Comedy Center announces preservation of classic ‘I Love Lucy’ materials
Lucille Ball backstage during a live filming of I Love Lucy. Photo courtesy of the National Comedy Center
Rare behind-the-scenes photographs from I Love Lucy and a page from an early I Love Lucy pilot script. Photos courtesy National Comedy Center
Desi Arnaz warming up the studio audience prior to a live filming of I Love Lucy. Photo courtesy National Comedy Center
Lucille Ball backstage during a live filming of I Love Lucy. Photo courtesy of the National Comedy Center
Rare behind-the-scenes photographs from I Love Lucy and a page from an early I Love Lucy pilot script. Photos courtesy National Comedy Center
Desi Arnaz warming up the studio audience prior to a live filming of I Love Lucy. Photo courtesy National Comedy Center
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On the 75th anniversary of I Love Lucy's television premiere, the National Comedy Center said it has acquired hundreds of rare, previously unseen materials related to I Love Lucy's production.
The collection includes hundreds of rare, previously unseen behind-the-scenes photographs, 35mm film prints of the series that were personally owned by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and a rare original script draft representing the earliest known revisions to the formative I Love Lucy pilot episode. The photographs offer an intimate view of the day-to-day working environment of one of Hollywood's earliest and most influential television production facilities.
The newly preserved photographic collection provides a visual record of I Love Lucy behind the scenes, revealing the close collaborative working relationships among the series' principal creative architects. Candid images capture Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, writers Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr., and crew members including cinematographer Karl Freund at work bringing the series to life, along with audience members, Hollywood executives and family members who visited the set during the series' run.
The collection is being digitized and preserved in collaboration with Desilu, Too, the family company that manages the legacy of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The National Comedy Center is unveiling selections from this substantial collection publicly for the first time with a new exhibition at its Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum in Jamestown, New York - Lucille Ball's hometown - planned for 2027.
"This is not simply a celebration of a beloved television show," said Journey Gunderson, executive director of the National Comedy Center. "It is about preserving the creative blueprint that helped shape the television industry. Through these newly digitized photographs and this rare pilot script, scholars, creators and fans can experience firsthand the innovation, risk and artistry that Lucy and Desi brought to the medium. On the 75th anniversary of I Love Lucy, visitors to our two museums in Lucille Ball's hometown - the National Comedy Center and the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum - can discover even more about how early television comedy found its footing and how Lucy and Desi helped define its future."
A full story and more photos will appear in Friday’s edition of The Post-Journal