Lucille Ball: Gun Wounds, Refugees, and the Redhead Who Survived the Red Scare
About this episode
The episode explores Lucille Ball's struggles during the Red Scare and her ties to the Communist Party.
Lucille Ball might have been a natural boundary-pusher, but America's top TV comedienne had some ‘splaining to do when a damning news broadcast unveiled her former ties to the Communist Party. The hysteria of the Red Scare threatened to bury this redhead at the bottom of the Hollywood blacklist overnight. Even when America put rampant McCarthyism to rest, the United States government kept watching Lucille Ball – and we’re not talking about I Love Lucy reruns.Lucille Ball might have been a natural boundary-pusher, but America's top TV comedienne had some ‘splaining to do when a damning news broadcast unveiled her former ties to the Communist Party. The hysteria of the Red Scare threatened to bury this redhead at the bottom of the Hollywood blacklist overnight. Even when America put rampant McCarthyism to rest, the United States government kept watching Lucille Ball – and we’re not talking about I Love Lucy reruns. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Topics covered
- Lucille Ball
- Red Scare
- McCarthyism
- Hollywood blacklist
- Communism
- TV history
Keywords
- Lucille Ball
- Red Scare
- Hollywood blacklist
- McCarthyism
- Communist Party
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Communist Party, United States government
Books & works: I Love Lucy
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