Book Description
During their marriage, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz filled over 100 scrapbooks with all manner of memorabilia. Now fans can take a rare peek at the details of the famous TV couple's lives with this fantastic replica composite. LUCY & DESI, our exclusive, real-life scrapbook of the couple's lives, contains 25 interactive, three-dimensional paper-engineered replicas of actual items--from Desi's report card to important telegrams--which have never been published before. Vintage snapshots of happy family moments, touching love letters, passports, and other precious minutiae, with more than 150 photographs, both black-and-white and color, fill this wonderful, engrossing look back at the golden years of television comedy, when Lucy and Desi charmed America with humor and song. This official scrapbook is a must-have for the millions of devoted fans.
Customer Reviews:
FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-01-14
If you are a Lucy Fan then you simply must buy this book! I just received mine and sat mesmorized by it, it is now my favorite Lucy item I have. I have an enormous collection of everything to do with Lucy or I LOVE LUCY you can imagine and this Scrapbook is so incredible.....it's honestly as if you are looking at the original scrapbook and you are even able to pull out inserts on several pages.....passport, letters, etc. I am not joking, if you are a collector of Lucy things and you do not have this Scrapbook then you are missing an incredible addition to your collection. The price is really great considering all you get. Words truly are not enough....I'll never ever get tired of looking at this!!!! Don't just think about buying it, buy it this minute!!!
lucy & desi the real -life scrapbook .......2005-09-21
The scrapebook was execellent. I enjoyed every little thing about it. It was great of all the document that were in there. This is a great book.
pop culture fanatic in Ohio.......2005-09-04
I picked up this book on a whim. In all honesty, I was "blown away" by it. Whoever put this thing together did a wonderful and pain-staking job duplicating items glued and tucked within the pages of the original scrapbooks. Passports, holy cards, letters from presidents and celebrities and much more is reproduced to look like the originals. I found myself getting lost in the lives of these people and the decades in which they lived. Mostly, I closed the book with the realization that even icons like Lucy and Desi are flesh and blood people, drawn to their heritage, celebrating their children and accomplishments, and mourning the loss of dreams and friends along the way. Each yellowed news clipping and lovingly preserved souvenir is a reminder of the ties that bind us all.
Amazing.......2005-07-22
This is simply priceless. Worth every penny you spend on it and more! Everything looks so authentic. I especially liked reading the letters and seeing Desi's passport! A must-have for any Lucy and/or Desi fan.
a marvelous album.......2005-03-01
I'm one of millions of fans of Lucille Ball and her handsome husband Desi. The love between Lucy and Desi (despite their difficulties/different backgrounds and expectations) was romantic, palpable, just so real, that it lit up their tv show and the movies they made together.
Here is a scrapbook containing many little personal items and minutia from their days together, so that both Lucy and Desi return to life before our eyes. Browsing through it is a joy.
Book Description
Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball is an entertaining, informative, scholarly, and fascinating biography of one of the most revered actresses in television history. Moving beyond the typical celebrity bio, author Kathleen Brady separates the actress from Lucy Ricardo, the antic, enduring character she created on I Love Lucy.
Brady is the only biographer to have spent extensive time in Jamestown, New York, Lucille Ball's hometown, where she interviewed Ball's childhood friends. Other interviews for the book included family, employees, Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Milton Berle, Maureen O'Hara, Maxine Andrews of the Andrews Sisters, and the late chairman of CBS Bill Paley. Kathleen Brady's definitive biography presents a human Lucille Ball the fans have never known: the would-be showgirl in New York, fired almost as soon as she was hired because she was too flat-chested and mousy; her great love for Desi Arnaz, their tempestuous marriage, the day she thought she had killed him with a hammer, and the incident that ended their marriage; Lucille as head of Desilu Studios, overriding the advice of her most trusted executives and agreeing to green light the pilots of Star Trek and Mission Impossible; and her run-in with the House on Un-American Activities Committee and fears of being black-listed.
Brady reveals that Lucille Ball's life was a roller coaster, going from disaster to victory and triumph to tragedy. As a young woman, Ball believed that she had to work had to make people like and appreciate her. As a star, she felt she had to work hard to maintain her popularity, and was also conscious that what her fans wanted from her was not herself, but Lucy Ricardo.
Of the first edition of this book, published by Hyperion in 1994, critic Molly Haskell wrote: "It's a beautiful portrait of someone with enormous talent as an entertainer and heartbreaking fragility as a woman. In giving Lucille Ball the serious appraisal she deserves, Kathleen Brady has really gotten behind the scenes and the cameras to provide an invaluable chronicle of several areas and eras of show business."
New to this edition of Lucille is an introductory essay focusing on the place of the character of Lucy Ricardo in the history of comedy, going back to the traditions of the Italian commedia dell'arte and forward to the end of the 20th century. In this essay, Lucille Ball is compared to other key female figures in comedy like Mabel Normand, Mae West, Frannie Brice, Gilda Radner, and Fran Drescher. As the author writes, "Lucille Ball was a revolutionary figure because Lucy Ricardo was the first female character to combine the knock-about physical comedy of vaudeville and music halls (and 15th century carnivals) while being beautiful, feminine, and sweetly appealing." This edition also includes many new photographs from various sources.
Customer Reviews:
Best Bio (and I've read them all).......2004-05-02
There are some minor factual errors with regard to some of the TV series indicating that the author--an obvious admirer--was not a fan per se. This actually helps in terms of objectivity. The book is unflinching but warm, and is the sole book to really go in depth about Lucille's childhood and teen/young adult years. "Ball of Fire" and many others are shockingly un-new in their stoties and historical references. No one can really know "Lucille" after the fact but this book, and "Desilu" come as close as you canget.
My favorite book about my favorite commedienne.......2003-09-04
When I was ten and heard that Lucy and Desi were divorcing, I was devastated. No one in my little village had ever divorced, and I did not know anyone who knew anyone who had. So, Lucy and Ricky, who were interchangeable in my mind with Lucy and Desi, were the first people I "knew" who took that drastic step. I couldn't figure out how they could be so happy on TV and still want to split.
A few years later, when Lucy returned to television, along with Ethel, rechristened as Vivian, I kept longing for DesiRicky to show up. Of course he didn't. Later, I saw some of her early movies and became one of the three people in the US who loved her on the screen as Mame. Even though I appreciated her skill and talent, for me, she was always Lucy Riccardo. Somewhere along the line, though, I realized that Lucille Ball was more complex than her TV counterpart.
Of the half-dozen books I've read about Lucy, which include the newly-released "Ball of Fire", a couple of the books about the series, and Vance's biography, Kathleen Brady's is my favorite. She comes closest to cracking the code, finding what drove Lucille Ball to the top of her profession.
Brady treats her subject tenderly, but does whitewash the harder side of her character. Rather, she tries to bring the apparently incompatible parts of her personality together into one whole, very understandable person. As much as is possible, she succeeds.
Where she is sure of details, she gives them. Where she is not, she offers alternate possibilities, for example, the unknown cause of Ball's paralysis that sent her home from NY and to bed for months or, on the more humorous side, exactly what happened the night that Tallulah Bankhead decided to disrobe during a production meeting of the LucyDesi Comedy Hour.
Well-researched and well-written, this is mandatory reading for any die-hard Lucy fan and an excellent choice for anyone who intends reading only one book about America's most famous comedienne.
Loving Lucy, but not the book..........2002-07-16
The Lucille Ball in Kathleen Brady's book, "Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball" is a study of contradictions. Partly an homage to a star she clearly adores, partly an expose on Lucy's dark side, this book paints an incomplete and unsatisfying picture of America's premiere television comedianne.
The Lucy in this book comes across both as a scrappy fighter early in her career, and a hardened soul at the end of it, which may very well be true, or not. It was difficult to discover the viewpoint of Lucy that the author was trying to take. At times, it was clearly injected with personal opinions and commentaries not warranted in the biography of someone else's life, both glowing and scandalous. And whereas the majority of the book takes up the years of Desilu's powerhold on the television industry, from I Love Lucy to Star Trek, it shortchanges both her early career and later career, almost as insignificant bookends to her highest pinnacle in the 1950's. Certainly, Lucy had a full, complete life, only some of which is shown here.
However, there were some parts I did enjoy. Lucy's less-than-impressive movie career which eventually gave birth to her TV persona was interesting, as you root for her to make the transition earlier. Her undying devotion to Desi in the early years, despite mutual fits of jealousy and rage, made for a deepening look at their marriage. And the occasional parts that show her softer, kinder side were warm to read.
Which leads to this thought. Clearly Lucy is loved country wide; were we ready to learn some negative things about the woman we cherished? Certainly not unknown, nor surprising to anyone who's read other things. The issue perhaps comes in balancing all viewpoints to present a clearer one, rather than being all over the board haphazardly.
As for Lucie and Desi Arnaz, Jr.'s objections to the book were clear to me as I read through to the end. Kathleen Brady seemed to have a personal vendetta against these two, as she paints them very unfavorably as spoiled Hollywood rich kids. Nary a kind word was said about these two, which leads me to think they offered no assistance in creating this book, so a price was paid for their silence.
In the end, I did not feel closer to Lucy than I had before reading this. I may suggest grabbing a bowl of popcorn, putting up your feet, and watching some classic episodes of I Love Lucy, to remember Lucy the way she wanted us to remember her, with a smile and a laugh.
Watch Out.......2001-08-02
watch out for false starements in this book. many good pics except for the one ... that doesn't even look like lucy. so beware if you love lucy watch what you believe--Steph
The Best Book i read.......2001-06-29
This book was the best, becouse of many things, she was not only in the T.V show I LOVE LUCY and not only in movies, but she was a great landy that helped and cared for many people around the world. So i am telling you to read this book.
Book Description
At any time, night or day, I Love Lucy is being broadcast somewhere in the world. Four generations have grown up watching I Love Lucy, and Lucille Ball’s is the most recognized face in the world. Madelyn Pugh Davis was Lucy’s staff writer for nearly half a century. Davis was the first female writer in television and was responsible for thousands of hours of memorable programming. Many of the plot lines used on I Love Lucy were taken from Davis’s own life and immortalized by Ball’s comic genius. In Laughing with Lucy, Davis and her long-term writing partner, Bob Carroll Jr., recount her rise in television and her many years working on the set and behind the scenes with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She recounts her experiences as a pioneer in the entertainment industry, one of the first women writers in Hollywood. Lighthearted and witty, this book fondly remembers Lucy and the early days of television.
Customer Reviews:
With Lucy's other writers had done books, too........2007-08-06
Having read tons of other books on everything tied to Lucy, I was especially happy to come across this memoir of what I consider to be one of television's best writers. Ms. Davis writes succinctly but thoroughly and entertainingly about many of her memories associated with what many people consider to be television's all-time best sit-com. It is a great, fun read for anyone interested in "I Love Lucy."
Adventures of the Original Girl Writer.......2007-04-18
Madelyn Pugh Davis tells us upfront that this is no tell-all tome...that to dish on longterm employers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz would be unfair since they are dead and cannot defend themselves.
She also adds that as the writers of "I Love Lucy," she and her partner Bob Carroll Jr. were in the dark much of the time about personal scandal and gossip.
This is the crux of her book. Desi Arnaz called her the 'Girl Writer' when he wasn't mangling her given name by calling her 'Mallen.' He called Pugh and Carroll 'the kids' or as he pronounced it, 'the kits.'
Pugh's stories of her own beginnings in the TV and radio writing trades would be absorbing enough - but chuck Lucy, Desi and company in the mix and you have yourself a page turner.
Pugh writes with warmth, enthuiasm and energy (qualities by the way in which she admired Arnaz).
Straight out of college, she was turned down for a job as a newsletter writer for a meat-packing company. As she wittily points out, the meat-packing company smelled bad and somebody with the last name of Pugh shouldn't be working in a place like that.
Her adventures up to and including all the incarnations of "Lucy" are absorbing. She dishes in an amusing, professional and tasteful way about hard-headed Lucy and working with gues stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - and that famous 69 carat diamond ring.
As an ardent Lucy fan,I loved hearing about how Pugh and Bob Carroll jr. drove up to northern Calfornia to meet the North famly whose marrriage and staggering 20 children led to the screenplay for the Ball-Fonda classic, "Yours Mine And Ours." (A Desi Arnaz idea).
There are tons of nuggets here - both professional and private. When Pugh married her college sweetie, Dr. Richard Davis, she moved herself and her small son to his Frank Lloyd Wright house in Indiana. She hated the house both because its construction design lent itself to dark bathrooms and a miniscule kitchen, but also because strangers dropped by unanounced to get a look at it.
The chipmunk watching her each morning is hysterical. Movie version, anyone?
The author says that for her, it is gratifying when fans tell her they watch "I Love Lucy" when they are feeling blue and it gives them a lift. I will keep "Laughing With Lucy" handy so that I may dip into it on my 'off days' as a reminder that even the original Girl Writer had her share of ups and downs.
A book that's part tribute, exploration, and witty!.......2006-05-30
How many comedy writers have surrived so long with one performer? The author started with Lucille Ball on the radio series My Favorite Husband. She and her partner Bob Carroll Jr. wrote for the full 6 year run of I Love Lucy. (Jess Oppenheimer, who created the series, left after the 5th season. By the way, this book makes a great companion to his book.) They also worked on the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, and Here's Lucy. In between, they wrote the story for her feature film, "Yours, Mine, and Ours," plus various specials. Sadly, the final series, Life With Lucy, is best forgotten. The author does a good job of dealing with various stories regarding I Love Lucy and its main star. You won't read about the problems that broke up the Ball-Arnaz marriage here. Ditto for the strife between Vivian Vance and William Frawley. There's also no mention of the scare regarding Lucy's onetime registration with the Communist party. Ms. Davis may have wished to protect the now deceased stars. Or she wasn't directly involved in such matters. This book provides a wonderful behind-the scenes look at Lucy's various series. Ms. Davis tried out many of the stunts beforehand. Would a woman be capable of them? While her partner is listed as a co-writer, this is essentially her story. We learn about the struggles she had as a woman comedy writer. There's material on her personal life too. The author writes with great affection for both Lucy and Desi. She notes that his contributions were often overlooked. Ms. Davis and Mr. Carroll later became producers on Alice. I caught one goof in the book. Earl Hamner did create The Waltons. But he wasn't involved in Little House On The Prairie. Still, this is a very good read. Please check it out.
Hats off to Lucy.......2006-05-30
Lucy liked to "xaggerate," and she often went on TV talk shows and amplified her own role in the filming of her classic TV sitcom. Madelyn Pugh was there and she now gently corrects her former boss. In the grape-stamping episode, she writes, it's NOT true that the other actress in the grape vat didn't speak English, nor was it true that the fight wasn't in the script and the other temperamental wine woman knocked her down and tried to drown her. But Lucy liked a colorful story, as we all do.
Fascinating tales abound in this book, such as hearing about the notebooks in which Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll would jot down all their ideas, including some which never came to fruition. Such as the episode of I LOVE LUCY in which an old boyfriend of Lucy's would come to pay a call, played by Frank Sinatra. And how about the "almost filmed" episode of the LUCY-DESI hour in which Lucy was to try out for a big break, the lead in a Broadway musical WILDCAT? Lucy was supposedly going to try to browbeat bob Hope into backing her and Leonard Bernstein into giving her singing lessons. Her rival? None other than Vivian Vance, who was to be given the consolation prize, a featured part in a revival of COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA (probably as Sheba). Alas, it didn't happen.
And there are some great backstage stories, unprintable here, concerning gay icons Tallulah Bankhead and Gypsy Rose Lee. I didn't know that Madelyn Pugh, the writing genius of I LOVE LUCY, was married to Quinn Martin, the innovative "Act IV" producer of THE FUGITIVE and BARNABY JONES? Too bad they divorced so quickly, but the combination of so much talent in one marriage must have made for a combustible union--she, the greatest single TV writer of all time, and he, the man who practically invented the "drama" series. They had a charming son, Michael, about whom Madelyn tells several stories, the kind that if you were her boy you'd be wishing she'd shut up.
She doesn't seem to like Lucy very much, but she keeps mum about specifics and praises her for her courage and comic aplomb.
The only problem with the book is that it's pretty long and not all of it is all that interesting. But, if you know someone who loves the program I LOVE LUCY, or someone with a soft spot for the 13 orphan episodes of Lucy's final disastrous series LIFE WITH LUCY, you'll get this one for him or her. After all, this is the woman who came up with the term, "vitameatavegemin girl."
A Must For Lucy Fans.......2006-05-07
While the name Madelyn Pugh Davis might not be super familiar, almost everyone is familiar with her work. As one of the first women writing in TV, she co-wrote nearly every episode of the classic sit-com "I Love Lucy." This fascinating memoir is a behind the scenes look at her life and work.
Madelyn started out wanting to be a foreign correspondent. But, since this was the 30's, women didn't get those kinds of jobs, and she had to settle for anything she could get. Moving to California, she started working at CBS, first in news, then in entertainment when she started working on a weekly radio comedy program called "My Favorite Husband" starring a comedian named Lucille Ball. It was also during this time that she hooked up with Bob Carroll, Jr., her long time writing partner.
The book spends lots of time talking about "I Love Lucy," starting with the birth of the show. There are many familiar stories here, the network's reluctance to make a show about an interracial couple, Desi's desire to film the show in front of a live audience, the making of the pilot, Lucy's pregnancy in season two, etc. Madelyn also debunks a few myths that have sprung up over the years, such as Vivian Vance's weight being in her contract and Lucy's fake nose catching fire in a season four episode.
The book does talk about other things. Being a memoir, we also get some talk about Madelyn's life. She doesn't spend too long at it, but it continues to entertain. It also gives an interesting view of Los Angeles in the 1940's. It's certainly changed over the years.
Madelyn also talks about her post "I Love Lucy" work, including all of Lucy's other TV shows and the classic "Alice." These were just as fascinating to me, even though I have never seen them, and make me very interested fixing that.
There are times the book begins to feel like an episode guide for whatever series she's currently discussing, but it never lasts too long. She will start telling a story about something that happened behind the scenes at that time. These include some of the extra things she had to do as the only female staff member of the shows such as watching for any wardrobe malfunctions Lucy might have performing the stunts or dealing with the sometimes temperamental star.
The one thing you won't find here is dishing on the behind the scenes rumors. As Madelyn states in the first chapter, it's poor form to do that when someone can't defend themselves. While she does discuss character flaws that Lucy and Desi had, she doesn't dwell on them. Instead, a very complimentary view of the two comes to the forefront. She praises them equally for the success of the show. The picture she paints shows Desi willing to pay for anything they dreamed up and Lucy willing to do it. If it brought laughs, it would happen.
The book feels like a conversation with a good friend over a cup of coffee. This makes it an easy, fun read. I actually read it in two days, staying up way too late at night to read just a little more.
This book provides a fascinating look at life behind the scenes of a just emerging medium as well as a classic show. Fans of early Hollywood history or "I Love Lucy" will eat it up.
Average customer rating:
- We love Vivian!
- Couldn't Put it Down-- A Great Read!
- Hey Ethel where's Lucy
- Never knew the book existed
- VIVIAN VANCE....
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The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of Vivian Vance
Frank Castelluccio , and
Alvin Walker
Manufacturer: Berkley
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Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple
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Love, Lucy
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Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball
ASIN: 0425176096
Release Date: 2000-08-08 |
Book Description
"Fascinating." (Hollywood Reporter)
"Good stuff." (New York Daily News)
The entertaining, complex, and surprising true story of the funniest-and most instantly recognizable-sidekick in TV history: Vivian Vance.
Customer Reviews:
We love Vivian!.......2007-08-31
A great little book on a woman we never heard much about. I've always wondered about her personal life - WOW - more painful than I imagined. Wish she got her Hollywood Star before she died. She worked really hard only to be a second banana, but we loved her, and boy - was she good!!!
Couldn't Put it Down-- A Great Read!.......2007-06-07
I loved this book. I've read several books on Lucille Ball and this was a very cool opportunity to read about her famous sidekick. I have to say, I have a whole new view on Ethel now!
Hey Ethel where's Lucy.......2007-05-15
Book was in very good shape. I would buy another book from this vendor. The only thing I had trouble with was that it took a little longer then I expected to receive in mail.
Never knew the book existed.......2005-03-17
Glad I got a chance to check this book out...it was very interesting as I'd heard about some of the tiffs between them but never really got into it. While I am sure a few different takes on her life/their lives could also fill in the missing pieces..its a good read and provides the rest of the story to the generally heroic and sweentened up picture often given about Ms. Ball and the whole show in general. They were all each and as a group irreplacable and perhaps may have never really understood their "fate" or "destiny" in the place of American life at the time. What a wonderfully talented, funny, and brillant pair and team of actress/actors they were. While all was not well on the show or in that era as with any...to this day they can make you laugh your head off without the crudeness so many comdieans and shows resort to today. The effort and work put into such show outdoes shows today by far. They were great at what they did for the time that they did it. It was also very sobering to read a human real or truer side to them as the pollyannaness of television lives can sometimes rub off on the viewers. Reading it though I could not help feel a sort of sadness ; Ms. Vance..never really being happy. Perhaps its just the way it was told or written. I would like to read other books about her/them to get a more indepth idea. In any case..I recommend taking a spin with this book.
VIVIAN VANCE...........2004-05-11
When I ran across a softback edition of this book, I was floored. I had no idea a book had been written about Vivian Vance. Where had I been? I bought it thinking ,well, it'll be superficial at best. Boy, was I wrong. This is an excellent, in depth and very revealing life story of one of television's best loved ladies. Alvin Walker and Frank Castelluccio have written one of the best biographies on a legend I've ever read. And Vivian Vance is a legend, if an often overlooked one. From her humble showbiz beginnings, to a Broadway career, to her fateful reading with Lucille Ball for the part of Ethel Mertz---I could not put this book down. Vivian Vance came to life on those pages and I learned that there's a lot more to a "second banana" than just the character they play. Vance never escaped her role as Ethel, but she lived a full and complete life worthy of this book and was a more accomplished actress than given credit for. Her years of baffling mental problems, the estrangement with her mother, her extensive stage work, her often rocky relationship with Lucille Ball (not to overlook William Frawley) are all here as well as the huge amount of humanitarian work she did for mental health later in life. This is a highly recommended read for anyone who loved watching Ethel as well as Lucy. It reveals the fascinating woman behind the "mask" of Ethel Mertz, a landmark television icon and an American showbiz legend known as Vivian Vance.
Average customer rating:
- Academic-style biography succeeds
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Lucy: The Life of Lucille Ball
Charles Higham
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
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Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball
ASIN: 0312500041 |
Customer Reviews:
Academic-style biography succeeds.......2003-03-19
Higham really plunges deep with his account...I'm probably
in the minority who really and truly like his approach,
but he hits on just about everything I was hoping to
find. Released just a few years before Lucy died and
months before Desi died, the last few years of
Lucy's life aren't covered.
The tone is fairly despondent, and until reading
the bio, I never knew just how rough things
got for Lucy after she and Desi started up
their show in 1951. Their marriage was
clearly a match made in hell. Luckily Lucy
was able to go on and do a few other successful
projects over the years, despite her unstable
health and the incredible volume of stress
she endured.
One particularly nice chapter in the book is the
one that describes the purchase of RKO studios (which
would become Desilu Studios), putting nearly all their good fortune
on the line. This turned out to be a great
investment, but it was not without its problems-
it was the last big business deal made during
their marriage. During the course of the deal,
they were rehearsing the episode of "The Lucy Desi Comedy
Hour" with Tallulah Bankhead. Tallulah, being
her temperamental, melodramatic self, was
breaking nearly every rule in the book. She
was unpunctual, flubbed lines, drunk constantly, cursed out
the director and Lucy on the set. Desi
made the deal, only to come back to the
set and plunge headlong into another violent
fight with their guest star. Luckily, on the
night the show was shot in front of the
audience, Tallulah was flawless.
This book is a good supplement to the "Love, Lucy"
autobiography resurrected by Lucie Arnaz. Highly
recommended.
Amazon.com
Those expecting a vicious Hollywood tell-all from Stefan Kanfer's Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball will be disappointed. Kanfer, whose past work includes a biography of Groucho Marx and a history of the animation industry, comes to his famous red-headed subject with admiration, and readers will be drawn by his exuberance for early film and television history.
Kanfer opens with a brief recounting of Ball's tragic childhood (her father died of typhoid when she was 3 years old) and her early career as an unintentionally starving model in New York City. The significant portion of the book begins, however, when Ball gets her first offer for a stint of film work in California and finds herself launched on a moderately successful film career. Here Kanfer provides details of the inner workings of United Artists, Columbia, and RKO as Ball does battle with Ginger Rogers, Kathryn Hepburn, and a host of other young actresses struggling for screen time. But, as Kanfer notes, it was in television that Ball made her great mark, starring with her husband Desi Arnaz. I Love Lucy debuted in 1951, and readers will delight in Kanfer's behind-the-scenes details of the show's production. The first situation comedy to be filmed before a live audience, Lucy offered countless challenge--technical, professional, and personal—for the volatile couple.
Kanfer argues that Ball is one of the few truly enduring television personalities to emerge from the early years of television. His book, entertaining as it is educational, does much to secure her legacy. --Patrick O'Kelley
Book Description
As a movie actress Lucille Ball was, in her own words, “queen of the B-pluses.” But on the small screen she was a superstar–arguably the funniest and most enduring in the history of TV. In this exemplary biography, Stefan Kanfer explores the roots of Lucy’s genius and places it in the context of her conflicted and sometimes bitter personal life.
Ball of Fire gives us Lucy in all her contradictions. Here is the beauty who became a master of knock-down slapstick; the control freak whose comic alter ego thrived on chaos, the worshipful TV housewife whose real marriage ended in public disaster. Here, too, is an intimate view of the dawn of television and of the America that embraced it. Charming, informative, touching. and laugh-out-loud funny, this is the book Lucy’s fans have been waiting for.
Customer Reviews:
This book tells all - both good and bad.......2007-07-02
If you've watched all the "I Love Lucy" episodes, yet never read a book on Lucille Ball, then this is the place to start. Although this book may be seen as a tell-all, there's a strong undercurrent of admiration the author obviously has for his subject.
Ball, as seen by Kanfer, knew she was a star but never seemed to enjoy the priviledges and the adulation that came with the role. Instead, Ball was insecure during all her adult life and showed it by being tactless on the set, overly authoritative to her directors and fellow actors, and hated the fact that she was growing older and people might forget about her (no chance of that). One wonders, from reading the book, how Ball managed ever to have any friends.
But Kanfer shows another side of Ball that displays his admiration of her talent. Ball was perfect on her timing, a very hard worker, and tried to do everything just right. Although these tendencies tended to grate people at time, Kanfer expertly shows that this contributed to her stardom and most importantly, making sure that people would never forget Lucille Ball.
Stafan Kanfer does what few other writers do to famous people - he helps his readers understand Lucille Ball in a much better light by pointing out her faults and making sure they know the world owes much to this red-headed commedienn.
Great biography!.......2007-04-15
You know how some biographies are dreadful to read, filled with mundane details or too much author opinion? This is definately not one of those! After rediscovering I Love Lucy on DVD I became more and more curious as to the woman behind the myth. This book didn't disappoint.
It was very sad in that it completely shattered the persona Lucy and Desi portrayed in I Love Lucy. Desi was an alcoholic and a womanizer while Lucy was a workaholic. Their children readily admit that a nanny raised them and after wanting children so badly, Lucy and Desi were actually terrible parents.
The thing I like best about the book was that Kanfer seems to know what parts of her life made a good story. The parts on her childhood and later years weren't a major part of the book, while I Love Lucy and her film career took center stage. He doesn't sugar-coat anyone. At times you will hate Lucy and Desi, at times your heart will break for them.
It truly read more like a story which is what makes a great biography in my opinion. I would recommend this book to everyone, especially Lucy fans. It will keep you up late into the night!
Rude and too mean to everyone's favorite redhead........2005-09-27
I will never read this book again, nor recommend it to anyone. This book downplays the positive things in Lucy's life, and concentrates on the bad things she did to people and people did to her. Stefan makes it sound as though everything she did in life was for her career, which was not true at all. I think Kanfer needs to take a good hard look at how he portrays his subjects if and when he writes another book.
What a pity........2004-04-22
My esteem for Lucille Ball fell while reading this book. And I don't think it's her fault, I think it was Kanfer's. He doesn't miss a chance to give you the overall impression that she was not in charge of her own life. Anybody who ever saw Lucy knows that she was a woman who had her own demons, but it takes a biographer like Kanfer to show just how much the terrible past reached out its claws and choked her life free of pleasure and fun. To the outside, she gave a vivid impression of a daffy screwball, but to those who attempted to get close to her, she couldn't help revealing the tightly wound, neurotic worrywart. Her relationship with Ginger Rogers was just about the only one she found a jot of comfort in, and Kanfer makes it seem as if she reached out to Ginger as a way to complete her education. All her life she was made to feel inferior to other people. Even marrying an immigrant did nothing for her self-esteem, for he wound up cheating on her. What did Lucille Ball do to deserve such a constricted, joyless life or such an inept and colorless biographer? What a pity.
Behind the Scenes Where No One Loved Lucy.......2003-12-19
Ball of Fire concentrates on the I Love Lucy show, how it came about (and almost didn't get off the ground), behind the scenes tidbits, its effect on America. Kanfer doesn't stint on the rest of Lucy's life, both before and after the Show, but I Love Lucy really is the star of this book.
Never having read a biography of Lucille Ball, this was all news to me, and I enjoyed discovering that Vivian Vance loathed William Frawley, and that Ball was such a stickler and control freak. Kanfer's style is easy and very readable, and there are plenty of photos to round things out, including an unexpected one of a young topless Lucille Ball.
If you are in the mood for an entertaining and, let's face it, unimportant, book, this one is worth the money.
Average customer rating:
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Ball of Fire: The Tumultous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball
Stefan Kanfer
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0571220304 |
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