Vivian Vance and William Frawley as Ethel and Fred Mertz

Mr. & Mrs. Mertz

IT WASN'T UNTIL AFTER the "I Love Lucy" pilot was sold to a sponsor that producer Jess Oppenheimer and his two co-writers, Bob Carroll, Jr. and Madelyn Pugh, suddenly realized that they had written it for Lucy and Desi only, omitting anyone for the stars to speak to and plot with. So they decided to add an older couple, Fred and Ethel Mertz, whose only asset was the apartment building that the Ricardos lived in. But unlike the Atterburys (Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet) on the radio show, in this case the younger couple would be better off financially.