LuvinLucy Book Reviews!!

This review was written by someone in New Mexico: "Arnaz's autobiography is a fresh voice in the story we all know -- but he tells his side and views of the past with light-hearted humor and spirit making this book pleasant trek through time. I was struck with Arnaz's determination and magnificent survival skills. His family history, his musical abilities, and crowd-pleasing accomplishments make him an equal or greater star than Ms. Ball. We see that his talents and business prowess brought the team to such success and popularity. He was a wheeler-dealer with an incredible imagination, sense of humor, and positive outlook on life. Desi Arnaz is a comedic, business, and musical icon for our century."

The best dual bio yet of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, backed by hard research and access to private Ball-Arnaz materials and Desilu Studios corporate records. Sanders wrote the excellent Rainbow's End (1990); Gilbert is an editor with Daily Variety. Despite all the fresh access and wide background work, the Lucy-Desi story is so well-known and the duo's characters have been so richly publicized that only the writing here seems new. Even so, Ball and Arnaz are creatures of hypnotic interest. Lucy (1911-89) was, of course, the RKO contract player who went on to own the studio. Lucy's early years at RKO are skimmed over quickly here (as are Desi's early years in Cuba) as the authors begin to tear into their subjects only with the year 1947. Sanders and Gilbert focus strongly on the Desilu corporation and its every little show, big success, and financial step forward. When Lucy married the high- living Desi (1917-86) in 1940, he was 23, she 29--but their age spread had less to do with their later emotional turmoil and final split than did Desi's alcohol-fueled promiscuity, gambling, and extravagance. He was, after all, the son of the ousted mayor of Santiago, Cuba, and had been used to wealth, property, and power before bursting into show business in Miami as the singing guitarist who launched the conga craze. Throughout the stars' ownership of Desilu, Arnaz's comedic talent on the I Love Lucy show was consistently underrated, although his intuitive eye for business was phenomenal. The show, already tops in the ratings, went through the roof with Ball's pregnant Lucy and the birth of Desi, Jr. From national monument as the world's foremost comedienne to final artistic decline, Lucy draws forth the reader's willing admiration here, as does Desi, even after the divorce. Valuable--and no holds barred, with even interviewees taking their licks.

Americans really did love Lucille Ball. That love is manifested in the hundreds of magazine covers, advertisements, toys, and other memorabilia featuring the comedienne and lovingly documented here by megafan Wyman. The oversize volume showcases, mostly in color photos, more than 600 dolls, board games, movie posters, advertisements (in which Ball endorses everything from Philip Morris cigarettes to the Encyclopaedia Britannica), comic books, her record 36 TV Guide cover appearances, and rare and one-of-a-kind things such as studio-audience tickets, scripts, and items from her wardrobe. A final section spotlights more recent home videos, trading cards, fan club magazines, and commemorative plates from "the Lucy revival." As a bonus, Wyman lists the episodes of all Ball's radio and TV series, her radio and TV guest appearances and specials, and movies.

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"This book is awesome! It has detailed descriptions of the process of "I Love Lucy" and a very good episode guide. I would highly recommend this book to any Lucy fan. It's well worth it!"

Next on the platter of Hollywood Hotplates comes a serving of Cuban festivities. This cookbook provides perfect menus for parties with a Cuban twist--from Ricky's Arroz con Pollo to Copacabana Coconut Cookies. It also features classic black-and-white stills of the zany readhead and trivia from 10 of the funniest TV episodes involving food.

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"Lucy, you got some splainin' to do!" Fans of comedic genius Lucille Ball and mambo king Desi Arnaz won't want to miss I Love Lucy, the complete compendium to one of the most popular TV shows in history. Beginning with an introduction by their daughter, Lucie Arnaz, the text follows a thorough chronological outline of her parents' careers. Almost overwhelming in detail, the book contains synopses of the show's six seasons and 179 episodes, as well as telling tidbits about cast members, family, and friends. For example, the show helped heal Vivian Vance: "When she accepted the role of Ethel Mertz, she would later admit that, along with her continuing analysis, [the show] was what had provided her with the glue she needed to keep her alive and her mental health intact." More than just a collection of '50s factoids, I Love Lucy is an insightful, loving tribute to one of the most loved duos in broadcasting history.

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Laughs indeed as Jess Oppenheimer charts his rise from radio station gofer to inventor of the sitcom, as he winds up writing--then producing--Lucille Ball's show, first on radio, then on television. Luck, too, as the author recounts the good fortune that has him, within minutes of arrival in Hollywood, sitting down at a lunch counter and getting a tip that secures a job within days and a career for life. Ironic, too, that this inveterate TV writer had to be cajoled for years to set down these Hollywood heyday memoirs. He never finished, and it was left to son Gregg to complete the book. All this, plus a reproduced Lucy script, and a CD-ROM filled with famous sketches!

Grown-up child stars turned authors are dying to tell us about their lives after they left TV, yet our interest in them usually stops the minute the screen fades to black. Fortunately, Thibodeaux devotes nearly half his book to his years as Little Ricky on I Love Lucy. Keith was a three-year-old drumming prodigy in the bayous of Louisiana when his father took the family to California, hoping to ride his young son's drumsticks to a career in show business. That's exactly what happened as father and son became fixtures on the Lucy show, one as a gofer, one as an actor. Then it all went bad: divorces (Keith's parents as well as Lucy and Desi); the show's demise; Keith's addiction to drugs. Yet there's a happy ending in the form of marriage, children, and God. Thibodeaux describes his religious conversion with deep feeling, but many readers may grow weary, having heard the same story in other whatever-happened-to sagas. Still, if you ever watched Lucy, it's hard to keep yourself from picking up this book.

Although Lucille Ball died in 1989, this autobiography written prior to 1964 has only recently been discovered among her papers. She describes a childhood deeply affected by her father's death and her mother's withdrawal from her life. Raised by her grandparents, Ball craved attention and developed a tempestuous, vivacious, fiery, and yet insecure personality that would later lead her to comic stardom. It took years of working from the bottom of show business before she became a television hit, with the help of her husband, co-star, and business partner, former Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz. Ball abandoned the book for fear of hurting Arnaz, although she gives him credit for the tremendous success she enjoyed with "I Love Lucy."

This is a great book. It has many many pictures of Lucille before her I Love Lucy days and it goes through a detailed account of her movie career. It also touches upon the days after "I Love Lucy." If you love Lucy, then you'll love this book of her life.

Lucille Ball was the quintessential hardworking, wisecracking gal who knocked herself out to get a break, caught fame's shooting star, and rode it for all it was worth. Meanwhile, she worked herself harder than a Horatio Alger hero, becoming an extremely successful businessperson who suffered the now-familiar distancing from her children, who later said they couldn't remember her ever just playing with them. The first TV megastar, Ball became so familiar that her nickname, Lucy, instantly brought her to mind. Her offscreen persona was the antithesis of the TV Lucy, though, and after a while, she wasn't even Lucy on TV anymore. Yet the show, the drive, and the grind kept going, for the money kept rolling in. Eventually, her enjoyment of it all evaporated as the toll of her stormy marriage to Desi Arnaz and the problems of her children, whose entertainment careers she tried to start and manage, mounted. Ball's life is a captivating, ultimately cautionary tale; its similarity to the plot of a showbiz potboiler makes it all the more appealing.

One of the twentieth century's most talented and beloved comediennes, Lucille Ball made us laugh for more than forty years. Rediscover the highlights of her life and career in this pictorial biography that follows Lucy from her show biz beginnings through her glamorous movie roles, to I Love Lucy and her ascent to super-stardom. A concise introduction summarizes Lucy's life and achievements, then each stage of her life is explored in photos:
Lucy Behind the Scenes covers the private Lucy, starting in childhood Lucy in the Movies shows moments from Lucy's film career I Love Lucy contains scenes from Lucy's most enduring televsion show The Later Years tracks the star through her many subsequent achievements
Packed with many rare photos from every stage of her career, this photo collection is a must-have for all Lucy fans.

Well researched and documented, this first-ever biography of Vivian Vance, aka Ethel Mertz, spans her facinating life and varied career from her childhood in Kansas, through her early years in theater and vaudeville, to her tenure as America's most lovable and recognizable neighbor/sidekick on the "I Love Lucy Show." Not an expose, but rather an insightful treatment of the life and career of a sensitive, creative, talented, yet enigmatic icon of the early years of television. Included in this heretofore untold story are details of her years in psychotherapy and her victory over mental illness. Along with stunning photos of Vivian's childhood and career, are interviews with family members, school friends and producers from her days in New York, New Mexico and TV days including Bob Weiskopf, Kay Ballard, Valerie Harper, Lucie Arnez and others.