In a previous post we looked at Lucy Ricardo’s nautical style wall lamp in the kitchen. This time we take a closer look at the lamp shade. It is rare to get a close look at the design in the on screen scenes but the picture above gives an idea what to look for. The shade is a clip-on shade made of paper with a novelty printed nautical theme.
I found a few examples in different colorways so we can try to guess which color might have been used in the kitchen. The first one below is a blue version, followed by the same pattern in orange and lastly a green one.
The green is certainly a possible choice for the show since we know that the color green is used on several other items in the kitchen – such as the ivy patterned dinnerware and the ivy cruet on the wall rack beneath the lamp. Green elements set off Lucille Ball’s hair color for the studio audience. The orange would also be possble as a compliment to the greens. Perhaps the blue one is the least likely as it would have clashed with the green of the cruet below it.
The shade is a clip-on novelty print paper shade – similar vintage shades can be found on eBay.com that date to the 40’s and 50’s.
Here is a link I use to search for similar shades:
