When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz welcomed a son into the world, so did the characters they played on I Love Lucy. Lucy Ricardo gave birth to “Little Ricky” in season two.
But real-life Lucy and Desi didn’t want their baby on screen for obvious reasons, so they cast a wide net in search of a set of similar-looking twins. (Having two children alternate for one role helps shows adhere to child-labor laws that limit camera time for the industry’s youngest actors.) Desi Arnaz chose15-month-old Joe and Mike Mayer based on a photo he’d seen of them at a Twins Club picnic, where their mother was president, the Idaho-Press Tribune reports.
The newspaper caught up with the men, age 64, who both live in Emmett, Idaho, last Saturday.
The Mayer brothers made their television debut in the episode “No Children Allowed,” which aired on April 20, 1953. In it, newborn Ricky Jr. proves to be a fussy baby; his nonstop crying provokes neighbors to remind the Ricardos that the building doesn’t allow children. (A rule that it’s worth noting would be illegal by today’s standards, thanks to the Fair Housing Act of 1968.) Of course, Lucy and Desi’s good friends Fred and Ethel are the landlords, and in the end they say baby Ricky can stay.
Joe and Mike spent three seasons on set, earning $150 per week, before their parents decided it was time to quit the biz, citing the long commute and anecdotal evidence that child actors rarely become “functional adults.”
The boys did see Lucy one more time, though. When they were 12 and their mom brought them to the set of Yours, Mine and Ours, the 1968 film starring Ball and Henry Fonda. Lucy chatted with their mother for a few minutes afterwards—she was always very professional, Joe and Mike say. They went on to pursue other careers, and never returned to acting.
Joe attended California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo for computer arts and worked for Portland General Electric in Oregon.
After graduating with an accounting degree from Brigham Young University, Mike had a successful career as an internal auditor for grocery chain Fred Meyer and, later, Kroger, according to the paper. After retirement, he served as a high-school teacher.
