I Love Lucy fans, unite!
Seventy-three years ago to this day, a landmark episode aired that would arguably change the landscape of network television forever.
On Dec. 8, 1952, I Love Lucy aired “Lucy Is Enceinte,” marking the first time that a pregnancy was acknowledged on TV — as the eponymous Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) revealed her real-life pregnancy to husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz).
The kicker? The beloved stars had to navigate TV censors at the time — so if you go back and watch, they used words like “expecting” to circumvent such strict regulations. It’s hard to believe the word “pregnant” was too controversial to be allowed on the small screen!
And you’ll notice the episode’s title uses the French word for “pregnant” — “enceinte” — also to make the end result work for CBS.
In 1952, Ball had become pregnant with her second child. In the historic, now-73-year-old episode, Lucy learns she’s pregnant and tries to figure out how to tell Ricky. It was filmed while Ball was five months pregnant. The tears shed by Ball and Arnaz were real, according to media reports.
And at the end of the day, Ball became the first pregnant woman to play a pregnant woman on TV. It’s clear, then, that this airing was deemed a landmark episode in more ways that one.
The iconic sitcom made headlines this fall when another one of its stars, Keith Thibodeaux, marked his 49th wedding anniversary to wife Kathy Thibodeaux. Keith, 75 — the former child actor who played Little Ricky Ricardo — posted a photo to Instagram that showed him posing for a selfie with his wife in a restaurant.
The performer captioned the post to commemorate the 49 years since his wedding to the ballet dancer, 69. “Happy anniversary to us 49 years !!! …how time flies!” Keith wrote. “God is so good to us, and has been, and will be!”
