Did Lucille Ball really require Vivian Vance to weigh ten pounds more than she did during “I Love Lucy”?

DID YOU KNOW…?

Did Lucille Ball really require Vivian Vance to weigh ten pounds more than she did during “I Love Lucy”?

By Jack Bagley

didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com

Copyright © 2025 Jack Bagley

For those who are keeping track of such things, Thursday of this week is the first day of Spring!

Not only that … Monday was St. Patrick’s Day! A couple of things bringing forth the green in the world.

With spring, of course, comes the annual renewal of the world, the return of the birds, the joyous warming of the days, and … wait for it … baseball!

Yes, spring is indeed my favorite season. I hope it’s yours, too! Let’s celebrate spring with some totally unrelated trivia.

Did you know …

… a U.S. president had some notable eccentricities? Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), 30th President of the United States, was a quiet man – so much so, that his nickname was “Silent Cal.” But Coolidge also had a rather wild side, at least for someone from Vermont. While in the White House, Coolidge would occasionally hide under his desk, then ring for his Secret Service agents, who would try to find him. Or he would ask them to broadcast radio messages looking for his pet cat. Coolidge also enjoyed exercising on an “electric horse,” a mechanical saddle that simulated being on horseback. Additional trivia note: Coolidge is the only president to have been born on the fourth of July. (We could also call him “Patriotic Cal” or maybe “Weird Cal.”)

… you may have something bacciferous? Don’t panic, though, if you do. If something is bacciferous, that means it produces berries. (I was about to call the Centers for Disease Control, myself.)

… an alarm clock exists that will wake the deepest sleeper? The Sonic Bomb™ alarm clock comes with a 113-decibel ringer that is as loud as thunder going off right outside your bedroom window. Additionally, you can get the Sonic Bomb with an optional bed-shaking attachment, so you have no excuse for not getting out of bed on time. (Many are the mornings I could’ve used one of those.)

… a long-held belief about two stars of early television is not true? In 1951, I Love Lucy premiered on CBS. The show, starring Lucille Ball (1911-1989), Desi Arnaz (1917-1986), William Frawley (1887-1966) and Vivian Vance (1909-1979) was an instant hit and stayed on the air for six years. One long-held belief about the show is a supposed contractural agreement that Vance was required to maintain her weight at least ten pounds higher than Ball’s, so as to add to the “frumpy” aspect of her character. But this is incorrect – the stipulation only existed in a gag contract given to Vance by Ball as a joke. No such example of Ball throwing her weight around ever actually existed. (Throwing her weight around.  See what I did there?)

… cigarette health warnings have been around for a long time? In 1965, legislation signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) required cigarette makers to put health warnings on their packaging. At first, the warnings were relatively mild – “The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.” By the early years of the 21st Century, however, the warnings were much more explicit, and in some countries are accompanied by photographs of cancer-ridden lungs, diseased gums, etc. Additional trivia note: Cigarette advertising on radio and television in the U.S. came to an end on January 1, 1971. At 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, a commercial for Virginia Slims cigarettes aired on The Tonight Show – the last television ad for cigarettes in the United States. The ban was supposed to have started the day before, but the government gave the tobacco companies one more day – the day of the college football bowl games – to sell their wares. Two years before, in 1969, tobacco advertising was the single largest source of income for television, bringing in about ten percent of all advertising money.

… you can visit a kind of museum of Pez™? The popular candy dispensers can be found in the thousands at the Pez Visitors Center in Orange, Connecticut. The center also has much more Pez-related memorabilia such as vintage advertising posters. (How very s-pez-cial.)

… your finger may be home to millions of bacteria? Not just any finger, though. I mean a finger with a ring on it. Directly under the ring you may be providing a home to more bacteria than there are people on the continent of Europe. (So go wash your hands, already!)

… it actually is possible to see Russia from Alaska? Despite what a former governor of the state is alleged to have claimed, there’s only one place where it can be done. Two islands in the Bering Strait – Big Diomede and Little Diomede – are close enough that, given proper weather conditions, one can be seen from the other. Big Diomede belongs to Russia, while Little Diomede belongs to the United States. (You have to know just where to look.)

… the first law regarding marijuana in the American colonies required that it be grown? In 1619, a law was passed that required farmers in the American colonies to grow the hemp plant. Once harvested, the hemp was used to make clothing, sails, and rope. (How times have changed.)

… an area of Vermont has seen mysterious disappearances? Called the “Bennington Triangle,” the Glastenbury Mountain area of Bennington, Vermont, saw several unexplained disappearances between 1920 and 1950. Among those who vanished were a man who disappeared from a crowded bus, and a child who went missing from his family’s farm – without a trace. (Well, it is in Vermont, so …)

… the first Christmas postage stamp was issued in 1962? It was pretty simple design, too – just a wreath, a red ribbon, and two candles. The first-class stamp sold for four cents. (I don’t know which is more quaint – the stamp, or the price.)

Now … you know!