This is a book I read on my Kindle. It is the story of the I Love Lucy show, how it came to be and the personalities behind the camera. The only thing new I learned, that I didn't know before, was that Lucy was pretty demanding and abrasive off camera.

I had heard about Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance) hating each other in real life and that was confirmed here. Ethel was actually younger than Lucy and didn't like having a grouchy old guy playing her husband. But, it was a great role for her and she should have shut up about it I think.

I guess I knew already, also, about Desi Arnaz not being wanted for the part of her husband, even though in reality he was her husband. It is hard to imagine anyone else playing that part.

I liked reading about the business decisions on who would do the work of producing and who would get the credit in the end (Arnaz) It seemps that Mr. Oppenheimer (the author) has the last laugh as he retained the rights to a large percentage of the series while Arnaz and Lucille Ball sold theirs when they split up.

I think Oppenheimer's family still owns his rights to the perennial favorite show. I wish there had been more anecdotes about making the series, but this was a short, enjoyable book to read on the Kindle.

was the producer of Lucille Ball's radio show and then her TV Show, I Love Lucy. He was also Executive Producer until Desi Arnaz demanded that title, even though Arnaz didn't do the work required.

if you liked the show you will probably enjoy this. It has a lot of radio dialogue that I found to be a bit tedious, but other than that it was pretty good.

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Created Nov 17, 2015 at 10:14am • Submit your own review...