Desi Arnaz said: When Lucy got pregnant in the second year of I Love Lucy, I wanted to work that story into the show for eight weeks. But the sponsors and the network said, “You can’t do that. You can’t even say the word ‘pregnant’ on TV. They said, “You can hide Lucy’s stomach with furniture.” I said, “When Lucy is pregnant, she gets as big as a house.”
Still the answer was always ‘no’. I had creative control of the show, so finally, I wrote a letter to Mr. Lyons, the President of Phillip Morris our sponsor. He was on a trip to England at the time. I wrote:
“Your people keep telling me not to have Lucy pregnant in our show. Since they are telling me what NOT to do, they should start telling me WHAT to do. I’ve been responsible for giving you the number one show on TV, but if your people persist in blocking me, they can now assume that responsibility themselves. Thank you for all you’ve done for me in the past.”
About a week after I sent the letter, all opposition to the Lucy pregnant shows stopped. I didn’t know why, but I was just happy to proceed with the shows the way I wanted.
A couple of years later, I was in New York and went to Mr. Lyon’s office to say hello and thank him for his general support of our show. When I was leaving, his secretary of 20 years stopped me and said,
“Did you ever wonder why the opposition to Lucy being pregnant on your show stopped?”
“Sure, but I never asked.”
She pulled out a two-year-old memo that Mr. Lyon’s sent from England to his people. It read:
To whom it may concern. Don’t f… around with the Cuban.” Signed A.L.
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