PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Lucille Ball

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - May 26, 2002: Lucille Ball

By Mario Ritter

VOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about

the much-loved performer Lucille Ball. Her famous television series, “I Love Lucy,” was first broadcast in

nineteen-fifty-one.

((CUT 1: “I Love Lucy Theme”)

VOICE ONE:

The “I Love Lucy” show was a huge success. It was the most popular television show of
the Nineteen-fifties. The kind of television program Mizz Ball helped develop is called a
situation comedy. Some television experts give her credit¹ for inventing this kind of series.
Today, some of the most popular television programs in America are situation comedies.

VOICE TWO:

One reason for the great popularity² of “I Love Lucy” may have been its real-life connection
with Mizz Ball’s family. On the show, she was Lucy, the wife of Ricky Ricardo, a Cuban
musician. Ricky was played by band leader Desi Arnaz, who was Lucille Ball’s husband in
real life. The show combined issues common to the life of married people living in the city with
musical performances and comic theater.

Often, a show would include a part with Mister³ Arnaz acting⁴ seriously while Mizz Ball added a
funny element. In the following piece, Mister Arnaz tries to sing normally⁵ and Mizz Ball adds
the comedy:

(CUT 2: By the Waters of the Minnetonka")

VOICE ONE:

Also on the “I Love Lucy” show were Vivian Vance and William Frawley. Mizz Vance
played Ethel Mertz and Mister Frawley played Ethel’s husband, Fred Mertz. On the show,
the Mertzes were friends of the Ricardos and owned the building in which they all lived.

Fred Mertz loved baseball, which was America’s most
popular sport at the time. “I Love Lucy,” often showed
Fred Mertz intensely⁶ watching baseball or some other sport like boxing while Ethel
added her own funny comments:

(CUT 3: “Seeing a baseball game is fun”)

VOICE TWO:

A well-known story about the “I Love Lucy Show”
concerns the birth of the
Arnaz’s son, Desi Junior. Officials of the broadcasting company wondered what to do when Mizz Ball became
pregnant⁷ in nineteen-fifty-two. Mizz Ball explains that her husband, Desi, came up with a solution:


(CUT 4: “Why don’t we have it on the show?”)

VOICE ONE:

Mizz Ball’s pregnancy⁸ was made part of the show. In fact, critics say the show in which Lucy
Ricardo tells Ricky that she is pregnant is one of the best. In it, Lucy goes to the entertainment
place where Ricky’s band is playing to tell him that they are going to have a baby. Ricky
suddenly understands that he is going to be a father after Lucy secretly requests the song,
“We’re having a Baby:
”

(Cut 5: “We’re Having a Baby”)

VOICE ONE:

Mizz Ball gave birth to her second child on the same day that Lucy Ricardo gave birth. In fact, Desi Junior’s
birth date was planned to happen on the same day as the broadcast.

The show in which Lucy gave birth was one of the most popular television programs ever broadcast in America.
(In fact, the story is that Desi Junior’s birth replaced reports about Dwight Eisenhower’s first presidential
ceremony on the front pages of America’s newspapers.)

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

VOICE TWO:

The success of the “I Love Lucy”
show did not come early in Lucille Ball’s life, or easily. Instead, it was the
result of years of hard work.

Mizz Ball was born near Jamestown, New York, in nineteen-eleven. She tried to get into show business at an
early age. Early on, she went to the same acting school as the famous actress Bettie Davis. However, she left
when she was told that she did not have enough acting ability.

In the early Nineteen-Thirties, she moved to Hollywood. She appeared in a number of movies, but was not well-
known.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-forty, she met the leader of a musical group who had been born in Cuba. His full name was Desiderio
Alberto Arnaz de Acha the Third. They worked together in a movie and married soon after they met. For the next
ten years, she appeared in movies and on radio. He travelled a lot with his band.

In Nineteen-Fifty, the broadcasting company, C-B-S, decided⁹ to make a television program based on the radio
show, “My Favorite Husband.
”
Lucille Ball was the star of the radio show. She wanted Mister Arnaz to play
the part of her husband on the television show. C-B-S rejected the idea. But, she refused to give up. She and Desi
travelled around the country performing in a show together to prove that they would do well on television. Their
show was a success. C-B-S offered them both jobs.

VOICE TWO:

Mizz Ball had another demand. She wanted her show to be a production of the best quality. Early television
pictures were not of good quality. Mizz Ball wanted her program to be filmed, which would improve the picture,
and then broadcast later. Yet she wanted people to watch the program as it was being filmed so the sound of their
reactions could be captured¹⁰.

Mizz Ball also wanted to film the shows in Hollywood. C-B-S did not want the extra costs. So, Mizz Ball and
Mister Arnaz agreed to work for less pay. In exchange, C-B-S let them own the program. That agreement made
them owners of what would become one of the most successful programs on television.

VOICE ONE:


During the fifties, Mizz Ball won almost every honor¹¹ there was for television actors including several Emmy
Awards. Yet, even the most popular performers could not escape the political realities of the time. Conservative¹²
lawmakers accused Lucille Ball of being a Communist. The Federal¹³ Bureau¹⁴ of Investigation¹⁵ kept a secret record
of information about her, just as it did about many Hollywood actors at that time.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Arnaz supervised¹⁶ their company, Desilu Productions. The company produced sixteen different television
programs and ran three production centers, called studios.

In Nineteen-Sixty, Lucille Ball and Mister Arnaz legally ended their marriage. Mister Arnaz sold his part of the
company to his ex-wife. Mizz Ball became the first woman to head a major production company. It was one of
the biggest in Hollywood.

Mizz Ball also was the star of several other shows of her own. “The Lucy Show” was broadcast from nineteen-
sixty-two to nineteen-sixty-eight. “Here’s Lucy” followed until nineteen-seventy-four. Mizz Ball later sold
her production company to Paramount¹⁷ Studios.

VOICE ONE:

“I Love Lucy”
showed Mizz Ball at her best. Mister Arnaz added something that was unusual for American
television at the time. Many of the songs on the show were in Spanish. One song, “Babalu,” is popularly
connected with “I Love Lucy”. Its words are Spanish and its sound is Latin¹⁸ American. It is this mixture along
with the excellent performances that made the show special:

(CUT 6: “Babalu")

VOICE TWO:

Mizz Ball died in nineteen-eighty-nine after a heart operation. Yet, she still makes people laugh. Her programs
are rebroadcast on television and there are hundreds of Internet sites about her. After all these years, everyone
still loves Lucy.

(CUT 7: “I Love Lucy")

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Mario Ritter and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁹. I’m Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of
America.

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1 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

2 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

3 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

6 intensely   

adv.强烈地

参考例句：

• I was intensely curious to know more about him. 我迫不及待地想更多地了解他的情况。
• Her parents were intensely ambitious for her and her younger sister. 她的父母对她和她妹妹有着很高的期望。

7 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

8 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

11 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

12 conservative   

adj.保守的，守旧的；n.保守的人，保守派

参考例句：

• He is a conservative member of the church.他是一个守旧教会教友。
• The young man is very conservative.这个年轻人很守旧。

13 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。

14 bureau   

n.提供或收集消息的机构；局，司，处；署

参考例句：

• The weather bureau makes daily reports on weather conditions.气象局每天报告天气状况。
• The Tourist Bureau arranged everything for our journey to Rome.旅游局已为我们去罗马旅行准备了一切。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 supervised   

v.监督，管理( supervise的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The architect supervised the building of the house. 建筑工程师监督房子的施工。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He supervised and trained more than 400 volunteers. 他指导和培训了400多名志愿者。 来自辞典例句

17 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

18 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

19 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。