In order to save the show, I'd have to borrow my friends recorder but his only had 3" reels, play the show back on mine, record it on his, then play it back on his to record it on mine!--because the 3" reel only held one show and they weren't cheap!---Don't know if this makes sense, but it was a lot of work (so who had time for homework?!)

I remember thinking 'wouldn't it be great if there was a machine that would record the audio AND the video?' TV stations had them but they were the size of a loveseat. The idea of something like this for home use was as futuristic as personal jet-packs.

I also came up with the concept of DVR..some sort of internal recording device within the TV that would allow you to watch a program again. Just the concept, mind you. I wasn't very technical.

I was only 10 and someone always beat me to the patent office. I'll never forgive Henry Ford for scooping me with the horseless carriage.

You people of today have no idea how spoiled you are!!!--which is of course what my parents told me. It boggles the mind to think about what could possibly be in the future that would make this something the current generation will someday say to their kids.

Any ideas?