[Entertainment] Ball, Lucille, and Desi Arnaz. Typed Contract, signed

Hollywood, June 16, 1952. Single sheet, approximately 10 1/2 x 8 in. (267 x 203 mm). Typed document, signed by Lucille Ball and twice by Desi Arnaz, being a licensing contract for I Love Lucy, between Ball and Arnaz and their television production company, Desilu Productions, for the "exclusive right to use, exploit, license, sub-license, lease, lend, and do anything in the premise hereof of the name 'I Love Lucy' and all of the characters and characterizations of the 'I Love Lucy' program, for the purpose of merchandising and exploiting the sale of any and all kinds of merchandise and services."; counter-signed by Secretary Andrew G. Hickox. In mat with a portrait of Ball and Arnaz, and unexamined out of double-pane plexiglass frame, 16 1/2 x 22 in. (419 x 559 mm).

A scarce and early contract related to the classic television sitcom I Love Lucy, signed by the show's stars and creators, Lucille Ball, and her husband, Desi Arnaz.

Desilu Productions was founded by Ball and Arnaz, in 1950, to produce their touring vaudeville act. Earlier, in 1948, Ball had starred in the hit CBS radio program My Favorite Husband, which the studio sought to adapt to television. Ball agreed to star in the televised version with the stipulation that her husband, Arnaz, be cast as her fictional husband in the show. CBS executives rejected the idea, insisting that American audiences would never accept an on-screen pairing between the "All-American" Ball, and the Cuban-born Arnaz. To prove the studio heads wrong, Ball and Arnaz created a travelling vaudeville act to showcase their chemistry and comedic skills, produced under the Desilu banner (itself an amalgamation of their names). Their 1950 tour was a smash and critical hit, and convinced the studio to cast the duo as husband and wife in the new sitcom, now titled I Love Lucy. The show premiered in the fall of 1951, and by 1952 was a groundbreaking success that pushed the boundaries of American television.

[Entertainment] Ball, Lucille, and Desi Arnaz. Typed Contract, signed