Stay Tuned: TV's Unforgettable Moments - I Love Lucy "The Vitameatavegamin Episode" (1951)

For over 50 years, we have watched as television has entertained, informed, comforted, and thrilled us. Over 50 years of memories-the stars, the programs, and the events stored in our hearts and imaginations like treasured heirlooms-are found in this new hardcover multimedia book from veteran New York Times best-selling author Joe Garner. In Stay Tuned, he has gathered 36 landmark moments from news, sports, and entertainment in a riveting anthology.

Narrated by:
Dick Van Dyke for Entertainment, Walter Cronkite for News, and Bob Costas for Sports

Copyrights by Joe Garner and Andrews McMeel Publishing

They say nothing lasts forever,
especially on television,

but "I Love Lucy" just might.

The Lucy Ricardo Show,
da-da-da-da.

"I Love Lucy" actually started
out as a radio program in 1948

called "My Favorite Husband."

It starred Lucille Ball
with actor Dick Denning

playing her husband,

but when CBC decided
to take the show

to television in October 1951,

Lucy insisted on brining on her
real life husband, Desi Arnaz.

(Bob) She said no, I will only do it
with my husband and we all said

huh, Desi what,

he's on the road playing
Bubba-what?

We've never heard of him,
but thank God she insisted.

The network worried that America
might not accept

this so-called mixed
raced marriage,

but Lucy and Desi turned
their union into

a groundbreaking comedy
that was sometimes sweet,

sometimes salsa.

[speaking Spanish]

Never mind. Never mind.
I know what you are talking about.

Week after week Desi,
Vivian, Vance,

and Bill Frawley took turns as
Lucy's longsuffering foils,

but it was up to the
show's writing team,

Bob Carroll, Junior
and Madelyn Pugh Davis

to find situations that
un-throw Lucy's comic genius.

She wanted to rehearse and
rehearse and get it right

and then she could start
having fun with it.

Carroll and Davis devised
Lucy's demanding routines.

They sent them out and then
wrote detailed directions

into each script which Lucy
followed to the letter.

People would ask us if she
improvised a lot

and honestly she really didn't.

Everything was written.

She would add to and
get wonderful ideas,

but this was like a blueprint,

an exact blueprint for what
she is going to do in

the physical scene and she was
of course brilliant at it.

One of Lucy's classic moments
came in this episode

that first aired on May 5, 1952.

Lucy has finagled her way onto
Ricky's television special by

getting a job as the commercial
pitch girl for a strange tasting

pick-me-up called
Vitameatavegamin.

The answers to all your problems
is in this little bottle,

Vitameatavegamin.

Vitameatavegamin contains
vitamins,

meat, vegetables and minerals.

Yes, with Vitameatavegamin you
can spoon your way to health.

It took us a day and
half to get that name.

To get Vitameatavegamin.

I made a couple notes
this morning.

I think we probably went this
way like minavegavitamin,

meataminavegamost,

vegavitameat and we probably said
how about Vitameatavegamin

and that sounded good.

Vitameatavegamin turns out to be
a remarkable brew that

contains vitamins, mineral,
meat, and 23% alcohol.

[Laughter]

(Dick) But the more Lucy drinks,

the drunker and the
funnier she gets.

Well, I'm your
Vita Vegi bad girl.

Are your tired and
rundown and listless?

Do you pop out at parties?

Are you unpoopular?

(Dick) By the time she is done
testing Vitameatavegamin,

Lucy is nearly on the
floor and so are we.

[Laughter]

It's so tasty too.

(Madelyn ) Her timing is brilliant.

You know, people say how come
it lasted so long and

(Bob) That's why.
(Madelyn) Desi said once,

he said - somebody said what do
you think, you know,

why is it lasting so
long and he said,

well I think you give about 90%
of the credit to Lucy

and the rest of us can
take the other 10%.

(Bob) Pretty true.

Millions of "I Love Lucy"
fans grew to love

the flavor Vitameatavegamin.

Fifty years later it was
voted by her fans as

the most popular Lucy
episode of all.

Proof that when it
comes to comedy,

"I Love Lucy's" taste is timeless.