Warning! SPOILERS ahead for Being the Ricardos
Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos tells the true story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz - however, some key details have been either changed or left out. One of the most famous and beloved on-screen couples ever, Lucy and Desi were the stars of I Love Lucy and the center of America’s hearts and gossip columns for decades. Now, Sorkin, who is known for his historical drama movies like The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Molly’s Game, is bringing to the screen the story behind the screen in the Amazon original movie Being the Ricardos.
Being the Ricardos is set in 1952—one year after I Love Lucy began, 12 years into Lucy and Desi’s marriage, and in the middle of America’s Red Scare. The film is quick to draw the audience into the drama, beginning with the intimate conflict of Desi’s alleged affair and moving on quickly to Walter Winchell’s broadcasted insinuation that Lucy is a communist. Before long, Lucy’s second pregnancy breeds fears of the show’s cancellation and all the while Fred and Ethel are at each other’s throats.
Being the Ricardos revolves around one dramatic week in the lives of Lucy and Desi as they navigate, love and life, on-screen and off. While director Aaron Sorkin does an impeccable job keeping the viewer engaged in the story of the famous couple, there are some creative liberties taken. Here are all the details changed or left out of Being the Ricardos.
All of the Conflicts Did Not Occur in The Same Catastrophic Week
Being the Ricardos writer and director Aaron Sorkin made one dramatic week out of several years' worth of real-time. In real life, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s second child, Desi Arnaz Jr. was born in January of 1953 and the accusations against Lucy came later that year in September of 1953. The scandalous story about Desi’s philandering didn’t come out until January of 1955.
“Fred and Ethel Fight” is a Real Episode
The film shows the preparation and filming of the influential sitcom I Love Lucy, in particular the episode “Fred and Ethel Fight”, which is a real episode from the series. Being the Ricardos claims that it is the show’s 37th episode, but it was featured in the real series as episode 22. Furthermore, though Being the Ricardos claims Donald Glass was the director, it was actually Marc Daniels.
Lucille Ball’s Bout with Communism
In Being the Ricardos, Lucy is accused by radio personality Walter Winchell of being a communist during America’s Red Scare. Lucille Ball actually had two trials before the House Un-American Activities Committee, the first in April 1952 (just five years after the trial of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, portrayed by Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston in Trumbo) followed by another secondary trial in September of that same year. In Being the Ricardos, Lucy claims her relationship with the Party was only in an effort to impress her grandfather (who had been like a father to her) and that she had no further association with the party, and the film leaves the subject there. In real life, however, Lucy had a much longer history with Communism than what was inferred in Being the Ricardos.
Being the Ricardos claims that Lucy checked a box on a ballot and nothing more, with Lucy (played by Nicole Kidman from two seasons of Big Little Lies) denying any further connections. Investigating Ball’s true history, Darin Strauss (via Fox News) confirms that, in 1936, Lucy checked the box and “signed a certificate saying: ‘I am affiliated with the Communist Party.’" She then did it again in 1938. What’s more, Lucy sponsored a Communist running for Congress, took part in radio broadcasts for the party in the 40s, and allegedly hosted Communist party meetings at her house (though she supposedly never attended). Lucy was also a delegate to the State Central Committee of the Communist Party of California.
There is no record of J. Edgar Hoover phoning in to the show in real life like in Being the Ricardos. Hoover did, however, tip Desi off to Winchell’s exposé in real life which is not seen in Being the Ricardos. In the film, Desi finds out about the news during Winchell’s broadcast.
Desi’s Affair
The article about Desi (played by Javier Bardem, who can also be seen online in No Country For Old Men) in Being the Ricardos is titled “Desi’s Night Out,” a change from the original 1955 Confidential article titled “Does Desi Really Love Lucy?” While the article in the film talks of one specific night, the real article alleged Desi had not one, but multiple affairs which was true—Desi was a known philanderer. According to Jim Bacon, a reporter for the Associated Press (via People) “If he was out carousing, he wouldn’t call in one whore, he’d call in 18… Lucy put up with it quite a bit, but then it just became too embarrassing. Especially when he got arrested on Hollywood Boulevard. That was sometime in the ’50s. The cops picked him up, drunk, standing in front of this whorehouse, singing Cuban songs.”
What was not shown in Being the Ricardos is that there were rumors about Lucy as well, particularly regarding Henry Fonda (father of Jane Fonda, star of the cast of Grace and Frankie). In Lucy’s early Hollywood days, before Desi, Lucy and Fonda dated then starred together in The Big Street in 1942, after Lucy and Desi were married. Arnaz was so upset about Lucy acting with Fonda that he frequently dropped by the set unannounced until the director banned him from the set.
The scandalous Confidential article was certainly no news to Lucy, as she had already filed for divorce from Desi in 1944—a major part of the couple’s real history that was omitted from Being the Ricardos. Just four years after the couple had married, Lucy nearly ended the marriage on grounds of his drunkenness and affairs. She relented and they reconciled, spending another 16 years together. Then, in 1960, the morning after the final episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (and just two years before Lucy bought Desi out of their joint production company, Desilu, which helped create Star Trek), the I Love Lucy star filed for divorce again and saw it through.
Desi’s Family Was Run Out of Cuba
The story Desi tells about his family history in Being the Ricardos is true, except that it wasn’t the Bolsheviks. As is stated in the film, Desi’s father was the youngest mayor of Santiago until the Cuban Revolution in 1933, when the revolutionaries confiscated and vandalized their house, burning it and slaughtering the animals. The revolutionaries were not Bolsheviks, however, they were a group of progressives made up of university students and labor unionists.
Lucy’s Second Pregnancy Almost Brought the End of I Love Lucy
In Being the Ricardos, Desi is the catalyst behind Lucy’s on-screen pregnancy and writes a letter to highest-up Alfred Lyons. Shortly thereafter, a reply arrives from Lyons stating: “Don’t f*ck around with the Cuban!” This is all true but, like other elements of West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay, he’s changed and condensed the timeframe. After Desi sent the original letter, all pushback stopped and his creative vision proceeded unhindered, but Desi actually didn’t find out until years later about Lyons’ impassioned response to that original letter.
Lucy Really Got Desi His Role On The Show
As is seen in Being the Ricardos, when CBS offered Lucy the chance to take her radio show, My Favorite Husband, to television, Lucy pushed for Desi to play opposite her, arguing that viewers would love watching the real-life couple on screen (as is the case with several other beloved on-screen couples like Emily Blunt and John Krasinski in the A Quiet Place movies). Being the Ricardos leans toward the idea that Lucy did it because she recognized Desi’s unhappiness having lost his chance at on-screen celebrity by serving in the war. In real life, however, Lucy sought a chance to keep her husband at home, hoping that by keeping Desi close, she could keep him from cheating.
Desi Served in the Army
Desi’s service is mentioned briefly in Being the Ricardos, but his duties are not detailed. In real life, Desi served as Staff Sergeant to the United Service Organization (USO) in San Fernando Valley after calcifications were found in his knees preventing active duty. While in the service, Desi earned several medals and was later promoted to Entertainment Director.
Fred and Ethel Really (Really) Disliked Each Other
In real life and in Being the Ricardos, William Frawley, who played Fred (played by the MCU's and Spider-Man: No Way Home’s J. K. Simmons), was significantly older than Vivian Vance, who played Ethel, however, the real-life age gap was a staggering 22 years between them. The friction seen between them in Being the Ricardos was true to life—so much so that when Vance was offered a spin-off, she turned it down immediately, claiming she’d never work with Frawley again. It was not just Vance who harbored ill-will toward Frawley, however. Being the Ricardos depicts Frawley as a drinker (something he was notorious for throughout Hollywood in real life) but the film does not address that Frawley was also widely known to be hard to work with. In real life, before Frawley was cast, he and Desi struck a deal: Fred got time off anytime the Yankees made the World Series and Desi made it clear that Frawley’s poor behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.