LUCY'S RADIO SHOW, "MY FAVORITE HUSBAND"
Lucille Ball's Radio Career took off 10 years after she first appeared on several earlier radio shows. While she was starring in various movies for Columbia Pictures in 1948, CBS offered Lucy a radio show based upon the book, Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabelle Scott Rorick. This new radio show was called My Favorite Husband". Lucille Balls' previous work on radio while at RKO taught her the timing nescessary for comic routines without the aid of props.
Lucy had hoped that she could get Desi Arnaz to be her co-star on the new radio series, My Favorite Husband, but this was not to be and CBS rejected the notion. The premise of the new show was about an ordinary American couple, "Two people who live together and like it." Lucy's costar was Richard Denning who played George Cugat to her Liz. The characters were later renamed to George and Liz Cooper.
Many people who would work with Lucy on her TV series, I Love Lucy and beyond to her other series appeared on the My Favorite Husband radio program. Gale Gordon, Doris Singleton as well as writers, Bob Carroll and Madelyn Pugh and Jess Oppenheimer worked with Lucy during this time and followed her into her famous I Love Lucy television history.
The show starred Lucille Ball and Richard Denning as Liz and George Cooper (Liz and George Cugat in early episodes). The couple lived at 321 Bundy Drive in the ficticious city of Sheridan Falls, and were billed as "two people who live together and like it." The main sponsor was Jell-O, and an average of 3 "plugs" for Jell-O were made in each episode. The program ran from 1948 through 1951, throughout which 124 episodes were aired. Created and Produced By Jess Oppenheimer, written By Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh.
