I was always singing and dancing for my mother when I wasn't glued to the television watching I Love Lucy or the Carol Burnett Show.
The success of I Love Lucy is something that happens only once in a lifetime, if you are fortunate enough to have it happen at all.
At times we were criticized for doing too much slapstick. I don't believe in mild comedy, and neither does Lucy.
I had started calling her Lucy shortly after we met; I didn't like the name Lucille. That's how our television show was called I Love Lucy, not Lucille.
Lucy and I would love furiously and fight furiously.
Lucy is such a perfectionist.
Lucy brought with her an image of our human ancestors that you don't get when you find a jaw or an arm bone or a leg bone. Here was 40 percent of a single skeleton.
In our case, finding a Lucy is unique. No one will ever find another Lucy. You can't order one from a biological supply house. It's a unique discovery, a unique specimen.
When I realized, in 1978, that Lucy did represent a new species of human ancestor, and that I had an opportunity to name this new species, I realized this was a revolutionary step in understanding human origins.
What's changed is we now have good anatomical, geological, archaeological evidence that Neanderthals are not our ancestors. When I wrote 'Lucy,' I considered Neanderthals ancestors of modern humans. We have gone back twice the age of Lucy, six million years. And we see that upright bipedal walking goes back that far in time.
