Love, Lucy

My latest read was Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball. It was a superficial but quick and entertaining read, the type that got me into reading biographies when I was younger and celebrity gossip was nothing like it is today. The book was had apparently been recorded years earlier then put aside and forgotten about, and was published posthumously. The book covered her early life, her modeling, stage, and movie careers, her struggle to have children, her meeting, elopement, fights, work and divorce with the younger Desi Arnaz, accusations and acquittal from the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and her relationship with her second husband, Gary Morton. (They were married 28 years by the time she died, eight more than she spent with Desi.)

It was interesting in its detailing of old Hollywood, and for the other famous people she knew, such as Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Ginger Rogers, whose mother was a huge influence on Lucille. Ball seemed very self-aware, from her desperation for acceptance to her fiery temper. The book was conversational, and the tone was very mild, likely as not to hurt those who were still living at the time of the book’s beginnings (and even though Desi’s drinking and indiscretions with other women were widely known). There were several references to I Love Lucy but the book wasn’t really about the show. Although, there was a good bit of info on their “firsts” … use of real film for a television program (which is why the episodes survived to this day), the idea of reruns, using a three-camera setup for filming, showing a pregnant woman on TV, having a woman be head of a production company (she bought her ex’s shares in Desilu), etc.

This was a Freecycle book, and so I’ll be passing this along to my grandmother next, or trading it in at a used book store… Matt and I are supposed to go to Ukazoo this evening to trade in two or three boxes of mom’s old books. Time to go treasure hunting!!