Everyday Systems

I have been watching old I Love Lucy reruns on tv while i ride my stationary bike, and i saw one yesterday that i just had to share. It was so funny!

Lucy wanted to be in one of Ricky's shows (as usual) and so one of his singer/dancer girls quit so he was holding auditions. The costume that the girl left behind was a size 12, but it was too small for Lucy (she actually ripped it out, and her all of 132 pounds...shheeesshh). So Lucy has 4 days to lose 12 pounds so she'll fit in the costume.

So she's running around the living room, dodging furniture and then Ethel decides she should jump rope, which she can't do because she's too tired. Then it shows her sitting down to dinner with Ricky, Fred, and Ethel. Ethel serves herself and the men big, juicy steaks and gives Lucy a piece of celery. By this time Lucy is so starved that she actually sneaks under the table to try to steal the scraps that are meant for the dog! (she actually licks Ricky's hand to "thank" him, just like the dog did!)

anyway, on the last day she still has five pounds to go so she sits in this box thing (like an old fashioned sweat box) with just her head sticking out, for like 6 or 7 hours! Anyway she finally gets to her goal: 12 pounds lost in 4 days and she gets to do the number with Ricky.

At the end, it shows her on a stretcher with Ricky leaning over her saying that the doctor says she has to stay in bed for the next 3 weeks due to malnutrition!

Ok, during this episode i found myself thinking "oh my gosh! what a horrible message to send to those wanting to loose weight!" but then the end redeemed it. Message? Loose it slowly and healthfully! I totally busted a gut watching this, it was hilarious!!

One last thing: who the heck can't get into a size 12 when they only weigh 132 pounds!!! The sizes must have been really different back then! When i was a size 12, i weighed 150. Hhhhmmmm......

That's hilarious Tricia!! I've never seen I Love Lucy, but what a freaky plot line! And thank goodness they showed the consequences of her insane diet plan at the end. You have a good point about the sizes. They must REALLY have gotten inflated since the 50s or whenever this show was made. I can't believe 132 lbs was too big for a 12. I mean I'm about 145 and I usually wear a 10. She would probably be an 8 if she were alive today... just goes to show, I guess, how much bigger the "average" woman is today. Oh, and that women's clothing sizes are meaningless, arbitrary and unreliable...but we already knew that.

Our little Ariel! You must rent those Lucy classics...
She was amazing... A genius!
I can't think of any female comedianne who can hold a candle to her....
Okay now grasshopper... You have your homework!
Love,
Deb

The first season for I love Lucy was the year I was born, so I've literally been watching it my whole life! Now I'm collecting the DVDs so I can watch them while I exercise. What a hoot she was!

I remember that episode...neither the Ricardos nor the Mertz's had a dog, but they brought one in just for that episode.

I wouldn't want to lose weight the Lucy way!

Come onnnnnn.... Jan!
Don't you want to lock yourself in a sweatbox!????
LOL...
Jan and Lucy Rock!!!

And so does NoS!
(there that makes this on topic...)
Deb

No sweatbox for me, but I wouldn't mind a hot tub right about now...almost a whole week of daily shovelgloving! I feel good-sore and no injury flare-ups. Lucy can keep her weird diet; I'll just stick with No-S!

Ariel King, you have to rent some I Love Lucy episodes! She is so funny! Today i watched it, and Lucy was reading a murder mystery and then she overheard Ricky on the phone and TOTALLY misunderstood what he was saying; so of course she ended up thinking that he was planning to kill her! He came home and she had strapped pots and pans to herself under her robe and was dancing around him because she told Ethel that it was hard to hit a moving target!

That woman was a genius! Now i've got my daughter watching the oldies with me...

Deb, thanks for making it "on topic"! I can always count on you!

I DO love Lucy ... funniest woman in show biz!

Size 12 is about average in a standardized dress size. But the clothes sold in stores aren't standardized (as we know all too well).

I used a lot of home patterns in college and always measured at least 2 or 3 sizes higher in patterns than in store-bought clothes. This is because home pattern sizes are standardized, but clothes makers since the 50's have constantly downsized store-bought fashions in an effort to convince women they really do fit into a smaller size. Makes no sense.

While we're on the topic of diet-related Lucy, don't forget the Vitameatavegamin show where Lucy gets hired to pitch this nutritional concoction. I think it turns out to have alcohol as a substantial ingredient and she ends up slurring the name in different and hilarious ways every time.

Don't forget the Chocolate Factory episode. I bet Lucy and Ethel had a string of S-Days after that one!

Ok - I Love Lucy DVDs are on my must-rent list.

You are so cute little Ariel King!
(We are just all "Old"!!! and you aren't!!! LOL...)

Let us know if you like them... I'm sure you will..
She is a "P"-er.....
Love,
Deb

Yeah the size thing always weirds me out. I mean, there are some amazingly delectable goddesses of women I've known who freaked out because they were a size 16.

That's when I usually point out that Marilyn Monroe was a size 16...

I always thought Marilyn was pretty, i think a lot of her appeal was her attitude as well...that woman knew how to wind men around her little finger and wasn't afraid to do it! SNAPS to Marilyn.

Resurrecting this post because it made me laugh! Also, I found the episode of I love lucy "The Diet" on YouTube if anyone wants to see it.

LOL, I remember that episode!

I think it's called vanity sizing. Not sure when they did this. Maybe the 80's? I'm sure it was done to make people feel better about shopping for clothes, so they spend more of their money.

noni wrote:I think it's called vanity sizing. Not sure when they did this. Maybe the 80's? I'm sure it was done to make people feel better about shopping for clothes, so they spend more of their money.

Did women's sizes ever make sense? Men's sizes are so logical...

Hate to burst the bubble, but Marilyn Monroe was quite slim for most of her career and privately took some flack for her temporary weight gains.

"So what size was Marilyn Monroe actually? Luckily, many of her dresses, carefully preserved, are still around to measure off of. Further, one of her dress makers also chimed in with exact measurements he took. Those measurements were 5 ft. 5.5 inches tall; 35 inch bust; 22 inch waist (approximately 2-3 inches less than the average American woman in the 1950s and 12 inches less than average today); and 35 inch hips, with a bra size of 36D. Her weight fluctuated a bit through her career, usually rising in times of depression and falling back to her normal thereafter, but her dressmaker listed her as 118 pounds and the Hollywood studios tended to list her between 115-120 lbs."
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php ... ize-12-16/

The article goes on to talk about vanity sizing.

From another site:
August 2, 1945
Blue Book Modeling Agency
5’ 6”, 120lbs
36-24-34
“Size 12”


5'6" 120 lbs is a SIZE 12????

I'm 5'5" and would have to LOSE 22 pounds to be that FAT (Not going to happen on purpose!) I can wear most 8''s.

The coroner's report said she weight 117 at death. Today, by WHO/CDC standards, she would be considered slightly underweight at BMI 18.9 and would be thinner than 97% of her same age/height peers. And probably still have a waist much smaller than most of them.

Don't let "professional beauties" set the bar height!

Love the information, oolala!!!! I was always skeptical when people said she was a size 12.

She was a size 12. Size 12 then. Vanity sizing lives!

oolala53 wrote: 5'6" 120 lbs is a SIZE 12????

I'm 5'5" and would have to LOSE 22 pounds to be that FAT (Not going to happen on purpose!) I can wear most 8''s.

I'm 5'5" and the last time I was at your weight (142 it sounds like), I was wearing a size 12! (that was about 15-17 years ago). That's actually about where I'm hoping to get to. I don't fit into 8's until I'm in the 125 range. (130 is pushing it--at 135 I'm decidedly a 10, and above 140 a 12.) How can two people be built so differently? Too funny! Unless sizes have changed that much in the last 15-20 years...

My sister in law and I are both around5'7, and when we both weighed around 145 she wore 8 and I was size 12! I always feel like I wear a larger size than other people who are about my weight and height. Speaking of vanity sizing, my mom bought me a pair of size 16 jeans . I said ,oh I wear an 18. She said ,but you told me your jeans are 16. I said they're size 16 when I buy them at lane Bryant, but an18 everywhere else.

Jeez!

Speaking of sizing, though, I bought a Christmas sweater in '80 or '81. I consdiered it a "prosperity" sweater because I rarely spent much money on clothes but was encouraged by the zeitgeist of the time that it was a good idea to spend more (to let the universe know what I wanted. Anyone remember that?) I might have weighed about 10 lbs. more than I do now, but maybe not. I've worn it through all my gains and losses, but for the first time, it felt too big on me. I can't explain that because I KNOW I don't have more muscle. But since I only wear it a few times a year, I'm going to keep it anyway.

And on a side note, I think it's a rather sedate Christmas sweater, bought from a tasteful chain on the west coast, one that I've always thought was kinda pretty. We do have an ugly sweater day at work and I gussied up another one for that. But on one of the days I wore my "nice" one, a colleague told me what a great ugly sweater it was. "Thanks," was all I said. And you know what? It was okay! I've had this sweater since he was a little boy, and I'm gonna wear it!

Oh, no! Calling someone's sweater an 'ugly sweater' is akin to asking a woman when her due date is when she's not really pregnant! I have all kinds of Christmas shirts. I love them. At an office Christmas party a few years ago, the doctor's wife gave us all a sweater. They were black with beaded poinsettia flower on the upper left chest area. I thought it was nice and still have it, even though it is currently too tight. Everyone else complained behind her back, and some people found out where she purchased them( Macy's I believe) and took them in for an exchange! I could never do that!