They just don’t make them like they used to!
That statement’s true for a lot of things (cars, television sets, margaritas — I swear these things used to have more alcohol in them), but it’s especially true for television shows.
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As much as I love watching my shows, I have to admit that none of them really hold a candle to the television of the past.
*I Love Lucy*, for example, was one of the best shows of all time.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were absolutely hysterical on the show and had pretty much the exact marriage I knew I wanted some day. Lucy and Ricky Ricardo were sweet, entertaining, and Lucy’s physical comedy was second to none!
Of course, we can’t forget the supporting characters.
Specifically Lucy and Ricky’s neighbors and friends, Ethel and Fred Mertz. Fred was a cantankerous old man who perfectly played off Ricky’s optimism and perkiness, but the real stars of the show were the two best friends, Ethel and Lucy.
We loved watching Ethel, played by Vivian Vance, and Lucy get up to their numerous and always hilarious schemes.
I think all of us with a best friend we get into trouble with can relate to Ethel and Lucy!
Outside of the show, Vivian and Lucille were just as close as they were on-screen, and a new interview with Paige Peterson has shed some light on their last day together before Vivian’s passing.
Vivian Vance tragically passed away from bone cancer in 1979.
According to Paige Peterson, who was a close friend of Vivian’s as the actress was renting her home from Paige’s mother, Lucille’s last visit with Vivian was as heartbreaking as it was sweet.
“You could hear them laughing, and towards the end there was a lot of sobbing,” she said.
“It was an amazing thing to witness. The love of these two women,” she went on.
“We had brought Viv down and she was lying on the couch in the living room. They ate lunch and they talked and talked,” Paige explained.
Sounds like every time my girlfriends and I all get together too!
“Viv knew she was dying,” Paige explained.
Paige went on to say that she ran into Lucille as she was leaving, and said, “The pain on her face shook me to my core. She was in tears. She couldn’t speak.”
“I think Viv gave up after that,” she added, and Vivian passed away only a few days later.
“She cried about losing Viv for months after that,” revealed Lucille’s daughter Lucie.
“Viv was, in many ways, like a sister to my mother. She could talk to Mom like nobody else, and I don’t think my mother could confide in many people the way she would with Viv.”
We’ve all had friendships like that, and we’d consider ourselves pretty lucky to get to see our friend one last time before we leave this earth.
It’s so touching that those two best friends could spend one last day together laughing and talking like old times!
It makes watching those old re-runs of I Love Lucy even more special knowing that their friendship transcended the screen and went on well after the show ended!
h/t: People
