I’m not sure whether it’s the flaming red hair, the stylish dress suits with the cute little hat/glove combo or the whining cry that pierces your ears whenever her plans to get into her husband’s show are foiled, but I find Lucy Ricardo (or rather the brilliant actress who played her, Lucille Ball) fascinating and a true inspiration for my novels. In fact, I believe chick lit was born with her and the I Love Lucy show because it gave writers like myself the green light to have fun with our female characters and show off their quirky personalities. I love putting my characters into outrageous situations that make my readers laugh out loud and I owe it all to her!
To this day, I watch reruns of the I Love Lucy show whenever they’re on and belly laugh my way through all of Lucy’s screwball schemes, all the while thinking to myself that I could really hang out with this very cool yet occasionally goofy chick. I picture myself stomping grapes with her in Italy or drinking the Vitameatavegamin tonic until I too slur my words and bat my heavily mascaraed eyes, flirting horribly with the closest guy next to me.
In fact, I would go as far as to say that Lucy is my hero because she wasn’t afraid to take risks. She put her heart and her ambitions out on the line and took the consequences no matter what. She schemed. She jumped before she looked. She embarrassed herself many, many times. But in the end, she always got to go home with the hot-looking Cuban lounge singer who adored her.
She was entertaining and she gave me a newfound appreciation for a leading female character who is strong, stubborn, loveable and most importantly, funny. And let’s not forget Ethel who I believe is the First Lady of hysterical female sidekicks. Forget Thelma and Louise, Lucy and Ethel are the real deal! She would follow Lucy to the ends of the earth on her adventures, driving the car as they drove over the cliff.
Most importantly, Lucy showed me that it’s fine to go through life laughing at yourself. I think all of my characters have a little bit of Lucy in them and thank goodness for that because if not, they’d be so boring.
Luuuucccccy! What did you do?
Erin