Each Monday morning during the summer, we'd traipse over to my grandmother's house because it was her day off and we--my mom, my brother, and me--were going to spend the day with her. We called my grandmother "Nana" because it means "Grandma" in Italian. On Nana's day off, she had a routine she religiously followed: game shows, coffee, a cigarette, and plucking her chin hairs. While she finished her routine, she'd often turn on the television for us...and the only thing on-if we didn't want to watch some game show--was I Love Lucy and my love for Lucy was born.
From the baking bread episode where Lucy decided to make homemade bread but used too much yeast and it exploded out of the oven, to the episode where Lucy pretended to be a princess from some little heard-of country, to the episodes where the Ricardos and the Mertzes were in Hollywood, she could always make me laugh. I loved Lucille Ball's willingness to do whatever it took for the laughs. She didn't care if she had a fake nose that was on fire, or she blacked out her teeth and acted as though she was dumb, she performed with wild abandon and made me laugh.
In the 1950s, the expectation of women in post-war America was to be stay at home moms, content with their husbands, families, and recipes. And then there was Lucy. Lucy loved Ricky and little Ricky, but she also loved show business and performing. She was not completely content with her lot in life, and she schemed episode after episode of ways to improve her life. What about the episode where Lucy and Ethel bottled and sold their own dressing? Or when they went to work in the chocolate factory? Of course, there is the iconic "Vitameatavegamin" episode where Lucy hawks vitameatavegamin. Naturally, the episodes where Lucy schemed her way into one of Ricky's shows are some of the funniest and showcase her immense talent.
I still enjoy I Love Lucy, no matter how many times I've seen the show. She's funny without being vulgar, talented--using her face and physical comedy, and an incredible business woman who surrounded herself with equally talented actors. And while I'm not a 1950s woman, I appreciate Lucy for the talent she had and the laughs she delivers today.
