Recently on eBay I came across the same model piano as the upright piano on the set of the Ricardo’s apartment on the “I LOVE LUCY” TV show, for sale by eBay seller “909jordan“. It is a Story & Clark Spinet piano serial # 207633 circa 1950 pictured below.
The spinet piano was made smaller than the traditional upright piano using a different mechanism to produce the sound due to the smaller size, resulting in some loss of sound quality and dynamics. Continue reading Lucy & Ricky’s Upright Piano
After the Ricardo’s moved to the bigger apartment we see a pair of primitive folk art prints over the fireplace by the American artist E Melvin Bolstad. In the early 50’s sets of similar prints were cheap and readily available and could be found in many homes. “The Three Alarmer ” is the title of one of the prints depicting a scene in a town when a fire breaks out. Continue reading I love Lucy’s Folk Art prints
The Hull Apple Cookie Jar can often be seen in the kitchen set of I love Lucy, Hull pottery Cookie Jars were popular in the 1950’s. The cookie jars in the shape of an apple had a companion grease jar in a smaller size, they were airbrushed after they were made with the unfortunate result that the paint could be removed easily by surface cleaning so you will see vintage examples on ebay where much of the paint has worn away
It took me a while to get a clear screenshot of the book ends seen on the set of I love Lucy, it was difficult to make out what the shapes represented, but when I eventually discovered that they were owl figures the mystery deepened. Continue reading Ricardo’s Owl Bookends Mystery
This is the screen-used original Utrillo print “Restaurant au Mont Cenis” we can see on so many episodes of “I love Lucy” It was sold at auction on July 30, 2013 by PROFILES IN HISTORY for $8,000. It is a print from an original painting of a street in Montmartre, Paris, by Maurice Utrillo, a native of Montmartre, who painted it in 1922. It is interesting to compare it to the vintage postcard circa 1908, photographed from an almost identical vantage point
Continue reading I love Lucy Prop: Utrillo Painting Print
When the fictional Fred and Ethel Mertz moved to Newport they lived in an apartment on the Ricardo’s property. On the mantelpiece behind Desi Arnaz on the set of the Mertzs’ apartment we can see a Florence Ceramics (Pasadena, Ca) figurine “Charmaine”.
I have seen versions of the Charmaine figurine in green and pink. Continue reading The Mertzes in Newport: Florence Ceramics Charmaine
In the 4th episode of season 1 “Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her” Lucy (Lucille Ball) sees Ricky (Desi Arnaz) mixing something into her drink and thinks he is trying to do away with her.
Ricky is seen using a cocktail shaker set that would look good in a mid-century style home bar, and was a popular item for 1950’s home entertaining. The picture above came from an ebay auction for a similar cocktail shaker, it is not an original Desilu prop but it is vintage and in fine condition, and exactly like the one on the shelf in the screen capture below from “I love Lucy” Season One, Episode 4.
Recently we visited the first home and birthplace of Ernest Hemingway in Oak Park, IL. The kitchen of the home is of interest to collectors of antique and vintage kitchen decor and paraphenalia. The Hemingway kitchen was run by live in domestic staff and was state of the art at the turn of the century. Ernest Hemingway was born in the house in 1899 and lived there for the first six years of his life until they moved to another house nearby as the family grew larger. The kitchen is restored to how it would have looked during the time Ernest lived here. Continue reading The Kitchen of Ernest Hemingway’s Childhood Home
This is a follow up to my previous post about restoring an old shabby Nesco Bread Box to look like the one seen in the kitchen of “I love Lucy” starring Lucille Ball.
Here is the Nesco Bread Box and a couple of the Nesco canisters after cleaning and repainting. Also in the photo you can see some paper printouts of my version of the original decal as seen on Lucy Ricardo’s breadbox on the tv show. Continue reading RESTORATION PROJECT: LUCY RICARDO’S BREADBOX Part 2
The METLOX POPPYTRAIL BLUE HOMESTEAD PROVINCIAL WATERING CAN is another prop that pops up here and there on the I love Lucy set First it goes from Lucy’s apartment to Ethel’s when Lucy gets her new furniture and gives her old stuff to Ethel, and then back to the Ricardo’s new home when they move to the country. Continue reading Lucy & Ethel’s Metlox Watering Can
