29 years without Lucille Ball: Cool facts about 'I Love Lucy'

29 years without Lucille Ball: Cool facts about 'I Love Lucy' - TV's most famous female comedian of all time left this world a lot less amusing 29 years ago. The iconic actor and comedian made everyone's night in the 1950s and forever thereafter—because who hasn't watched reruns over and over on those sleepless nights?

Check out these fascinating facts about one of America's most influential sitcoms and comedians.

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Original plot - Originally producers wanted the plot to mirror the real lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

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First female CEO - Ball became the first woman to run a production company when she bought out Arnaz's shares of Desilu for $2.5 million after their divorce in 1960.

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If you like 'Star Trek,' thank Lucille Ball - The board of directors of Desilu Productions voted against filming the pilot of 'Star Trek' because it was going to be too expensive, but Ball overruled their decision.

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'Star Trek' - Its pilot episode, titled 'The Cage,' famously flopped. NBC decided to shoot a second pilot, which Ball agreed to finance, once again going against her board's decision.

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Larry Lopez - The producers had originally named Desi Arnaz's character Larry Lopez. They changed their mind because they didn't like the alliteration of Larry and Lucy.

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The Lopezes - That means Lucy and Ricky were almost the Lopezes.

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Salem witch trials - Ball is reportedly a descendant of one of the people accused of witchcraft during the infamous Salem witch trials, according to NPR.

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Defying ageism - 'I Love Lucy' celebrated a lot of firsts. It was the first show to cast a woman over 40 as the lead character. Ball had just turned 40 when the show was released.

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Promoting equality - 'I Love Lucy' is also one of the first TV shows to center around a comic female lead.

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Interracial - The sitcom was also the first to show an interracial couple, a deed Ball had to fight for since CBS and its sponsor, Philip Morris cigarettes, heavily opposed it.

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Pregnancy - 'I Love Lucy' was also the first to star a pregnant woman playing the role of a pregnant woman, though the actors couldn't use the word "pregnant."

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A minister, a priest and a rabbi... - Every episode that showed a pregnant Lucy had to be reviewed by a minister, a priest, and a rabbi to ensure the content was appropriate for the audience.

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Ball didn't like one of the series' most popular episodes - 'Lucy Does a TV Commercial' has been voted by fans as one of the best episodes, but Ball wasn't a fan. She was nervous about messing up her lines, which includes her having to say “Vitameatavegamin” multiple times.

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Women in Film Crystal Award - In 1977, Ball became one of the first women to win the award which seeks to promote "equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women in all forms of global media."

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Ball was briefly registered with the Communist Party - She briefly associated with the party in 1936, which caused the House Un-American Activities Committee to launch an investigation into her family. She said she "registered as a Communist only to please her grandfather, Fred Hunt, who was a zealous Socialist."

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Reruns are invented - Desi Arnaz is credited with inventing "reruns" because of his decision to re-air some episodes from the first season in order to give Ball a break when she became pregnant.

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Three-camera format - 'I Love Lucy' was the first TV show to be shot on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience.

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Real-life bickering - Fred and Ethel's on-air squabbling reportedly extended off the air, since the two are said to not have gotten along at all.

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Filmed in Hollywood - The show was also among the first to be filmed in Hollywood. Up until that point, most series were filmed in New York.

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One room - Space on set was so limited that Ricardo's bedroom and the Mertz's living room were actually shot in one room but using different furniture.

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Ball had to lie about her age - Ball was almost six years older than Arnaz, which was looked down upon at the time. When the couple decided to get married, they both put 1914 as their birth year to avoid controversy.

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Number one - 'I Love Lucy' was the first series to finish its run at the top of the Nielsen ranking.

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TV Guide cover - Ball was featured on the TV Guide cover, along with her son, Desi Arnaz Jr.

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Major Hollywood stars - The show featured some of Hollywood's major names as guest stars, including John Wayne, Bob Hope, Van Johnson, Orson Welles, Rock Hudson, Charles Boyer, and William Holden.

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High heels - Arnaz listed his height as 5 ft 11 in, but those who worked with him say he was actually 5 ft 9 in and used four-inch lifts in his shoes. He would reportedly also have an additional cushion on the loveseat on set to be taller than Lucy when seated.

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Lots of smoking - Due to the fact that tobacco giant Phillip Morris was the show's sponsor, lots of smoking was required on set. Ball, however, reportedly smoked Chesterfields—but packed them into Phillip Morris boxes.

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Arnaz refused to do this scene - The original script of the episode titled 'Lucy Tells the Truth' included a scene in which Ricky manipulated numbers on his income tax return. But Arnaz, an immigrant from Cuba, flat out refused to do it. He reportedly didn't want the audience to associate him and his background with cheating against the US government.

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Ball almost choked to death on set - In the episode titled 'Lucy's Italian Movie,' Ball reportedly almost died during the grape-stomping scene. A 2004 letter to the editor at The New York Times contends that the show used a real-life Italian grape stomper who went a little too far on Ball.

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It has survived the test of time - Decades after its finale, 'I Love Lucy' still attracts some 40 million viewers each year.

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