Aaron Sorkin‘s Being The Ricardos opens theatrically on Friday (12.10); Prime Video streaming starts on Tuesday, 12.21. I caught it a second time a few days ago — it’s still a tightly constructed, well-written period dramedy with good zotzy performances all around, especially from Nicole Kidman**.
Anyway, here’s an I Love Lucy tidbit I was never aware of until yesterday…
During the first five seasons (’51 through ’56) I Love Lucy was set in a mythical apartment building on Manhattan’s East 68th Street. For the sixth and final season (’56 to ’57) the Richardos and the Mertzes moved to Westport, Connecticut, a flush Fairfield County hamlet that’s directly adjacent to my hometown of Wilton. The show continued to be shot in Hollywood, of course, but the producers, sticklers for accuracy, based the Ricardo home on an actual colonial abode located at 1 Old Hill Road.
Posted on Fairfield’s Hamlet Hub, 9.14.15: “According to the filing information for the district’s National Register of Historic Places certification, ‘The two earliest houses in the district are the 1730 Lt. John Taylor House and the 1736 Daniel Freelove Nash House.’ The Taylor house [1 Old Hill Road, just west of downtown] was destroyed by fire in 1935 and replaced by a replica on the original foundation. It was the home of film and stage actor Arthur Kennedy during the 1950s and served as the model for the home of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo when I Love Lucy moved to Westport for its final season.”
** The only distracting aspect is the fact that Kidman has clearly…uhm, adjusted her appearance. Five and a half years ago Renee Zellweger bitchslapped Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman within an inch of his life for mentioning that her appearance had changed, and ever since the rule has been “don’t talk about any actress having had any work done.” I can talk about my May 2012 procedure in Prague all I want, but the rulebook says “leave it there.”