The Auditioning Dancers in I Love Lucy’s season one episode “The Diet” which debuted on October 29, 1951, portray the idealistic vision of what a woman should look like in the 1950s. These girls embody what Ernest Mathijs describes as an ‘Ensemble Cast” (90) in the “Small Parts, Small Players” dossier of Screen. The Auditioning Dancers are used as a contrast to our main character Lucy, played by Lucille Ball, as she tries to audition for Ricky Ricardo’s show. These girls hold power over Lucy in the scene as they use their bodies, beauty, and age all as a way to dismiss Lucy even trying to audition. Mathijs states, “Ensembles play off each other rather than off reality; or, rather, the members of ensembles play off the received perceptions of themselves held by other cast members and audiences” (90). This is shown in the scene as the three girls sit close together and mock Lucy all while confidently displaying their beauty. We then see Lucy attempt to conform to what these girls look like by rolling up her pants and revealing her body in order to compete with the girls. Later, Ricky asks if all the girls are size 12 to which all but Lucy say yes. This all ties into the media and Hollywood-driven narrative of young, beautiful, and lusty women being chosen for parts over maybe more experienced actors. Especially in the early 1950s, this was a clear issue in both Hollywood and society as themes of beauty and age in female actors were shown in movies such as Sunset Boulevard (1950) and All About Eve (1950). The Auditioning Dancers serve as a commentary towards the unfair demands of women who are no longer young and beautiful as they try to find equal opportunities to those who are.
Works Cited
Mathijs, Ernest. “Referential Acting and the Ensemble Cast.” Screen, vol. 52, no. 1, 2011,
“The Diet.” I Love Lucy, season one, episode three, 1951.
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