‘I Love Lucy’ Poised for Success From the Start Thanks to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Clever Plan

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball had certain “rules” in place to ensure the jokes on their beloved sitcom I Love Lucy went down well with their audience.

The popular TV show — which starred the former real-life couple — celebrated its 75th anniversary on Thursday, October 15, and Arnaz once said how “certain ingredients were essential” for the series to be a hit.

According to People, in a re-release of his memoir, A Book: The Outspoken Memoirs of the Man Who “Loved Lucy”―and Revolutionized Television, Arnaz wrote: “None of us who worked on the planning and production of I Love Lucy would claim we were geniuses who knew from the start what we had to have for the show to be a success.”

Addressing the rules he and his ex-wife Ball — whom he was married to from 1940 to 1960 — had from “the very beginning,” he explained: “Basic good taste, moral values, never do a joke if that joke, no matter how funny and what a big laugh it could get, would in any way offend even a small segment of our viewers. This eliminated jokes about physical defects… and Polish, Jewish, Black, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese and other ethnic jokes.”

In the show, Ball played housewife Lucy Ricardo who always found her way into trouble, and Arnaz portrayed her bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo.

The pair worked carefully to ensure Ricky didn’t ever become too aggressive during arguments with Lucy.

“Ricky could be distressed by Lucy’s shenanigans, which at times seemed would bring catastrophic results,” Arnaz said. “That was natural, and the audience knew he had a reason. But, and that was a big but, he should never get real mad at her, or mad mad as the writers called it.”

“He should only get funny mad, exasperated, as you would with a naughty child,” he explained. “On the other hand, I did not want Ricky to lose believability in those instances and look silly; but if he showed any kind of meanness, audiences would resent it and we’d lose the humor of the fight.”

Following their split, Ball married her second husband, comedian Gary Morton, in 1961.

The late actress seemed much happier in her second marriage, as reported by Examiner in May.

“Boy, did I pick a winner!” Ball wrote to a friend in 1983, when she had been wed to Morton for 22 years. “After 19 years with that Latin lover” — she didn’t even write Arnaz’s name — “I never expected to marry again, but I’m sure glad I did!”

An uncovered trove of love letters — obtained by the Examiner — between Ball and Morton shed new light on their lasting bond. “I’m just sitting here thinking how much I love you,” she wrote in one late-’60s note. “You are a real special ‘guy,’ Gary, and ‘my guy.’ Bless you. Your missus.”