‘I Love Lucy’: Cher’s Mom Made an Appearance In the Sitcom
Looking back on classic TV shows with the benefit of hindsight can provide some fun little glimpses into the past. All the times that Donald Trump appeared on the screen, for instance, certainly look different when we catch a glimpse of them today. There are also plenty of tiny parts that celebrities played before they made it big.
As we take a walk down memory lane and take a look at these old clips with new eyes, we may find some surprising gems. One of these is a special guest in an episode of I Love Lucy. If you look closely enough, you’ll catch a glimpse of Cher’s mom, Georgia Holt.
‘I Love Lucy’ was a groundbreaking hit
I Love Lucy starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, a real-life married couple who portrayed fictional spouses Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The comedy of the show centered around the shenanigans of Lucy, who was constantly hatching up some scheme to become famous — much to her husband’s chagrin.
She often took along her neighbor and best friend Ethel Mertz, and Ethel’s husband Fred would frequently side with Ricky in trying to rein in the troublemaking women.
The show was filmed in front of an impressively large audience of 300, giving comedian Ball plenty of motivation to perform at her best.
Ball had insisted that Arnaz be cast to play her on-screen husband because she hoped their rocky marriage could be saved by more time together. In doing so, she created a groundbreaking portrayal of one of television’s first interracial marriages and also pushed boundaries by appearing pregnant on screen.
While the show was a hit with popularity that has lasted for decades, it was unfortunately not the balm that Ball hoped it would be for her actual marriage. She and Arnaz eventually divorced.
Georgia Holt was a model and mother to Cher
Born in 1926 as Jackie Jean Crouch, Georgia Holt would take on a new name and become a model who was most professionally active through the 1940s and 1950s. As Biography.com reports, she gave birth to a daughter named Cherilyn Sarkisian in 1946. Holt was struggling financially, and her daughter was even placed in an orphanage for a brief time while Holt looked for work.
Of course, we now know that little girl would grow up to take the world by storm. At 16, Cher left high school and moved to Hollywood where she met Sonny Bono, a music producer. The pair first worked together only professionally, but they eventually fell in love and married, becoming one of the most famous Hollywood couples of all time.
These days, Cher is one of the few entertainers famous enough to go by just her first name. Even at the age of 74, she still dazzles with musical performances and acting roles — including many guest appearances as herself. Holt is now 94 and retired from her later career as a singer-songwriter.
Georgia Holt made an appearance on ‘I Love Lucy’
Eagle-eyed viewers of I Love Lucy might be able to pick out a familiar face from the extras if they look closely. Holt made an appearance on a 1956 episode of the series.
According to MeTV, Holt was taking on uncredited parts in many series at the time. Her other appearances include The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Artists and Models. When the I Love Lucy episode titled “Lucy Gets a Paris Gown” aired, it featured Holt as one of the models wearing a jazzed-up version of a burlap sack and bucket.
The episode focuses on Lucy wanting to go to a Paris fashion show. After attending, much to Ricky’s hesitation, she wants a Jacques Marcel dress.
Ricky doesn’t say yes and Lucy goes on a hunger strike — all while secretly eating. One night, Ricky returns with a dress only to realize Lucy has been faking the hunger strike.
To prank their wives, Ricky and Fred make dresses out of potato sacks and a fake designer label. After Lucy and Ethel wear the dress in public and become a laughing stock, Ricky and Fred come clean.
The four make ammends and later are at a cafe when they spot Jacques MArcel’s models — one of which is Cher’s mom — wearing a potato sac.
