After almost 50 years of reruns, you would think you'd seen every single moment of footage of Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel.
You'd think.
When Paramount releases "I Love Lucy: The Complete Series Boxset" on Oct. 23, included will be the "I Love Lucy Movie." I broke the story of its existence last year in the Daily News but at that time was told the movie would be part of the set released last spring of the 13 one-hour episodes of the show that aired between 1957-60. I wasn't in that set but will be in this ultimate boxset which I won't be buying because, like any true fan, I ALREADY OWN every season.
The movie consists of three first season episodes ("The Benefit," "Breaking the Lease," and "The Ballet") combined with new footage to make a cohesive story. It gives the viewer a taste of what it would have been like to attend the filming of the show.
The movie opens with eight minutes of new footage shot on May 16, 1952 with Desi Arnaz speaking to a studio audience and introducing his costars, just as he did prior to the start of each episode's filming. The three episodes follow, with additional new scenes intermingled to link them together. Five minutes of new footage finishes the movie with Arnaz thanking the audience and calling the cast out to take their bows.
The movie was shown to a test audience and well-received but never got theatrical release because Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had made the feature film "The Long, Long Trailer" for MGM and the studio did not want the "Lucy" movie to compete with it.
According to the Everything Lucy site, the movie's not being sold separately right now. There's no word if the studio will release it as a standalone item.