Lucille Ball’s Daughter Shares Rare Details of Legendary ‘Vitameatavegamin’ Episode

“I’m your Vitameatavegamin girl.”

This line sets up one of the most iconic scenes in television history. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Lucy Does a TV Commercial ranked second on TV Guide’s 1997 list of the “100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time.” Not only is it popular among I Love Lucy fans, but it was Lucille Ball’s favorite episode of the show.

In this much-loved episode, Lucy lands a job filming a commercial for Vitameatavegamin. There’s only one problem—the concoction contains 23% alcohol. Several spoonfuls later, Lucy is tipsy.

Hilarity ensues.

Lucille Ball’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz, shared a few little-known details with WTOP News about the iconic episode.

“The writers thought it out in advance,” Arnaz revealed. “They wrote out the routine brilliantly, she memorized it flawlessly and they did it in one take in front of an audience, no retakes. To watch her go from 0 to 100, slowly, meticulously, and believably—that’s where the real art comes in. You never see her trying to be funny, you see her reacting to exactly what just happened. We believe the situation because it was so brilliantly constructed.”

Ross Elliot, who plays the director in this episode, had to chew the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing and ruining the take. Likewise, Ball’s real-life and on-screen husband Desi Arnaz employed a similar tactic to prevent laughter in his scene with Lucy.

While audience members and her fellow cast members were in stitches, Ball was stressed about her lines during the filming of this episode. “We never ad-libbed. We never ad-libbed on the set when we were putting it together. It was there,” Ball once said on the commentary of 1991’s Criterion Television Classics: I Love Lucy. She didn’t start to appreciate the episode until after it was filmed.

While Lucy may have struggled during filming, it was probably worth the stress. Critics and audiences alike continue to regard the “Vitameatavegamin” bit as one of the best in her long and storied career.

What, some readers might ask, was Ball drinking during this episode?

A lot of apple pectin.