In the show I Love Lucy what did Fred and Ethel do to make a living?

In the tv show I Love Lucy I never did understand what Fred and Ethel did for a living and how in later episodes they ended up living with Ricky and Lucy when they moved out of the apartment? One more thing why was Fred so much older than the rest of them...he kind of looked like Ethels father instead of her husband

Fred's age was a running gag on the show. One episode was about a quiz show where someone asked a question about the Civil war or something and Ethel said that Fred was probably there.

Fred and Ethel owned and managed the Apartment building where they all lived.

They moved to Westport with the Ricardos mainly because they all missed each other so, but also because Fred had grown up on a chicken farm and with the Mortgage and all, Ricky wanted to make some additional money on all this property. So, they went into the egg business and Fred and Ethel moved out there to help out.

Fred left the management of the building to Mrs. Trumbull, another long time tenant, who used to babysit Little Ricky sometimes. He went into the city once a month to collect the rent, and sometimes once in a while to see to maintenance matters.

Lucy originally wanted to hire Gale Gordon (who was Mr. Mooney on the Lucy show later) because she had worked with him on the radio. CBS had Bill Frawley under contract so they had to hire him instead to play Fred.

They owned and managed the apartment building it.

According to Wiki they were both in vaudville and Fred also served in WWI.

Fred and Ethel were just owners of the apartment they lived in. Fred was always being called ti fix something. They just became good friends I guess through the years. Yeah, Fred was old but, I don't know how much older. He had a drinking problem so that could have aged him. Ether was only about 1 year older than Lucy. I think Desi was a couple of years older than Lucy .

Vance's Ethel Mertz character was the less-than-prosperous landlady of a New York City brownstone, owned by her and husband Fred Mertz.

I'm not sure about the age thing.

fred and ethel owned the apartment building and they moved with lucy and rickey when they bought the house in the country.lucy and ethel could not stand to be apart so they moved with them.

I think they were landlords and about the fred being old thing maybe they just wanted an older guy for ethel so he didn't take the spotlight away from ricky I really don't know!

mj tudor nailed it.

Well first of all Fred and Ethel were the landlord's of the apartment building Ricky and Lucy lived in. I don't think in the final years they lived with the Ricardo's but rather they moved next door to them( Lucy and Ricky moved to a farm or something like that ). And you are right about Fred looking older than Ethel. But it worked. Funny that Vivian Vance(ehthel) and William Frawley ( fred ) despised each other:)

Fred and Ethel owned the apartment building, well they got it from one Ethel's relatives. They later moved to the country with Ricky and Lucy when the foursome realized how much they missed each other, and then they tried to get into the chicken business ha ha! Classic ep with all those baby chicks running around! True Fred did look a little older, and also true as some one mentioned Bill did have a drinking problem so that might have aged him, but really it doesn't matter, after all Lucy was some years older then Desi. You can't even tell!