Though the series ended nearly seven decades ago, I Love Lucy remains among the greatest sitcoms of all time. Over six seasons and several follow-up specials, the shenanigans of Lucy (Lucille Ball), Ricky (Desi Arnaz), Ethel (Vivian Vance), and Fred (William Frawley) became the stuff of legend. From Lucy’s constant attempts to get into Ricky’s show to her antics with Hollywood royalty, I Love Lucy contains more classic episodes than any other show in history. While each season included a variety of fan-favorite episodes, Season 5 contains some of the best thanks to the Ricardos’ European excursion. For 17 weeks, the gang toured several countries, where Lucy got into endless scrapes, with an incident in Italy being the most memorable. The episode “Lucy’s Italian Movie” features a routine that is not only endlessly funny but nearly deadly. What’s more, it wasn’t the last time Ball faced peril on set.
“Lucy’s Italian Movie” Has One of the Show’s Best Stories
Airing as the 23rd installment of Season 5, “Lucy’s Italian Movie” is one of the show’s most well-written episodes. While traveling on a train, Lucy is discovered by an Italian filmmaker, Vittorio Filippi (Franco Corsaro). He’s working on a film called Bitter Grapes, and he thinks Lucy would be perfect for a role. Sure this will be her big break, Lucy sets out to learn all she can about the grape industry. To accomplish this, she wanders into a vineyard and is put to work stomping grapes. But things go awry when she gets into a fight with her vat partner (Teresa Tirelli D’Amico).
While it may be one of the show’s most ambitious plots, it’s also jarringly perfect. Despite being set far from I Love Lucy’s regular location, it hits all the quintessential beats: Lucy’s drive to get into show business, a well-meaning scheme gone wrong, and a huge, ironic pay-off. Lucy’s efforts at becoming a method actress end up losing her the job. Her fight in the vat has stained her skin, and Filippi tells her he’s worried she won’t be back to normal in time for the shoot. Additionally, Bitter Grapes is only a symbolic title, and the picture has nothing to do with the industry. In one final blow, he offers the part to Ethel, dashing Lucy’s dreams. Indeed, “Lucy’s Italian Movie” checks all the boxes that it takes to make a successful I Love Lucy. Filming the outing, though, was anything but perfect.
Shooting the Grape Scene Became Dangerous
Lucy’s battle in the grape vat is undoubtedly one of the greatest physical comedy performances of all time. But it was also one of the most dangerous. According to the book Laughs, Luck… and Lucy, the fight wasn’t at all scripted as it would later appear. Ball got into further detail during an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. Ball explained that they needed an authentic Italian actress for the part. They searched California’s Wine country to do this, and that’s how they found D’Amico. Ball said that, although she and the other Italian extras cast didn’t speak very much English, they were perfect for their roles. A translator came with them and explained what they were going to do, and the women agreed, but after their initial instructions, it was up to Ball and the production team to keep the shoot going.
“Our director didn’t speak Italian,” said Ball. “I didn’t speak Italian, no one spoke Italian.” But Ball explained that the women were well-versed in their craft. D’Amico had been told that she and Ball would have a fight. “It was also explained to her that there were times when my legs had to come up in this huge vat of real grapes,” Ball continued. The idea was that the choreographed fight would take the two down into the vat and out of frame. From there, Ball would put her limbs into frame, simulating the battle. But things got…messy.
I slipped,” Ball told Cavett. “And when I slipped, I hit her accidentally. And she took offense. So, she hauled off and let me have it…it took all the wind out of me. She had been told that we were to stay down for a while, give me a chance to get my legs way up so that they’d show in the camera. Then, up would come an arm…My head was supposed to pop [up]. Well, my head never popped up. She kept me down by the throat.” Ball continued the story, saying she had grapes up her nose and ears. She really had to fight D’Amico to try to get her off. “I was drowning in these grapes!”
Ball gave D’Amico one last blow to get her off. Ball said she hollered the director’s name, calling for help. But he and the audience thought it was part of Ball’s comedic performance, and D’Amico pulled Ball back into the vat. Ball said the two spent so much time fighting that they had to cut half of it. “To drown in a vat of grapes is not the way I had planned to go, you know,” Ball joked with Cavett. While it may have been harrowing to film, Ball and D’Amico created a sequence of elevated comedy that has yet to be matched. Almost eerily, though, it would not be the last time Ball was almost engulfed on set.
Lucille Ball Nearly Drowned While Making ‘The Lucy Show’
Following the conclusion of I Love Lucy and the subsequent Lucy and Desi Comedy Hour, Ball returned to television with The Lucy Show. This time, Ball portrayed Lucy Carmichael and shared a home with Viv (Vivian Vance). Like its predecessor, the series saw the duo get into a whole new set of situations. One of the more famous episodes is “Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower.” As the title suggests, the show sees the two attempt to install a shower, only to become trapped inside as water fills it. In a case of history repeating itself, Ball nearly drowned while filming in front of a live studio audience. According to MeTV, part of the scene required Ball to dive to the bottom of the shower. However, Vance noticed Ball was struggling to come back under the weight of the water. Vance saved Ball by pulling her partner up by the hair! Because of the parameters of filming The Lucy Show’s production, it was all done in one take. Thus, this is the version that was broadcast. Once again, Lucy had made comedy history while flirting with her own mortality.
There’s no question that I Love Lucy remains a cornerstone of television. While “Lucy’s Italian Movie” is one of the sitcom’s finest moments, it turned out to be dangerous to film. And the same can be said about “Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower.” Yet, her commitment to comedy and trailblazing storytelling ensures that Ball’s adventures, no matter how dangerous, will forever remain among television’s greatest moments.
I Love Lucy is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
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