In the episode, told mostly in flashbacks, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz) and Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley, Vivian Vance) reminisce about their friendship while Fred trims a Christmas tree in the Ricardos’ apartment — cluttered with Little Ricky’s (Keith Thibodeaux) presents, including a bicycle and a drum set for the fledgling percussionist.
“Lucy gave me two drum sets, one for the house and one for the set,” says Thibodeaux, 69, the last surviving cast member from “I Love Lucy,” who was 6 years old when the episode aired. “I still have one of [the drum sets], which I had restored in Atlanta.
“My behind-the-scenes memories [of the Christmas episodes] are just the toys on the set,” he says. “And the [show’s] writers, Madelyn [Pugh] and Bob [Carroll Jr.], gave me a Lionel train set and that was a real big treat for me as a kid.”
Thibodeaux, who runs the Ballet Magnificat! ballet company in Mississippi with his wife, Kathy, played Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” (when he was billed as Richard Keith). He later appeared as Johnny Jason opposite Ron Howard on 16 episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” and fronted the pioneering Christian rock band David and the Giants. He shared some memories from his time on “I Love Lucy” with The Post in advance of Friday’s CBS special, which also includes a colorized version of the 1956 episode “Paris At Last.”
Who were your favorites among your co-stars?
They were all nice to me. Lucy took care of me on the set and gave me presents for my birthday. She told everyone, including the crew, “There will be absolutely no cursing around Keith.” When I first went onto the set I called her “Miss Ball” the first day I was there and she said, “Don’t call me Miss Ball. Call me Lucy.” I really think the person I identified with the most was Desi Arnaz because of his Latin culture; I was a Cajun from Louisiana and our cultures were very similar, and the fact that he was a percussionist and I was a percussionist, we had something in common. When he died [in 1986] I really took his death harder than anyone else’s.
What was the effect on your personal life during your time on the shows?
I had kind of divided life, a schizophrenic life. The show didn’t film 12 months out of the year so I had time off … and during that time I would go to a normal school, a parochial school called St. Victor’s right off Sunset Strip in West Hollywood from grades 1 to 4. I had two lives: my normal life with my friends at school … and this other life when I was on the set. I was introduced to Lucy and Desi’s children, Lucy and Desi Jr., and I would go and spend a weekend with them in Beverly Hills or on their ranch or in their Palm Springs house. When my dad said, “Lucy or Little Desi wants you to come over for the weekend” I would always be kind of dragging my feet and complaining and crying, “I don’t want to go! I want to be with my friends!” To me that was real life and [going to their house] was not the real life, but I always enjoyed my time over there once I got there. Desi [Jr.] and I were good friends; I just had to be a kind of different person because on the one hand Lucille Ball was my boss and at the same time she was my friend’s mom. There were very few people that Lucy and Desi trusted to play with their kids and they were very protective of them. We’d go to Disneyland and of course go to the front of the line with Lucy and people would look at Lucy and say, “Wow, there’s Lucy and Little Ricky!” People always confused me and Desi Jr. I went and spent a Christmas with the Arnazes in Palm Springs which I didn’t want to do because I wanted to be with my family. It was a very kind of lonely feeling not to be with my family when I was so young.
Did your friends treat you differently because you were on a hit TV show?
It just didn’t really matter to those kids at all. I went to high school with [actress] Angela Cartwright and [“Leave It to Beaver” star] Jerry Mathers; we were just normal kids when we were away from the set and kids would bother me for other things other than the fact that I was Little Ricky. I was short, so I was glad I was fast because nobody could catch me. I had great friends, normal friends back when I lived in the San Fernando Valley. They were two different worlds, the Beverly Hills world and the San Fernando Valley world — and that hill would be the dividing line.
Did you keep in touch with Lucille Ball once the shows ended?
I did. Obviously we were in different worlds geographically and otherwise, but we did stay in touch. I went to Desi Jr.’s wedding to Linda Purl [in 1980] and I was at Desi’s funeral and Lucy was there.
Is it tough to be the last surviving cast member of such a famous TV show?
I really don’t think about it too much unless I’m talking to somebody like yourself. I’m not enamored of myself and who I was — I kind of dredge up the memories when I need to but it’s never far from me. I’m sort of identified in this context of, “This is Keith Thibodeaux, Little Ricky.”
Do you watch “I Love Lucy” if you come across it?
Every so often, but most of the time I’ll probably change the channel. It just depends. My daughter was a real big fan when she was younger — she’s married now and we have a grandson. She would play the [“I Love Lucy”] tapes all the time and I would go, “Oh my gosh, I just can’t get away from this show!” But it was neat to be able to see that another generation and other generations still love it.
