Tragic Details About Ethel And Fred Mertz From I Love Lucy 

That was pretty much a well-known fact.

Just ignore it 1

Yes. I thought it was a pretty well known fact at this point in time.

Yeap

What’s the background music at the beginning

That's marriage

@@eternalflame9339 hahaha

Amazing isn’t it

@@eternalflame9339 not for many couples. although it was worse in real life for Lucy and Desi.

Only Frawley & Vance didn't like each other. Yes, Lucy & Desi had marital problems & their fighting on set grew more frequent & louder as the series went on, but you certainly couldn't say it was because they didn't like each other!

While both Lucy & Desi liked Frawley, Desi & Bill were closer friends, partly because they were alcoholics. When Vance died, Desi said it was hard to lose "one of your best friends" & Vivian was always fond of Desi.

When Desi offered Vance & Frawley a spin-off about the Mertzes, Vance refused, despite being offered a $50,000 bonus. She wouldn't work with Frawley. But she continued working with Lucy for the rest of her life.

Lucy refused to do The Lucy Show WITHOUT Vivian. They were co-stars for 3 seasons (almost 90 eps). Viv finally got to shed her Ethel character. Her condition for doing the show was that her character's name be Vivian. After she left, Lucy considered ending the show but she continued, completely overhauling the setting & situation, removing the children & having Lucy move to an apartment in L.A. Viv appeared as a guest 3 more times and appeared as a guest on Here's Lucy and on Lucy's TV special, "Lucy Calls the President", as different characters each time, but always with the name, "Vivian". Her last name changed with each character, of course, just as Lucy's did.

They don't make them like that anymore? The formula wouldn't work now. It worked then because that was an earlier era. No visible toilets, side by side twin beds and guilt-free tobacco.

@@thomaskeil1437 true. It WAS scrubbed clean.

Right!!! I loved that show.

@@thomaskeil1437 The formula wouldn't work now - however, I still watch the show and bought all 5 or 6 seasons on RU-vid Got me thru Covid still giving laughter. Thank you so much for this gift. I haven't watched tv in years and am happy to watch the show on my computer.

I'm 76 & saw "I love Lucy, from its beginning in 1951! Remember, there were no re-runs then! ( Another show replaced it, in the summer.) So, with no way to record a show, "If you missed it, you missed it!"

That was a woman's show.

​@@Thomas-yr9ln Why's that? Because it was about raising kids & neither had husbands? They have plenty of male fans, judging by YT comments! They still did physical comedy & some of those eps are as hilarious as anything on I Love Lucy! They even had the same writers as ILL for the first 2-3 years. You are the first person I've seen say it was "a woman's show". It was the precursor of Laverne & Shirley in the '70s & Kate & Allie in the '80s & I've seen lots of men who were/are Kate & Allie fans posting on YT, too. All were successful shows.

He was born in the 1880s, what did you expect? LOL

@@SP-qo3pd Well, to be fair, so was Eleanor Roosevelt! Teddy Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, William Lloyd Garrison, & many other progressives were born decades BEFORE Frawley. In fact, Garrison DIED before Frawley was even born! In every generation, people are a product of their times. Change does come, gradually, through the work of exceptional people who envision new ideas & moral imperatives & devote decades of their lives to their causes. On the other hand, sometimes progressives make errors in judgement & support policies they later deny or regret! (I'm thinking of eugenics, but we have contemporary examples, too.)

Desi was an alcoholic and womanizer.

Desi Arnaz himself was an alcoholic. He NEVER got Bill to stop drinking. He just got Bill to stop showing up for work drunk while on ILL. Bill was drinking again on My Three Sons. He was even drinking when he wasn't working during his time on I Love Lucy.

BTW, Desi's use of the 3 camera system has nothing to do with Bill, so leave that out the next time since your point got buried in that irrelevant tangent.

@@DonnaBrooks THANKS for the truth, 2 alcoholics, frawley always at the race tracks, i believe who cares, Desi always in another woman's bed and Lucy tolerating it year after year, i have no respect for it.

They would NEVER punish Vivian for Bill's alcoholism!! Vivian GAVE UP her theatre career to do ILL. Bill's career was effectively over b/c of his reputation for being belligerent toward co-stars, his alcoholism, & his age. Desi warned Bill not to show up drunk on set. That didn't stop him from being belligerent toward Vivian.

No way would they throw away Lucy & Viv's chemistry! Lucy & Ethel grew to be as important to the show's success as Lucy & Ricky, which is why the duo & Ethel started getting more screen time.

Bill needed Desi. Lucy needed Viv. Lucy & Ethel are on a postage stamp! There's a doll SET of them in those candy factory costumes! Lucy & Viv are the most enduring, widely recognized, & most beloved comedic duo in entertainment history.

Do not take this too seriously, please !

he was 22 freaking years older than her, too old to play a husband.

IIRC? What does that mean?

@@DonnaBrooks “If I Remember Correctly”.

where or when one person mention the Lord Jesus or salvation? they lived for money and fame.

That sure changed in the 60s. Women wanted careers. Now, not too many men want a family structure that way.

Frawley was 64 when he started I Love Lucy. Vance was 42. He wasn't a product of the '50s. He was a product of 1887! Don't blame the '50s for everything! He was old enough to be her father!

Lucy was the first woman to run a Hollywood production company after she bought out Desi. She overruled all the MEN on Desilu's board who wanted to drop Star Trek & Mission Impossible.

Lucy was the boss, so it was even more than just having a successful TV show with a female lead. Our Miss Brooks and The Donna Reid Show were both sitcoms with women as the main characters.

God said the man is to provide for the family GOD said the woman is to be the keeper of the home, I could go on further, it is not a sin if she has an outside job BUT her first job is her home, children. many women forget that.

True love means you know everything, good and bad, but still love! Don't let your judgement cloud your enjoyment of the show! You don't know everything they had problems about, if you did, you might be completely understanding. We should never form our opinions about people based on what we're told about them, unless you're there at the time, you're not getting the true story, guaranteed! See this as an opportunity to be a bigger person, someone who looks at the big picture, not just the flashcard waved in front of you.

@@christineparis5607 Christine, you are judging, not I I do not know the true circumstances. this just is a piece of he said, she said , posted on RU-vid . Nobody here knows the truth and I dislike gossip and please do not preach to me about being a bigger person , are you really serious ? Maybe you should apply that sentiment to yourself and follow it! I suggest you find something constructive to do !

@@bgueberdenteich5206 I volunteered for hospice, how come that's not constructive? I think it's pretty important. What do you do?

@@christineparis5607 I do the same !

I really don't mind hearing the truth , doesn't take away me enjoying the good memories a show, or movie would have given me. Just wait , shortly, we're All gonna hear truths come out , that'll make your insides curdle 😒 !

The show big shots were Lucy & Desi. They owned Desilu Studios. They were the President & VP of the company. Desi was responsible for casting Fred & Ethel & for hiring Frawley & Vance.

Are you serious DESI WAS AN ALCOHOLIC.

It wasn't Donna Reed.

For real? Good input, Patricia...👍🏻

Oh, wow! I wonder if that was intentional?

It was believable b/c Vivian was given frumpy clothes, make-up to make her look older & less attractive, & an old lady haircut & bad perm! Vivian was a pretty, trim, 42-year-old & Frawley was a fat, grouchy 64-year-old! If you knew them IRL, you'd be like, "WTF is that pretty young woman doing with a fat, grumpy, bald man old enough to be her father?! He doesn't even treat her well!"

"One I've project on display at the 4th hi terminal of JFK." That sentence makes NO sense!! Please explain what you mean so that WE understand it. After you do that, them please explain how Vivian was connected to that particular mural.

When Vivian co-starred with Lucy in The Lucy Show, which started in 1962, Viv dressed just as nicely as Lucy. Lucy refused to do the show w/o Vivian. Also, in TLS & in every future project in which Vivian made guest appearances, her characters were always named VIVIAN. (The last name changed with each series or special, just as Lucy's did.)

Lucille Ball wasn't the only person who said that. It was a necessity b/c NO ONE would believe that a pretty, trim, 42-year-old would be married to a grouchy, bald, fat 64-year-old who constantly insulted her!

Viv was given frumpy clothes, make-up to make her look older, & an old lady haircut & bad perm to make it BELIEVABLE that she'd be married to a grumpy man old enough to be her father! Her look became more like Vivian IRL later in the series, after the show had become a phenomenal success & people had accepted the Mertzes as a couple.

@@DonnaBrooks Viv was hair was terrible, clown ish. She should have refused that, it resembled a shower cap.

I never had any trouble believing them as a long time married couple.

@@stitcher4729 Me neither - it worked - if they glamorized Vivian it would have been off. Or if she wore expensive clothes also would have been off. I never had trouble believing them as a couple both acted A+ in their parts.

INSULT. Not insault.

I apologize for misspelling the word insult, it was computer generated. I forgot to do a correct spelling check, it sometimes happens, I hope still you were able to understand more importantly, the meaning of the comment, thanks again.

@@walterdorsey8935 I'm sorry to be so gruff. I just read so many comments on YT where people don't know when NOT to use apostrophes or they post comments that DON'T make sense to anyone who isn't a mindreader & I snapped. LOL At least your comment made sense to someone outside your own head. LOL [Edited for grammar. LOL]

They played well off of each other.

I think both Vivian and William Frawley had problems. But were fabulous on the show. Vivian's irritability about Frawley's age was weird in that she was hired last. Why take the role if you are going to bitch about your co-star and make such a nasty statement about him right off the bat . Also, Vivian was supposed to play his wife and the Mertz's were to supposed to be less classy than the Riccardo's. So yes, Vivian was not to look so much younger according to her role as his wife, I heard she bitched about some stipulations about her dressing etc. Again, why take the role? The appearance of both as an older couple worked very well and made the total presentation great. So Vivian was not "stuck in the role" - she took it, nobody forced her. And if it weren't for I Love Lucy I am sure we would not even know the name Vivian Vance. (Actually I think underneath she carried some what of a victim personna due to her traumatic upbringing.)

It wasn't in her contract that she had to maintain a weight heavier to Lucille Ball's. I'm not saying Lucille wasn't threatened by Vivian's attractiveness, but how she looked wasn't in her CONTRACT. In fact, once Ball saw that Vivian was no threat, Ethel's character was allowed to be less frumpy, to dress better, to look more her age, and to be more glamorous. By that time, the viewing audience had accepted Fred & Ethel as a couple so that aspect didn't need to be made believable by Vivian's unflattering makeup, homely costumes, & a bad perm & old lady haircut.

Vivian didn't "take it out" on Frawley. Frawley had a reputation for being belligerent with co-stars! He was even fired from a project for threatening, then punching, the star. Frawley overheard Vivian complain once about having to appear dowdy as Ethel so people would believe she was married to an old coot & he held a grudge about that for the rest of his life.

@@DonnaBrooks Wrong Lucy was very insecure about other actresses around Desi. She had the gall to be bossy even rude around Elizabeth Taylor. Twice Lucy made disparaging remarks comparing Ethel to Marilyn Monroe, best friends don't do that.

I watched an interview where Lucille Ball said that Vivian Vance was her best friend and the kindest person on the planet

I didn't know that Lucy & Viv went on to co-star in a groundbreaking show (The Lucy Show) until less than a month ago! After watching that show, I became interested in Vivian & her friendship w/ Lucy & the more I learned about her, the more impressed I became!

​@@joeyl.rowland4153 I recently heard a clip from a Merv Griffin interview of Lucy & he asked if she'd do another show & she said, "Well, Gale's still around, but my Vivian's gone." Then she paused & gave a loud sigh & asked, "Can we talk about something else?" [ETA: Look for the TCM "The Plot Thickens" 10-part podcast series on Lucille Ball. In the episode, "Twilight", you can hear this right at the very beginning of the ep.]

@@joeyl.rowland4153 Could you please tell me what interview that was & where I can see it? I'm compiling a "Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance" YT playlist & I haven't come across that particular statement yet.

@@DonnaBrooks I will look for it. Have you seen the interview of Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball on JoyCollector on RU-vid. They hadn't seen each other in over a year in 1975.

It's like having the choir and the preacher always on hand in your mind. Even when you don't want them to be. I survived Christ Gospel Church. Ha ha 🤷‍♂️

@@DavidStarrUSA Good for you!! I think it's child abuse.

AND then there are the heathens who run most homes.

I always called them The Fabulous Four.

Now religion comes into play ?

@@bgueberdenteich5206 everyone in show business of course bashes religion but look what a bunch of pigs show business people are, all drunks, into drugs, money oriented their kids end up drug addicts hating their parents, everyone in show business is fake, they worship money and fame. they are not nice people.

Muslim culture still holds this view, it's always the woman's fault, "men just can't help themselves" 🤮🤢

Wrong, the fabric of today's society is soaked with depravity filth. We need to get back to Godliness. Then the streets will be safe to walk.

Not all but most men really do think only one way, hot, and women set the thermostat. Dress respectfully and talk that way too, not fully covered just not skin tight clothing, not filthy language.

No, it was that she was a trim, pretty, 42-year-old who was made to look frumpy (old lady haircut & bad perm, unflattering clothing & make-up) so people would believe she'd be married to a fat, bald, grumpy man 22 years older than she was, who constantly insulted her. She had to be dressed down & made to look older because she was supposed to be married to a man old enough to be her father!

Viv was also physically abused by all her husbands. She deserved so much better!

@@mainecoon6514 that's too bad. From Ms. Harper Stacey.

Yes, I remembered reading that Vivian grew up depressed because of her parents (particularly her mother) and at one point had a breakdown and was hospitalized. Glad she got away from this oppressive environment. However, she was married 4x and the longest relationship, her last husband, I think was gay. I loved I Love Lucy (still do) and referred to the cast as the Fabulous Four. Amazing that they all had major trauma in their backgrounds. However they gave us all a gift, laughter, which was felt the world over.

​@@harperstacey9604 ​ Not much is known about Vivian's first two marriages (to Joseph Shearer Danneck and George Koch). Danneck died a couple of years after the marriage ended -- he was killed in a shoot out with a business partner in Detroit. Vivian told her sisters to not discuss the marriages and presented Phil Ober as her "first" husband. Ober was also the abusive husband. Vivian often came to work with bruises from his beatings, according to makeup artist Hal King. He was very possessive and tried to sabotage Vivian's friendships. When they met, both Phil and Vivian were married to other people, and their liaison became gossip fodder in New York (this was around 1940). Vivian's last husband, literary agent John Dodds, was rather openly gay but not abusive.

@@cosmos34 She was apparently happy with Dodds. They stayed married until her death, just as Lucy & Gary Morton stayed married until Lucy's death.

This was still the early days of TV when the show debuted in 1951. They performed, broadcast and recoded in front of a live studio audience back then. Television film and sound equipment and techniques were still in their infancy.

@@jayson657 BUT the other early tv shows were not with the actors yelling to one another i was a young child but i remember them. Yes this show was funny of course but too much yelling and too much canned laughter turned on and off instantly.

@@marilynwillett804 they didn’t use canned laughter on I Love Lucy it was in front of a live audience

Unfortunately, people would rather hear dirt, rather then hear positive things about stars.

@@kevinsmith5288 Of course.

@@kevinsmith5288 Except this is true. When Desi offered Vance & Frawley a spin-off series of their own, Vivian refused, despite being offered a whopping $50,000 bonus! She refused to work with Frawley again.

In what way was Frawley "helpful" to Viv? Viv was going to a therapist EVERY MORNING before going to work just to deal with Frawley's abuse. Frawley did his lines & then would disappear to go listen to baseball games or horse races or whatever. He didn't even read the script except for his scenes.

Even Lucie Arnaz, who said he seemed like a nice guy, said she only met him once or twice & that he would disappear from the set. VIVIAN was at the Arnaz home all the time, staying there off and on. Lucie talks about Vivian reading her stories as a child.

who cares

@marilynwillett804 + I care Marilyn. I didn't ask for your opinion, you chose to bring it so you get what you deserve. Marilyn you're an old crank with a very bad attitude. I can tell by your comments on your page. Horrible🤦‍♀️

22 years difference in age, however, the they worked well as a couple - the show was a great hit at the time and was known all over the world.

You need to get off YT & take a class in basic math! He was 64; she was 42. 64-42= 22 He was 22 years older, so yes, that's over 2 decades. He was old enough to be her father.

Even w/ them putting her in dowdy clothes & make-up & giving her an old lady haircut & bad perm, all to make her look older & less attractive, I STILL never understood why she was married to Fred!

@@DonnaBrooks he owned the apt building and she couldn't get anyone else to support her? who knows it makes no sense.

The gut? What does that mean?

Sounds like a racist problem to me. No one I know had a problem with him.

@@laurab5750 not racist I’m Russian and Cuban. Horrible voice in my opinion. Everything isn’t about race!!!!!!

@@TheRrxing Considering he toured as a SINGER, I'm pretty sure your dislike has roots in something other than his singing.

@@laurab5750 no. Sorry it’s just my preference for what I find pleasing to listen to. That’s all. It’s not just me re: my comment. Please don’t make this more than a taste in vocals.

I'm 61 & I think his voice is fine. I also never remember my parents complaining about his voice! Not everything is about race, but you are making it about AGE! What difference does it make whether people are over 60? (For the record, I thought that Indian duet he sang was especially beautiful.)

What are you talking about Lucy always made fun of Ricky's accent.

Please give these words of salvation to someone cuz God wants everyone to go to heaven and just want to say that asking Jesus into my heart was the best decision I ever made and put your faith on jesus cuz jesus is the son of God and Jesus is our savior and Jesus is perfect

Hi Cynthia. It's, "I KNOW," not, "I no." Look up both words in the dictionary (there are several dictionaries online) so you can remember the difference. It's BASIC English.

Which none of those actors knew about, ALL LIVED FOR FAME AND GLORY NOBODY WAS HUMBLE. HOLLYWOOD IS HELL.