TV Trivia
by Michael Karol
& Craig Hamrick

Sitcom Queens: Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance
By MICHAEL KAROL; Originally posted 09.01.06

Lucille Ball
Birthdate: August 6, 1911
Birth Place: Jamestown, N.Y.
Death: April 26, 1989; Los Angeles, California;
burst aorta

Key TV Programs
I Love Lucy, Lucy Ricardo, 180 episodes, 1951-1957, co-starring Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, Lucy Ricardo, 13 episodes, 1957-1960, co-starring Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley

The Lucy Show, Lucy Carmichael, 156 episodes, 1962-1968, co-starring Vivian Vance, and Gale Gordon

Here’s Lucy, Lucy Carter, 144 episodes, 1968-1974, co-starring Gale Gordon, Lucie Arnaz, and Desi Arnaz, Jr.

Life with Lucy, Lucy Barker, 13 episodes, five unaired, 1986, co-starring Gale Gordon

Vivian Vance
Birthdate: July 26, 1909
Birth Place: Cherryvale, Kansas
Birth Name: Vivian Roberta Jones
Date of Death/Place: August 17, 1979, Belvedere, California
Cause of Death: Bone cancer

Key TV Program(s)
I Love Lucy, Ethel Mertz, 180 episodes, 1951-1957, co-starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and William Frawley

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, Ethel Mertz, 13 episodes, 1957-1960, co-starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and William Frawley

The Lucy Show, Vivian Bagley, 84 episodes, 1962-1965, co-starring Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon

Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance. The two go together like Laurel and Hardy, or Abbott and Costello, or Martin and Lewis. But there’s a difference: though they were television’s top comedy team (Lucille and Vivian appeared in more than 300 series episodes and specials together), neither woman was the "straight man." And that’s perhaps why they survived longer than almost any other comedy team, period. Vivian could make with the sarcastic lines and slapstick comedy just as raucously as Lucille could, and often did (from their first appearance together in 1951 to their final special in 1977). Here are some tidbits about both of them; for much more, click on the book cover to Sitcom Queens, below.

• • •
Lucille Ball was loyal to a fault, especially regarding family and other performers she liked to work with. She enjoyed surrounding herself with familiar faces, so it’s no surprise that actors like Elvia Allman, Herb Vigran, Frank Nelson, Hal March, Jay Novello, Hans Conreid, Doris Singleton, Richard Crenna, Joseph Kearns, and Shirley Mitchell (and dozens more), and crew like conductor Wilbur Hatch, writers Bob Carroll and Madelyn Pugh, and producer and head writer Jess Oppenheimer, first worked with Lucy on the radio show My Favorite Husband, and followed her to I Love Lucy. • • •

When Vivian left The Lucy Show after the 1964-65 season, Ball tried in vain to replace her with another female sidekick. Although Ann Sothern was given a lengthy tryout, Lucy realized no one could replace Viv, and so relied on guest stars for the rest of her series to fill the void. • • •

Lucy hated birds; she associated them with a childhood tragedy (after which a bird got caught in the house and terrorized the young girl, flapping about and knocking into walls), and would change rooms in a hotel if the wallpaper featured birds. • • •
Vivian sang for her supper in Manhattan nightclubs in the 1930s as she tried to carve out a stage career, including the Club Simplon, where a fellow songbird was the future Delores Hope, Bob’s longtime wife. • • •
Vivian’s first love was the stage, but after her TV success she was disappointed that movie roles didn’t come her way. One missed opportunity: the part of Mame’s best friend Vera Charles, eventually played by Coral Browne in 1958’s classic Auntie Mame. • • •
Lucy turned down the lead in Cactus Flower (1969) opposite Walter Matthau after reading the script and noting, correctly, that whoever played the girlfriend would steal the picture. Ingrid Bergman took the role of Matthau’s nurse, who pretends to be his wife so Matthau can be rid of his lover (played by Goldie Hawn, who does walk away with the film, and won an Oscar for her debut movie role).

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Michael Karol has written four books about Lucille Ball: Lucy A to Z, The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia, the revised, expanded 4th Edition, published in 2008, with exclusive pictures for the first time; Lucy in Print, looking at press coverage of Lucy and her costars over the past 60 years; The Lucille Ball Quiz Book; and The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball: Interpreting the Icon. He has also written the best-selling TV Tidbits book The ABC Movie of the Week Companion. A date gone wrong sparked his vampire/mystery novel Kiss Me, Kill Me. Its prequel, Sleeps Well With Others, was published in the fall of 2006. All are currently available on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and many other online and in-store sources. Visit here for more information.