Throughout the six-season run of I Love Lucy, Lucy's father, much like her natural hair color and sense of responsibility, is demonstrably absent, even though the rest of the family appears in multiple episodes. Ricky, Lucy's husband, regales us with stories of his childhood in Havana from the first season onward, and the whole family goes to Cuba together in the sixth season to visit Ricky's relatives. Way to rub it in, bro.
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And to force Lucy to work in a cigar sweatshop for some reason?
Lucy's mother comes to stay with them and travels with the family to California. We even meet several other people from Lucy's past, including her former babysitter and her damn pediatrician, in an episode titled "The Passports," in which she needs to verify her birth certificate. But her father? Never given a passing thought.
Lucy even avoids mentioning him in situations where it is appropriate and expected to do so. In the episode "Housewarming," Lucy encourages her friend Ethel to become friends with their neighbor Betty Ramsey, and during the conversation, Ethel and Betty discover they are both from Albuquerque. Lucy, finding herself left out of the conversation, develops hives from not being the center of attention for nine seconds and begins to throw in comments about her childhood as well.
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