Before I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball starred in a hit radio sitcom on CBS, My Favorite Husband. On this program, Lucille Ball and Richard Denning played Liz and George Cooper, "two people who live together and like it."
With early scripts by writers from radio's Ozzie and Harriet, a total of 124 episodes of My Favorite Husband aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951.
Of course, CBS was anxious to bring My Favorite Husband to television but Lucy refused, insisting that her actual husband portray her onscreen mate. After Lucy and Desi Arnaz sunk their own money into a pilot film CBS finally acquiesced and the rest is TV history.
This January 1949 example features a familiar plot line wherein Lucy (Liz) and her husband promise to tell only the truth for an entire day, with predictable results. In March of that year, future Lucy Show co-star Gale Gordon took over the role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, from Joseph Kearns (Dennis the Menace) while Bea Benaderet (Petticoat Junction) was added as Atterbury's wife, Iris.
Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet were asked to play Fred and Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy but both had other commitments, forcing them to turn down the roles.
That show may remind you of an I Love Lucy episode: Lucy Tells the Truth, when Ricky and the Mertzes wager that Lucy can't go a full day without telling a lie and everyone feels highly insulted by her unabashed honesty.
