"I LOVE LUCY" AND COMMUNICATING WITH NON-VERBAL SIGNALS
Watch with the sound OFF to better pick up on what the actors are trying to communicate with their non-verbal signals.
I Love Lucy was the first TV show to record in front of a live studio audience. When the idea was first pitched, there were a lot of naysayers who said it was to risky – the actors would have to perform well enough to solicit an audible response from the audience in a way that was fully predictable by the writers. Fortunately for the writers and the producers, Lucile Ball was a master at non-verbal communication. Whether she was speaking or not, many if not most of the audience responses to the gags in the show came from Lucy’s facial expressions and body language than anything else. Go to YouTube and watch a clip of I Love Lucy with the sound off and you can clearly see when her character is happy, sad, surprised, disgusted, frightened or any other emotion and reaction in between.