#keith thibodeux

Over the last thirty years, there have been colorized versions of the most popular episodes of “I Love Lucy” usually aired at the holidays. Most agree that the original black and white films are best, but these candy-coated treats do have holiday appeal and are a curiosity to those who can’t imagine the 1950s in color! 

“The ‘I Love Lucy’ Christmas Show” was the first episode CBS aired colorized on December 18, 1989. The 'wraparound’ segments (the non-flashback parts) were broadcast in the original black and white, but were also colorized starting in 1990.

On December 20, 2013, CBS rebroadcast the Christmas episode with “Lucy’s Italian Movie” (S5;E23) aka Grape Stomping in which both episodes were fully colorized. This broadcast drew an astonishing 8.65 million viewers!

On December 7, 2014 CBS aired the “Christmas Show" once more (with an encore showing on December 24, 2014) paired with a colorized “Job Switching” (S2;E1) aka the Chocolate Factory.

In May 2015 (an Easter special this time) CBS aired “The I Love Lucy Superstar Special” featuring "Hollywood at Last!” (S4;E16).  A lost scene, not seen since its original airing, was reinserted in which we hear that Bobby the bellhop had a bit part in the film Julius Caesar.

Since it wasn’t Christmas-time, “Lucy and Superman” (S6;E13) was aired as its companion piece.   

The colorized “Christmas Show” was shown again in December 2015 this time teamed with a newly colorized version of “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” (S1;E30) aka Vitameatavegamin.

In May 2016 CBS aired “The I Love Lucy Superstar Special” featuring the linked episodes “Lucy Visits Grauman’s” (S5;E1) and “Lucy and John Wayne” (S5;E2).

In December 2016, now a CBS holiday tradition, the “Christmas Show” was aired with a colorized version of “Lucy Gets Into Pictures” (S4;E18). 

In May 2017 CBS revived “The I Love Lucy Superstar Special” with colorized versions of “The Dancing Star” (S4;E27) starring Van Johnson and... 

“Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (S4;E28). The episode was edited, removing Lucy masquerading as Gary Cooper, Ethel walking like Marilyn Monroe, and much of Harpo’s harp solo.  

These two episodes are loosely linked by the visit of Caroline Appleby (Doris Singleton) to Hollywood. 

In December 2017 CBS again broadcast “The I Love Lucy Superstar Special” with a colorized version of “The Fashion Show” (S4;E19).  The episode was edited resulting in the total absence of Mrs. Dean Martin from the fashion show.

In December 2018 CBS presented the Christmas show alongside a newly-colorized version of “Pioneer Women” (S1;E25). The episode was edited and cut out Lucy and Ethel coping with the overly-risen dough as well as a several classic lines of dialogue. 

In April 2019 CBS presented the “Funny Money Special” - two colorized episodes themed around money. The hour consisted of  “Bonus Bucks” (S3;E21) and “The Million Dollar Idea” (S3;E13). Instead of Easter, this spring special was themed around Tax Day (April 15). 

When it was first filmed, “Lucy Goes to Scotland” (S5;E17) was thought to be the ideal episode to film in color (despite the fact that it could not air in color on CBS), but the cost was too great. Color photos and home movies by Desi Arnaz served as a visual guide for the episode to be digitally colorized as a bonus feature on DVD. It is the only one of the colorized episodes not aired on broadcast television.

On August 6, 2019, timed to coincide with Lucille Ball’s birthday, Fathom Events released five fully colorized episodes in cinemas: 

“Lucy Does a TV Commercial”

“Job Switching”

“Hollywood at Last!”

“The Million Dollar Idea”

“Pioneer Women”

The five episodes restored colorized footage edited out for time in their original network broadcasts.  A short feature on their colorization “Redhead Tales” was also premiered. 

Shortly after, a DVD was released which included: 

“Lucy Does A TV Commercial” 

“L.A. at Last!”

“Lucy and Superman”

“Job Switching”

“The Million Dollar Idea” 

“The Fashion Show” 

“Lucy and Harpo Marx”

“Pioneer Women” 

“Lucy’s Italian Movie”

“Lucy Visits Grauman’s”

“Lucy Gets Into Pictures” 

In September 2024 it was announced the the complete “I Love Lucy” series would be released on Blu-Ray DVD and include a never-before-seen colorized version of “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (S6;E12) first aired on January 7, 1957. 

A colorized montage opens each of the “I Love Lucy” collector’s edition videos created by Columbia House. Although all 180 episodes are included, no complete episodes are colorized. 

Lucille Ball first dyed her hair red to stand out in motion pictures. She was dubbed “Technicolor Tessie”.  Her first outing as a redhead was in the film DuBarry Was A Lady in 1943, thanks to Max Factor. 

Although there were hints that “I Love Lucy” would be filmed in color (as in the above ad) - it never came to pass. 

The first season of “The Lucy Show” (1962-63) was filmed and aired in black and white. 

Seeing the ‘writing on the wall’ about the advent of color television, the show started filming episodes in color starting in Fall 1963. However, CBS declined to air the series in color until the Fall of 1965.  At the time, most color equipment and color TV sets were made by RCA, parent company of CBS’s rival network NBC. They also reasoned that fewer than 5% of the population owned a color TV set in 1963.