"I Love Lucy's" FILMING TRICK Fooled You Into Thinking You Were Elsewhere!

[@bbhrdzaz]

Lucy and Desi pioneered early television, from the sets to the camera to the laugh tracks. Geniuses in their own right!

[@alphagt62]

Exactly, they were the first sitcom. And sitcoms for decades used the same plots, altered for their cast.

[@zzzut]

Frank “Yeeeeees” Nelson is by far my favourite recurring guest star. His voice is so special. He’s funny in every role!

[@jehobden]

Mr. Nelson often played "over the top" caricature-like characters, and he was always funny. I think one of the few "straight" (non-exaggerated) characters he played was Ralph Ramsey, CT neighbor of Lucy & Ricky. I loved the parts he played as late as on SANFORD & SON, where he got to display his sarcastic wit so well.

[@gns423]

He was great in The Jack Benny Program also.

[@garycarpenter6433]

I just loved Frank Nelson and his Ooooh do I as well he was a funny guy his timing was perfect

[@bejoyful]

Great observation Rick; I also note that when Lucy's eye makeup is minimal; I know she is getting splashed in the face with a prop to make us laugh.

[@loriforges6304]

I wonder how they kept those Lucy lips from spreading, those hot lights!

[@stephenr3910]

I noticed that too.

[@allialias]

Part of the fun of watching tv when I was little was imagining how the sets were layed out in the studio. Jack Parr, Christmas Specials, we saw many sound stages and audiences to go by. It's kinda sweet now to see you doing the same things 🤗.

[@babymaker13th]

Wow I wasn’t even conceived yet !!lol😂I was born in 53 I grew up watching them !! I like what you do here thanks

[@MsBackstager]

'54 for yours truly but I remember always having ILL around.

[@JamesBrown-i2e]

I absolutely loved seeing Frank Nelson the few times that he was on "Sanford and Son". I would always have a quick funny comeback to give Redd Fox.

[@nickimontie]

I love that show, too!

[@garyhughes9263]

Rick thank you! I too think I Love Lucy is my all time favorite TV show. I watch them every night. It’s my sleeping pill. I seldom see the end of the episode because it is the comfort food for my brain. Seen them all 1000’s of times and they still make me laugh.

[@LJ-ht4zs]

Sometimes I think I'm strange - no matter how many times I have seen an episode - I burst out laughing. First saw "I Love Lucy" when it first came out in 1951 (I was aged 6 now I am 79). Either I have never grown up or it never grows old.

[@cozycribcafe]

great job! Rick and your trivia of the old Hollywood tricks, bloopers, and facts are awesome.

[@allanl.591]

I enjoy all your content, but your I Love Lucy content is my favorite. Frank Nelson was outstanding in every episode in which he appeared. He was the best!

[@Pandalynn369]

Wow I never even knew that. I'll be watching for that little blooper next time I see this episode on pluto tv. Thank you for pointing that out Rick.

[@marlenepearson3936]

Old eagle eye Rick! Wow! I do love that episode. And Frank Nelson is incredible ❤ Thanks Rick. I love the Lucy videos the best. 💕

[@djm5k]

If I remember correctly, I Love Lucy was the first sitcom filmed in front of a live audience and the first to use multiple cameras at various locations on set, to film each scene.

[@cherylmendenhall8795]

Very interesting! I'm a life-long fan of the show and would never have known this! Thank you!

[@markmaki4460]

Wow and the Females are Fabulous set being closer to (heck almost among) the audience too i bet contributed to the appearance that the audience really was part of the Females are Fabulous show.

[@jons.6216]

Across the shelf in the first apartment kitchen in a row by size is that classic primary colors Pyrex bowl set! I always thought that was so quaint!

[@franknew9001]

I still have all four of the Pyrex Primary Colors bowl set that my parents bought in the 1950's. The yellow bowl is the largest, then green, then red, and the blue one is the smallest. I use the bowls often.

[@jons.6216]

​@@franknew9001 I've managed to collect this primary set via thrift stores over the years and then some! The only ones that survived from my mom's set were the yellow and green ones! The biggest yellow was used for potato or macaroni salads on picnics and family BBQs! The green one for Jell-O! Six of us at home, so they were just right!

[@franknew9001]

@ jons.6216-- My mom did the same exact thing as your mom did with the yellow and green bowls. I always liked the Jell-O that she made in the green bowl. She usually added some type of fruit to the Jell-O before she would put it into the refrigerator to jell. Now that I have all four bowls, I use the red one the most by far for soup to put into the microwave.

[@JoannaCubana]

I love these types of videos Rick. It's interesting to see how the sound stages are utilized. It gives us a peek into the magic of television ❤ Thank you 💝

[@ddavenpAZ]

I’m pretty sure you had mentioned this before in a live stream, and if so, it deserves repeating. It was definitely a clever ruse for corn’s sakes! (Fred Mertz and his sayings. lol) Thank you for another great video!

[@ricknineg]

For corn sakes! 🌽

[@ddavenpAZ]

@@ricknineg Got the shirt! Lol

[@FrancescaA00]

Wow and I’ve watched this a million times!! 🤯🤯🤯

[@DavidUrban-y3c]

As always, another interesting video. Thanks for posting it, Rick. Have a blessed weekend everyone

[@SWATTECHNOLOGIES]

Brilliant sleuthing sir.

[@Jared_Wignall]

I love learning stuff about I Love Lucy. Keep up the great work Rick, I hope you’re doing well. Have a great day and weekend and take care!

[@liammorgan2155]

Notice Lucille does not have her false eyelashes and make up on for this scene with the water.

[@randytim512]

My favorite line from this episode was when Ricky asked her jow old she was and she said 65! He says that's ridiculous, you can't posdibly be 65. 55 yes but not 65.

[@theastewart6721]

Great episode! Thanks for sharing this information Rick!😊

[@pl5624]

Lucy got seltzer sprayed by the stooges 2 decades earlier in Three little pigskins

[@baconvonmeatwich]

Yes she did and she was a platinum blonde then.

[@Avery_4272]

Fun video, Rick! Thanks. Also, speaking of connections between the actors, (and maybe you already know this) actor Lee Millar (who played the announcer pictured here in The Quiz Show, and who also appeared as Mr. Taylor in Mr. & Mrs. T.V. Show - or "The Phipps episode," as I like to call it!) was the son of Verna Felton, who played Mrs. Simpsons in Sales Resistance (the woman Lucy tried to sell a vacuum cleaner to) and Mrs. Porter in Lucy Hires A Maid. It seems they definitely enjoyed keeping things in the family on I Love Lucy!

[@StormBringer-]

Cool catch, Frank Nelson was great

[@kakylong2]

The shows that Frank Nelson is in are all in my top favorites. Awesome find, Rick. 😊

[@felipeescamilla3092]

Wow!! That is amazing 👏, thanks,love it!!!

[@mamas.8259]

Very good job thank you Rick ❤

[@bluebonnet1014]

I love your eye for detail! 👍

[@OffRampTourist]

I loved their apartment, thanks for showing us the miniature. I wonder where their balcony was set up?

[@walterhat1638]

Good detective work, Rick. Keep up the good work!

[@whoisharo4689]

Haha! So awesome! Great vid Rick!

[@loriforges6304]

Where have you been? Love to hear you again!

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

My introduction as a child to Frank Nelson was on the final season or two of Sanford and Son. I think he made three or four appearances before that show ended.

[@Reebert02]

Love this! I’m not wrapping my head around the set design. Any idea how ow was the audience section built? It seems to me that no matter where you put them, they could only see part of the set. Then those massive cameras are in the way.

[@davidmarsden192]

Great videos! I really enjoy seeing the behind the scenes stuff from my favourte shows!

[@WELIVEWEDIEOMY]

There will never be another Lucy!!

[@ricknineg]

Never ever

[@TeddyCavachon]

Back in the early 1970s my first adult job was as apprentice / assistant to well known still portrait / wedding photographer named Monte Zucker whose distinctive style was based on always capturing precise facial angles with precise “short” (45° from nose) lighting pattern on the faces. We always used two flashes for every photo, one on a bracket over the lens as nearly shadowless FILL to reveal the shadow detail and a second on a rolling stand (actually a modified IV stand) which would be moved to place it 45° from the nose whichever was in was pointing. Part of my initial training was to move the off camera light around as Monte was shooting to ‘key light’ the faces ideally. It was that attention to lighting and facial angles which gave his stills a ‘cinematic’ look. It is for that reason I pay a lot of attention to facial angles and lighting in movies and TV shows and marvel at how in the ones from this era shot on sound stages the in most scenes the actors are in precise full face, oblique, or profile views with perfect 45° from the side / 45° downward KEY lighting on their faces which and be seen from the shadows the key lights cast behind them. In some of the scenes in this video there is also back rim lighting which is adding 3D separation with the background. Lighting and facial angles to camera that good don’t happen by accident so I would guess that the lighting strategy for each scene was planned in advance and the actors had marks of were to stand to be in the best light and where to look to be seen by the camera in the most flattering precise angles when talking to each other as seen here.

[@reedberry]

Never noticed that before. Thanks, Rick!

[@chadbaxter5578]

Hawkeye Rick at it again

[@cadeevans4623]

Great video great information thanks for sharing this very interesting rock

[@ricknineg]

Many thanks Cade!

[@bc5441]

Rick, it’s interesting to see how they had to work in a crowded soundstage to create the illusion of a much larger environment-just as actors performing live on a stage with no camera must.

[@loveisall5520]

That is just wild. Thank you so much, Rick.

[@jillmacchitelli6473]

Great observation, Rick! Thank you for all your videos.

[@matthewjeszeck4999]

Great job well done

[@MikeWangCoaching]

Very cool! You have a great eye.

[@mickw.4912]

Love Rick Nineg! When are you gonna do Svengoolie?!!! 🎉😂

[@turquoise950]

New sub. Love these hidden insights into the production.

[@jenlemon4294]

Idk how you do it, Rick! How’d you spot that?! It’s amazing and very appreciated by your subscribers❤ I love videos like this one. Thank you for sharing your insight 😊

[@rager-69]

Pretty cool find.

[@roberttelarket4934]

You missed that Frank Nelson(Freddy Fillmore) has assistant-announcer who is Lee Millar the real life son of Verna Felton(Mrs. Porter-the maid)) from the Lucy Hires A Maid episode.

[@silvereagle2061]

You have a great eye for these things.

[@brianhumphrey6791]

Great eye Rick

[@donnicholas7552]

Cool! I never noticed that before.

[@Robert-lg2bl]

Awesome video!!

[@Shambar18]

Love this ❤

[@randyc9818]

I love lucy.

[@frankfrank9437]

Hey Rick, good to hear from you!! I have a question, was little Ricky real mother on scene in the episode when the Ricardo's return from Hollywood. There's a brunette lady that Lucy hands Little Ricky off to that seems to appease him. Is that Little Ricky mother? Do you know?

[@TheNeonRabbit]

Pretty cool

[@johanlaurasia]

Yeah, it's all filmed on the same set, you can clearly see from the upper shot you showed the 'home' part of the set, and right next to that is Ricky's nightclub). It also shows how simple (and cheap) the gameshow was, a simple curtain that's already part of the stage and a cheap sign and voila, the gameshow set. Pretty neat catch though that you can see the kitchen set as Lucy reveals herself from behind the curtain.

[@elizabethharrison7306]

I Love Lucy my favorite one fan BIG season DVD 📀 Dolls New York Jamestown Lucy Desi Museum Love my favorite one fan BIG 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖🎶🗽

[@studogable]

Good old Karl Freund - one of the best cinematographers of all time!

[@renafan3333]

I'm confused. Was there another one of this same premise,sort of? Where Ricky is trying to fool Lucy? Lucy gets upset and leaves. Then the actor Ricky hired says he couldn't make it. And then Ricky goes nuts thinking Lucy did have a husband? Am I conflating episodes? I thought that this was going to be the one I was thinking of?

[@stephaniepelcher4473]

Yes that’s another episode where Lucy pretends to finish a love letter from her past to make him jealous and pretends that a man was in the apartment. Ricky gets wind of it and hires an actor (or a few) to come over and hide in closet. She leaves, finds out what he did, and gets Ricky’s agent to call and say he couldn’t find any actors to come over.

[@fjccommish]

Rick's home is set up the same way.

[@paulnicholas5452]

When did they stop reading the credits?

[@FayeMorgana]

Can you explain how the living gained a window over the years?

[@limack4055]

they moved to another apartment in the building. the new apartment had that window in the living room

[@ZTAudio]

There’s no “trick”. This is just standard stagecraft. What are you yammering on about?

[@sandrastreifel6452]

That’s very economical use of space in the studio! And all in front of a live audience.

[@pyreneesfarm7818]

I was so young, I believed EVERYTHING Hollywood did was REAL and true. It is hard not to go political, so I will stop here!