Enjoy Christmas with [I Love] Lucy

Vivian Vance, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz and William Frawley (CBS)

 TV 

CBS is presenting it’s annual I Love Lucy Christmas Special Friday, December 22 at 8:00 p.m. These Christmas specials have aired on the Network the past four years, each combining the holiday-themed episode with a different comedy classic. This year, the one hour special presents the classic “Christmas Episode” and “The Fashion Show” both colorized with a nod to the 1950s period in which they were filmed.

“The Christmas Episode” finds the Ricardos and Mertzes decorating Lucy and Ricky’s Christmas tree and reminiscing about how their lives have changed since the arrival of the Ricardos’ son, Little Ricky. Flashbacks recall the night Lucy tells Ricky she is pregnant, the time Lucy shows up unexpectedly as part of a barbershop quartet and the day Ricky and the Mertzes rehearse taking Lucy to the maternity ward.

(CBS)

In “The Fashion Show,” Lucy convinces Ricky to allow her to spend up to $100 on a dress at the fashionable Don Loper Salon in Beverly Hills. However, when an opportunity arises for Lucy to participate in a Loper fashion show featuring glamorous movie star wives, Lucy winds up spending five times that! Lucy hopes that if she gets a mild sunburn, Ricky will feel sorry for her and forgive her for spending so much, though, as always, she goes a bit too far!

“The Fashion Show” was originally broadcast Feb. 28, 1955, and became an immediate favorite not only of viewers, but of Lucille Ball herself. The episode features a few of her real-life personal friends: Mrs. Gordon MacRae, Mrs. William Holden, Mrs. Van Heflin, Mrs. Forrest Tucker and Don Loper himself.