Lucy Ricardo

**Lucille Esmeralda "Lucy" McGillicuddy Ricardo** is a character on *I Love Lucy*, *The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour*, and other media. She was played by Lucille Ball.

## About Lucy

Lucy McGillicuddy was born 6 August 1921 in West Jamestown, New York. She was delivered by Dr. Peterson to an American family of Scottish descent. Her great-great-great-grandfather, Angus McGillicuddy, hailed from Kildoonan, a town in northern Scotland located between Golspie and Ullapool.

No siblings are ever mentioned, but she has an Aunt Martha who made fabulous homemade salad dressing. She is also cousin to Tennessee Ernie Ford.

An early babysitter, Helen Ericson, gave her the childhood nickname of "Droopy Drawers." Lucy's baby buggy once rolled away from Helen and ended up in the middle of a street, stopping traffic. She was bitten on her left ear by neighbor Fred Bigelow's cat when she was very young, and she still has the scar. In grade school, she was a little skinny girl with freckles, which earned her the nickname "Bird Legs."

Lucy attended Jamestown High School in Celoron, New York. She flunked her Spanish course, but had a passion for the theater. She played the head of the petunias in a ballet recital, and Juliet in the senior play of *Romeo and Juliet*. Her drama teacher, Miss Hanna, said that she wouldn't be surprised if Lucy ended up as a Broadway star. Lucy learned how to play "Glow Worm" on the saxophone so she could go on band trips with the football team; at the time, she was dating one of the high school's football players. This football player was probably the captain of the team Lucy refers to while listing her past romances. Her other high school romances include a nameless lifeguard, Billy, Morey, Jess, Jerry, Bob, Bennett, George, Phil, Martin, Danny, Argyle, Bud, Wilbur, Noble, Carl, Frank, and Henry.

After she graduated high school at age seventeen, she left Jamestown for New York City. While in college there, she dated Tom Henderson, who is now the owner of a big fur salon downtown. In 1953, she said that she broke up with Tom Henderson "fifteen years ago," so her relationship with Tom at college must have ended around 1938. She also dated Kenny and Johnny while at "junior college."

Lucy probably became a redhead before she met Ricky. Her natural hair color is mousy brown, and she gets henna rinses every two weeks.

In 1940, Lucy agreed to go on a blind date with a Cuban drummer that was set up by her friend Marion Strong. This drummer was conga player Ricky Ricardo. They danced and fell madly in love. Shortly after they met, Lucy and Ricky married at the Byram River Beagle Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. They went skiing on their honeymoon. It is rumored that they wanted to go skiing at Sun Valley on their honeymoon but were unable to afford it at the time.

6 August 1948, the couple moved into a small brownstone apartment located at 623 East 68th Street in Manhattan. For $105 a month, they rented apartment 4A until 1953, when they moved to apartment 3B (later named 3D) so there would be an extra room for Little Ricky. Lucy and Ricky quickly developed a very close friendship with their landlords and neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz. Lucy and Ethel became best friends and soon were inseparable.

Ricky was hired as an orchestra leader at the Tropicana nightclub. Lucy was forced to put aside her own show biz aspirations, as Ricky wanted his wife to be a typical American housewife who stayed in her "place." Lucy has tried many times to become part of Ricky's act, sometimes succeeding. While she's a horribly off-key singer, she's a great comedienne and dancer. She has been offered a comedy contract twice, but, always loyal to Ricky, she turned both contracts down to stay at home and care for her family.

She was treasurer, and later co-president with Ethel, of her women's club, the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League.

Lucy finally became pregnant in 1952 and gave birth to Ricky Ricardo, Jr. 19 January 1953. Throughout her pregnancy, she considered many names for the baby, but none of them was naming the baby after her husband. Making the baby her husband's namesake must have been a last-minute idea. Little Ricky is the Ricardos' only child.

In 1957, the Ricardos moved to Westport, Connecticut. Lucy supplements her allowance with extra income from selling eggs from her two hundred hens. She became a member of the local PTA and the Westport Historical Society, chairing their Yankee Doodle Day Celebration.

## Inconsistencies

* Lucy once said she was 22 when she got married, but this doesn't match up with her 1921 year of birth or her 1940 year of marriage.
* Their marriage was sometime in the spring. Lucy once says her anniversary is on the 19th of the month, but another time, she says her anniversary is on the 7th of the month.
* The Ricardos claimed many times that they lived at the brownstone apartment from the start of their marriage.