Laughs, Luck…and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time (with “I LOVE LUCY's Lost Scenes” and rare Lucille Ball audio) by Gregg Oppenheimer

Description

Jess Oppenheimer, the man Lucille Ball called the “brains” of “I Love Lucy”, gives us a rare first-hand look at television history as it was being made. A rich entertainment resource, “Laughs, Luck…and Lucy” features a hilarious memoir, and scores of rare photos, three never-before-published scripts (including the only “I Love Lucy” script that Lucy or Desi ever refused to perform), plus links to web-based audio of Lucy's classic radio comedy performances, unheard for more than 40 years! Oppenheimer's book, written with his son, Gregg, is not only a reliable record of how “I Love Lucy” was conceived an executed, but also a humorous insider's account of the broadcasting industry's development from the wild early days of radio to television's “golden age.”

The 2nd Kindle Edition (2012) now contains the full script of Gregg Oppenheimer's humorous play, “I Love Lucy: The Untold Story”, broadcast nationwide on SiriusXM Radio on Lucille Ball's 100th birthday in 2011.

Editorial Review

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!