MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > Traits That Softened Lucy's Character

Traits That Softened Lucy's Character

posted 6 years ago by [email protected] (1732)
4 replies | jump to latest

Throughout my life, the people I've met who didn't care for "I Love Lucy" disliked it for the
same reason: Lucy was too selfish. Even just a few weeks back, Gubbio posted that she
would be an unbearable character in real life.

I thought it would be fun to list some positive traits about Lucy.

She was courageous (look at Lucy on that horse in London!!)
She was sentimental (she would "puddle" up, especially at the thought of leaving Ethel)
She could be generous (the trouble she went to in helping that Italian twit at the pizza place)
She fought - and won - the system, in making sure she kept her teddy bear promise
to Little Ricky in the hospital.

Anyone have any other positive traits for Lucy?

[–] [email protected] (5497) 6 years ago

She did love the Mertzes even though she fought a lot with Ethel. Of course she was always willing to kiss and make up. She didn't hold a grudge for too long.

She was clever, smart and ambitious. She "wrote" a novel and an operetta. She was always involved in something! And she had a lot of self confidence. She was willing to try anything.

I always felt that Lucy could have been a success at one of her projects. But her focus was scattered. She was all over the place.

Who else but someone with a LOT of confidence would attempt to sing "The Waters of the Minnetonka" at the club with Ricky? LOL

And she had enough confidence to perform with Van Johnson in his show.

She was also confident enough to try her hand at a movie role although falling down the stairs in a top heavy headdress didn't advance her career!

I always thought that she had a soft spot for Fred especially in the early episodes. It was her idea to have a suit made for him for his birthday even though it resulted in m Ethel thinking she was Madam X.

Lucy was also willing to work her way out of the tight spots she got herself into. She made an accidental donation of $500 (she thought it was five dollars) to the charity run by her old school chum Cynthia Harcourt. But she was willing to be a "Woman from Mars" to make the money she needed for her donation.

[–] [email protected] (1732) 6 years ago

The donation thing was really Lucy's ego at work - she bragged that Ricky owned a sugar plantation in Cuba, and didn't
want her school chums to see "a zero" by her name. To me, courageous fits her more here (walking OUTSIDE the
fence of the Empire State Building!!).

I already wrote this in the Europe thread, but she was very supportive and generous to seasick-prone Fred in
"Staten Island Ferry."

She was also good to Ernie Ford. She treated him as "her oldest boy", and while he drove both Lucy and Ricky
nuts, Lucy tolerated him to spare his feelings. Again, the Mario story is basically a single episode remake, but
that's still two dummies she didn't want to see hurt. She was also very good to Ted Kurtz, as were Ricky, Fred
and Ethel.

Also, Lucy was so good to those (dishonest) children in the episode where Lucy misses Ricky's
third birthday and she has a party for them.

I also feel a lot of Lucy's selfishness had to do with how repressed she was. She was a bundle
of energy AND talent (look at all those different women she pulls off at the Tropicana when
she, Fred and Ethel are trying get Ricky rehired. We would expect this from Fred and Ethel,
who had been professional performers, but Lucy was an amateur and she still nailed it!).

Unlike the Seinfeld characters, they were not heartless people.

[–] [email protected] (5497) 6 years ago

Lucy could be softhearted and generous when it came to children.

And yes, courageous when it came to climbing around the top of the Empire State Building!

Even though she could drive Ricky up a wall with her spendthrift ways, she did try to be a good wife. She wanted to be his "pal" in several episodes. She even went so far as to try and enjoy camping with him until she found out that he was only tricking her by making her hate camping.

Lucy did have a lot of energy and talent and I agree that she felt repressed. She needed some sort of creative outlet and staying home doing housework just did not fulfill her.

[–] AndrewHNPX (42) 6 years ago

Well I thought Lucy's interaction with the kids in Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy was her at her most likable.