Entertainment: 40's Style

Before TV, our grandparents listened to radio shows.  Much like TV, they were on a regular schedule and the family gathered around to listen.  Were they any good?  Was it still as entertaining with nothing to watch?

Being employed in a research position, I decided to set up the most credible experiment I could and compare a radio show to a similar TV show.  I've long been a fan of I Love Lucy, which ran from 1951-1957 and was the first scripted TV show to be filmed live in front of a studio audience. 

If you've never watched it, it's still funny today.  I can imagine it irritating some hard-core feminists, like the EPAW crowd, but it's also easy to love for what it is: an extremely well written show with excellent comedic timing and storylines that are appropriate to its time period (along with some beautiful, ladylike 1950's fashion).  It's still a model sitcom, with TV Guide voting it second to Seinfeld in their list of greatest television shows, a ranking which may or may not stand the test of time.

What many don't realize is that I Love Lucy was loosely based on a radio show, "My Favorite Husband".  In it, Lucille Ball played Liz Cooper, a melodramatic and accident-prone housewife.  When the decision was made to create a TV show Ball insisted on working with her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, so a character was created for him: Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo.  The cast was rounded out with William Frawley and Kansan Vivian Vance playing Fred and Ethel Mertz, neighbors and landlords of Lucy and Ricky.  Ball's character, despite the name change, was largely the same.

I listened to a few episodes of My Favorite Husband, and found it very similar to I Love Lucy in characterization.  Liz was similarly loveable yet harebrained and sounded just like Lucy (including Lucy's notorious "waaaah" cry), while her husband was much like Ricky: often exasperated with her antics but unfailingly forgiving.   The storylines, writing and soundtrack were all very recognizable.  And, it was funny!

Entertaining as it was, it's clear why "My Favorite Husband" slipped into the background and Ball became a sensation on TV: she was a very gifted physical comedienne.  No scripting could take advantage of her facial expressions or disguises and some of her most famous scenes could never have happened on the radio. 

Below is a clip of an episode in which the group is on a trip to Hollywood so Ricky can film a part in a movie.  Lucy has bragged to frenemy and fellow New Yorker Carolyn Appleby about all the stars she's met - but doesn't expect that Carolyn will show up asking for an introduction!  Trying to save face, Lucy and Ethel scheme to steal severely myopic Carolyn's glasses.  Ethel entertains her while Lucy goes in and out dressed up as various actors, each with a different excuse about why they can't stay or can't speak.  The last was Harpo Marx, only Lucy didn't know that Ricky had just met the real Harpo and sent him up to their suite say hi:

While radio didn't take full advantage of some stars' talent, it did have its own advantages: the ability to multitask.  I work and attend school full-time, so I often have to get creative to balance my time.  With TV I'm forced to choose: watch TV or do anything else.  Studying has taken precedence over TV, but it would be nice to be able to keep up with my favorite episodes while doing laundry, washing dishes, etc.  (Yes, I know I could put a TV in the kitchen.  No, I'm not going to.)  For that we have the modern descendants of radio shows: audiobooks, podcasts, etc.  They may not be serial episodes, and thankfully they're without hokey laugh tracks, but their popularity shows that our desire just to listen and our ability to fill in the pictures with our imaginations is no different from that of our grandparents.