Lucille Ball rehearses the very first episode of "I Love Lucy"
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- This "magic snapshot" (colorized by yours truly) was taken on September 8, 1951, on Stage 2 of General Service Studios in Hollywood, as the "I Love Lucy" cast and crew prepare to film the very first episode’-"Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her." Lucy, her hair still in a babushka, practices a bit of business in the kitchen as the crew rehearses their camera movements.
The Desi Arnaz Orchestra, led by Musical Director Wilbur Hatch (facing the band, in gray pants, white shirt and suspenders) is there to provide live underscoring during filming (a practice abandoned after the first episode). The orchestra's bandstands bear the initials "DA" ("Desi Arnaz"), but will soon be repainted "RR" ("Ricky Ricardo"). This is the first time in history that a TV show will be filmed with multiple moving cameras in front of a live studio audience-something made possible by Director of Photography Karl Freund's innovative "flat" lighting system, using lights suspended from the catwalks above the set. Over the newly-built bleachers, hockey-puck-shaped microphones hang down, ready to capture the audience's laughter during that evening's filming.
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You made the photo come to life! Well, pretty darn close. Thanks, Gregg!
That was simply marvelous!
I always wondered where that counter in the kitchen was in relation to the fourth wall. In one episode where Lucy is babysitting bratty twins, one of them draws on it, so it can't be flush against the fourth wall. So what didn't we see?
Did Wilbur Hatch and Orchestra perform the music live on set?
See the description. If you're talking about the music heard on the TV show, they only did it for the first episode, and even on that episode they re-recorded it in post-production and the re-recorded music was what was heard on TV. But the orchestra was there for every episode, to play before filming started and during delays for the cameras to re-load and costume changes. Those delays weren't very long. The average I Love Lucy episode took only 45 minutes to film from start to finish. There was a "no retakes" rule (they couldn't afford the cost of the extra film). Most episodes had at least one "Insert shot" (usually a closeup from an angle that wasn't possible during filming), which was filmed after the audience had left.