Today in History—January 19: Lucille Ball Welcomes a Baby—On-Screen and Off

On this day in 1953, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz welcomed a baby boy. Twice.

In real life, actress Lucille Ball gave birth to her son Desi Arnaz, Jr., via a planned C-section. On I Love Lucy, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo welcomed “Little Ricky” in an episode widely credited as the first-ever to feature a real-life pregnancy and childbirth storyline on TV.

Why was this noteworthy? Because the 1950s were such conservative times in television that Lucy and Ricky couldn’t even be shown sleeping in the same bed. For most shows, an actress’s pregnancy meant cancellation—rather than acknowledgment of the birds and the bees on-screen.

But I Love Lucy, with an audience of 11 million viewers within its first six months, wasn’t most shows. Lucy and Desi fought CBS and its sponsors to include their real-life storyline on air—and they won.

It was a bet that paid off. Approximately 44 million people (as many as 75 percent of American television sets) tuned in to watch “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” on January 19.

Was Little Ricky actually the first baby born on TV? Maybe not. Some sources credit this milestone to a little-known domestic comedy called Mary Kay and Johnny, created by real-life couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. In a 1948 episode a live studio audience watched Johnny pace around a fake hospital waiting room…while his wife was off giving birth in a real hospital.

But that show no longer exists. ABC acquired the network that aired the Mary Kay and Johnny series, and to make space for new material, the old tapes were among those dumped into the New York Bay in the 1970s—as you did back then to make space—destroying this historic television moment.

Luckily, we still have “Lucy Goes to the Hospital”—and 180 more episodes of I Love Lucy.