Laughs, Luck and Lucy

  For those of you who don't know about this book, or who know about it but haven't yet read it, I highly recommend adding it to the top of your "books to be read" list--especially if you are a serious Lucy fan, a fan of Jess Oppenheimer, or a student of television history. It is a fast and easy read, just perfect for summer travel.

This book, whose complete title is Laughs, Luck and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time is a memoir by Jess Oppenheimer (with a foreword by his son, Gregg Oppenheimer), who was not only one of television's first great pioneers, but was largely responsible for the cultural phenomenon we know as I Love Lucy. For the first five of its six seasons, Oppenheimer not only served as the show's producer, but as head writer, and all-around mastermind. In this memoir, Oppenheimer chronicles his childhood and early career in radio and television, highlighting experiences which influenced his life, career, and America's most-loved sitcom.

For those of you who are serious I Love Lucy fans, it will interest you to read about how many of the infamous I Love Lucy plots came to be (i.e. "The Freezer," "Lucy Does a Commercial," "Job Switching,"etc.) and about the details surrounding some of television's funniest moments. Oppenheimer also recants the time he spent writing for and working with Lucille Ball on the radio sitcom My Favorite Husband (which was--in many ways--an I Love Lucy predecessor) and highlights how his experiences on that program came to have great influence on the development and characterization of I Love Lucy.

Oppenheimer's humor and enthusiasm shine through his narrative, engaging the reader instantly and reading, at times, much like one of his comedic scripts. This book comes with a CD containing rare Lucille Ball audio and also includes some portions of I Love Lucy scripts which were never used, including the only script that Lucy or Desi ever refused to perform. It is a delightful, must-have addition to any Lucy fan's library.