ALMOST EVERYONE LOVES LUCY

June 21, 1981

Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s TV Magazine and listings for the week of June 21 – 27, 1981. The inside article is by Matt Rousch. 

BY Matt Roush, Enquirer Contributor 

Loving Lucy. 

Millions will attest it was their favorite pastime on Monday evenings through the ‘50s (diehards still talk of PTA meetings canceled in the wake of the dizzy redhead, her Cuban-bandleader hubby and her frumpish landlord-neighbors, the Mertzes), and intermittently up to the ’70s. 

Even more fans remain devoted today to the world’s most popular funny ladies through endless reruns of her various shows, with “I love Lucy” (broadcast locally at 5 p.m. weekdays on Channel 64) the clear favorite. 

But few if any can claim as devout an allegiance to the “Ball Hall of Fame” as can Bart Andrews, a prolific TV historian from Los Angeles. Loving Lucy is his obsession, and he delights in sharing it with an eager public first several years ago with a history of the “I Love Lucy” show titled Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel, and now with a coffee table-sized, lush picture biography of Lucille Ball titled Loving Lucy (St. Martin’s Press, $15). 

According to Andrews, in a recent phone interview from his TV-trivia-cluttered home, he had a ball writing and putting the book together. 

But then he should. Any man who drives a car with an “I LV LCY” license plate and who has been called an “ ‘I Love Lucy’ junkie” by Tom Brokaw of “Today” can only thank his lucky stars (one in particular) that he is able to satiate his obsession. 

And satiate it he does. When asked if the “junkie” moniker is deserved, he affirmed, “Absolutely. Without a doubt.” He is more than happy to recall the year 1950, when he was about 6 years old and his family got its first TV. “I was  hooked. And a year after that (when ‘Lucy’ premiered), my mother tells me she decided she would let us stay up on Mondays to watch Lucy. And I’ve watched it all those years." 

Through adolescence, through college, it was Lucy. Through his writing career, which has encompassed many TV comedy scripts and 16 books including The TV Addict’s Handbook, TV or not TV and The Worst TV Shows Ever, it was Lucy. Nary a day passes that Andrews doesn’t watch at least one episode of Lucy’s adventures on a relic of a black-and-white TV, be she a Ricardo (nee MacGillicuddy), a Carmichael or a Carter. And with her 70th birthday coming Aug. 6 and the 30th anniversary of "I Love Lucy” on Oct. 15, there seems to be no end in sight. Next? 

“Would you believe an ‘I Love Lucy’ quiz book coming out on Oct. 15?" 

Believe it or not, Andrews said that’s the next "Lucy” project emanating from his pen. It will consist of 1,001 questions, including such timeless queries as “What was Ethel Mertz’s middle name?” (For those who don’t know, it changed as often as the Flintstones’ address and was variously Louise, Roberta and May.) 

In the meantime, Andrews is content to relax with his famous collection of Lucy memorabilia in what he calls his “Lucy room.” A quick inventory came up with these peerless items: Lucy and Desi cufflinks, a “little Ricky” doll (one of 1 million sold in 1953) that squeaks when you squeeze it, a record of Desi Arnaz singing “Babalu” (“How can you do without such things in life?” Andrews mocked), comic books, cut-out dolls, recipe books and so on. 

Oh, yes, and a red couch, of course. 

Andrews said he is pleased with the considerable success of Loving Lucy, although he admitted it was a hard book to get off the ground: “I had a terrible time getting the book sold. No one had faith that another book on Lucy would sell well." 

But he swore there was a market, because his first Lucy book covered only a 10-year period, and letters had poured in, asking for more pictures. 

And pictures he found, in Brooklyn’s Melvin Frank Archives, which had recently acquired an immense collection of Lucy photographs. (The book sports about 400 rare stills.)

"The pictures are what started the ball rolling,” Andrews punned. 

“Lucy doesn’t even have some of these shots, and does she ever want them.”

Finally, St. Martin’s Press showed interest in the project, and the result is a visually pleasing light biography of a woman with more than 50 years in show business most obviously with TV, but also as an actress in more than 70 films and a hit for a time on Broadway. 

In fact, part of the success of Loving Lucy may be due to its unfolding of a largely unknown career: Lucy, the discouraged drop-out drama student in New York; Lucy, the successful fashion model and Broadway chorine; Lucy, the platinum blonde heading to Hollywood as a Goldwyn girl in 1933 to be in an Eddie Cantor picture; Lucy, the starlet moving from Goldwyn to RKO where she used to pal around with Ginger Rogers; Lucy, the hard-working comedy and romantic lead of scores of films, and finally Lucy, the wife of Desi and undying star of TV.

Although Andrews is about to release his third book on the lady, he’s only met Lucille Ball once. “It was while I was doing research on my first book on her in 1975,” he said. “Let me tell you, it was a shock to meet her, because I was expecting Lucy Ricardo with several of her teeth blacked out. Instead, I met a serious person with little sense of humor, really." 

Not much of a memory, either: "The meeting wasn’t fruitful; but it was fun, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that her information was totally wrong. I ended up having to do all the research on my own." 

But the research has enabled him to enjoy a unique perspective on Lucille Ball, her career and her appeal. Andrews has also been researching a book on situation comedies he tentatively titles Funny Business; his work with that project has convinced him that ” ‘I Love Lucy’ is the grandmother of the situation comedy. So many came after, with types and styles that obviously didn’t succeed, and you can see a return to many of the basic stock slapstick situations time and time again,“ he said. 

"Even as a fan of Lucy, though, I doubt the show would go over so big today. The storylines would be too old-fashioned to carry today’s more sophisticated audience, I imagine. But I can watch and thousands of others like me and know it was made in 1954 and keep that in mind. You get the gist of it and it’s still funny." 

Andrews said she is probably most often watched now by the very young. "Lucy claims she has babysat for four generations, and you can’t deny that kids get so intent watching her that you can’t pull them away. And they remember everything,” he added, mentioning that his nieces match him question for question when it comes to Lucy trivia. 

“Kids can identify with her silly and childlike behavior,” he said, “but at the same time adults can find her funny because she can still maintain her dignity and beauty beneath it all. 

"Lucy has a universal appeal because of the way she did things others might do like, say, getting an extra job in a candy factory. Now, that’s a very fine situation, but only at the end do they get caught up in the manic slapstick on the speeding conveyor. It’s a classic episode, because the writers (a fine crew who never won an Emmy, although the show and star won many) were very careful about writing logically." 

Whatever the appeal, it’s undeniable, as is evidenced by the ever-growing membership in a worldwide "We Love Lucy” fan club, whose president, Thomas J. Watson, co-authored Loving Lucy. (Watson’s license plate reads “LUCY FAN.”) 

Andrews estimates the club’s membership includes 500-600 Lucyphiles, who receive a bimonthly newsletter and get a button, membership card and magazine upon joining. 

The organization’s enthusiasm is understandable. It’s not every run-of-the-mill entertainer who has been around since the TV-pioneer days of Hollywood and also has a pilot on the burner at NBC (it hasn’t been picked up yet, Andrews said). 

But then, that’s Lucy. Hard-working, funny and silly, yet still more than a shade glamorous. 

Loving Lucy is contagious. It’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t caught the bug.