A polka dot dress was a signature look of Lucy Ricardo and to this day, Lucy and polka dots are synonymous with one another. Throughout her television career Lucille Ball wore variations of this pattern in the form of dresses in the 1950’s to blouses in the 60’s and 70’s.
On October 6, 1958 the premiere episode of the second season of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour in syndication) aired, entitled “Lucy Goes to Mexico.” The Ricardos and Mertzes are in San Diego, staying at the Hotel Del Coronado because Ricky is doing a USO show with Maurice Chevalier onboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Yorktown. Lucy and the Mertzes decide to go south into Tijuana on a routine souvenir hunt. In true fashion, Lucy gets into trouble when a stowaway causes problems as they attempt to come back across the border.
Lucy wears an iconic polka dot dress for nearly the entire episode. Presented here is her stunt double’s dress, an exact replication to the one Lucille Ball wore. It can be seen on Lucy’s stand-in who’s running from the Policia through the streets of Tijuana. The unique polka dot pattern confirms this as the one Lucy Ricardo wears is slightly different and is currently in a private collection.
The two piece, A-line dress is made of a light brown silk-taffeta with beige polks dots. A long sleeve jacket features a zipper front, off-white canvas trim on the cuffs and waist along with a very large notched collar. Inside the jacket is a CBS garment tag attached near the zipper. The short sleeve dress features the same off-white canvas trim on the sleeve hems and has a full length zipper with hook and eye closures on the back. A sheer white silk lining can be found on the inside of the body.
This look was the inspiration of a large wooden statue carved out of a tree stump that once stood in the Lucille Ball Memorial Park from the late 1990’s to early 2000’s. The park banks Lake Chautauqua in Lucy’s hometown of Celeron, NY and is the current home of a beautiful bronze statue by Carolyn Palmer of Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo wearing a polka dot dress.
