I Love Lucy....and Ethel

I don’t normally read Oprah’s magazine, but I bought the August issue because the topic was friendship and there was an interview with Oprah and her friend, Gail King. I knew they had been friends for years, before fame and fortune really hit, but just being honest, I have always thought that Gail was sort of ‘riding on Oprah’s coattails.’ Once I read that article, I didn’t necessarily think that to be the case as strongly as I did before and even caught myself laughing at one or two instances where it was obvious that Gail still thinks of Oprah as a regular person, no matter what the rest of the world may think. Oprah was actually very frank about Gail too, so it was a nice, everyday glimpse into a relationship that is overshadowed by fame and big lifestyles. I was quite impressed with both of them and I admit the errors in my thinking. I was wrong.

In that same batch of stories though was another one about two other friends that we all know and love. We know them as Lucy and Ethel and I just wanted to share this because we ALL grew up knowing about Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel.


It’s not really a long story, but I thought this was intriguing from an article by Madelyn Pugh Davis, one of the writers of I Love Lucy:

‘The first time Lucille Ball met Vivian Vance, at a script reading for I Love Lucy, she wasn’t sure she was right for the role of Ethel Mertz. "You’re too attractive," Lucy said. "I want a dumpy landlady wearing an old terry cloth robe and fuzzy slippers, with rollers in her hair." Vivian answered, "You got her. That’s exactly how I look in the morning when I get out of bed." Lucy shot her a skeptical ‘we’ll see’ look. But then we read the script and it was obvious to Lucy and everyone that Vivian was the perfect Ethel. Thus began a friendship that lasted all their lives, on and off the screen.’

‘Someone once asked Lucy if she looked at her old shows on TV. She said, "Sometimes. And when I do, I watch Viv." She had a good point. Whenever Lucy was doing one of her hilarious scenes, the camera usually cut to Ethel to catch the look of disbelief on her face, which made everything even funnier. The two actresses had great admiration for each other’s talent. Vivian respected Lucy, the fabulous comedian, and Lucy respected Vivian, the great reactor, known in comedy as a second banana.’

The article went on to tell of a specific time when Lucy didn’t want to do a scene that they had written for her involving an elephant. She was scared to death. It was Vivian who finally coaxed her, ever so subtly, into doing it by telling her, "If you don’t want to do that hilarious scene, I will." Not to be upstaged, Lucy did the scene.

The article ended with this though:

‘When Lucy did her last series, Life with Lucy, in which she played a grandmother, she didn’t want a character to play her "best girlfriend ." Vivian had died and Lucy couldn’t stand the thought of replacing her. For a long time after Vivian’s death, Lucy would tear up whenever she talked about her. Everyone needs a best girlfriend she can confide in, someone who will always tell the truth and back her up. It really helps when you’re doing a comedy show, and it doesn’t hurt in real life, either.’

I don’t really know what my point is here except to say that I loved this article because, to me, it goes to show that whether famous like Oprah and Gail or Lucy and Vivian, we all have need of people who are real friends. I loved ‘Lucy and Ethel’ growing up (and still do!), but even more, I love the fact that they were such friends in real life too. Fame and fortune can buy many things, but at the base of it all, it is heartwarming to me to know that even famous people are sometimes like us ‘regular folk’ in that we all need friends to encourage, support and simply to share life, no matter what scale we live it on.