I Love Lucy (1953)
80 min
The film plays out, with three first-season episodes edited together into a single story: "The Benefit", "Breaking the Lease", and "The Ballet", with new footage included between episodes to help transition the episodes into one coherent storyline. As the series routinely took the format of filming scenes in chronological order, this adds to the "show within a show within a show" format of the film, as viewers watch the cast perform the episodes live. The film itself ends with a "curtain call", as the cast comes out and Arnaz thanks the audience for their support.
- Release date
- January 1, 1953
- Country of origin
- United States
Cast
- Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo
- Lucille Ball as Self
- Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo
- Desi Arnaz as Self
- Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz
- Vivian Vance as Self
- William Frawley as Fred Mertz
- William Frawley as Self
- Ann Doran as Audience Member
- Benny Baker as Audience Member
Crew
- Mary Wickes · Archive footage
- Barbara Pepper · Archive footage
- Erze Ivan · Archive footage
- Frank J. Scannell · Archive footage
- Marc Daniels · Director
- Edward Sedgwick · Director
- Jess Oppenheimer · Writer
- Madelyn Davis · Writer
- Bob Carroll Jr. · Writer
- Jess Oppenheimer · Producer
- Karl Freund · Cinematographer
- Dann Cahn · Editor