MGM Doesn't Love Lucy

  In the early days of television, most film companies were loathe to work with the medium. Many of the same stars who worked in film, however, were making names for themselves on television, so an uneasy truce was established. When Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz had conquered television, MGM was eager to work with them. They quickly put The Long, Long Trailer into production.  

 

 

At the time, Lucy and Desi offered another project to MGM. Long before the rerun, videocassettes, DVDs and Netflix, audiences had few chances to rewatch their favorite shows. If a viewer missed an episode of their favorite show, they wouldn't often get another chance to see it. Since Desilu Productions used film to record I Love Lucy and retained ownership of the copyright, they made a proposition to MGM- the pair would film 19 minutes of new footage and edit together three episodes of the show to package together as a film. Would audiences pay to see something that had aired for free? MGM figured it was worth a shot. Three episodes were chosen and a framing device was used to tie them together. It was somewhat unambitious; the idea was that a newlywed couple, honeymooning in glamorous Hollywood was attending the filming of three I Love Lucy episodes. I Love Lucy: The Movie was quickly and cheaply pieced together.

 

 

 

 

Sometime later, however, MGM got cold feet. Fearful that the cheaply budgeted package film would siphon business away from the more expensive Long, Long, Trailer, MGM put I Love Lucy: The Movie on the shelf, where it sat until 2001. Discovered and restored, it was shown as part of a retrospective of the show and wasn't released in its entirety until 2007.