Here are 10 things you should know about Van Johnson, born 108 years ago today. His career on stage, screen, radio and television spanned more than 55 years.
Tag: Desi Arnaz
We Love Lucy, Even in Color
We’re looking forward to tonight’s I Love Lucy Christmas special on CBS—so much so that we don’t even mind that it’s been colorized, a process we usually don’t have much use for.
For one thing, the colorizing technology has improved so much over the years, it makes hard to object terribly strenuously (though you’d still hear us howling if they were to colorize The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca or some other black-and-white cinematic masterpiece).
Today’s hour-long offering includes a 1956 Christmas episode that places colorized wraparound segments around a number of flashbacks of classic scenes (which for some reason are not colorized—why, we’ve no clue) and the familiar episode that finds the Ricardos and the Mertzes traveling to Rome, where Lucy and Ethel taking a run at stomping grapes at a winery (this episode, if we understand correctly, is colorized).
The colorized fun begins at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, and to whet your appetite, here’s a snippet from the Christmas episode.
Today’s Tuesday Tee!
Today’s Tuesday Tee is for the I Love Lucy fans in the house! (If you’re an avid fan, you know which episode inspired this shirt!) It’s available from Cladrite Designs in a wide range of colors and in a variety of styles. Shop now!

We Still Love Lucy
61 years ago today, the very first episode of “I Love Lucy” aired on CBS.
Here’s some amazing 8mm color footage that was shot by a member of the audience on October 12, 1951, during the filming of the sixth episode from that first season. This is rare stuff, indeed, and a must-watch for fans of the show.