After beloved actress Lucille Ball passed away in 1989, her children Lucie and Desi Jr. found in a dusty box her incomplete autobiography. Comprised of over twenty hours of recorded interviews in 1966, the unfinished work revealed Lucy's own memories in her own voice. This thankfully maintains her conversational style without forcing a false ending. It finishes where the tapes end in 1962, when Lucy decided to not publish it.
An unexpected bonus for film buffs, this does not focus on the I Love Lucy years. Lucy made many films at various studios, trying drama, comedy, glamour, and mystery. As a fan, I was especially happy to read about some of my favourite films.
At seventeen, this upstate country kid tried her hand at New York show business, training theatrics with Bette Davis. By 1928, she was working the chorus on Broadway, not pretty enough to be a Ziegfeld girl. She made extra money commercial modelling - one of the ads made her The Chesterfield Girl, high above Times Square - suddenly, there was interest.
In 1933, she signed with RKO in Hollywood with roles in Top Hat, Roberta, and the terrific comedy Next Time I Marry. In 1939, she replaced Ann Southern in Five Came Back, one of my favourite dramas about plane crash survivors, and a solid hit. In 1942 she moved to MGM, became a redhead, and posed in extravagant musicals. In 1946, she moved to Fox and starred in a favourite noir mystery, The Dark Corner. This was a peak year, with five of her films playing on Broadway at the same time. In 1949, she was at Columbia starring in The Fuller Brush Girl, and on radio with My Favourite Husband. This turned into I Love Lucy, where they were the first to put the TV show on film, using mulitple cameras. They also owned the show as Desilu, and in 1957 they bought the TV stages - and RKO studios where she began - as a whole. In 1962 Lucy became the first female president of a television studio.
She does touch on her HUAC troubles, and her marital problems with Desi, but I was happy to see this centers around her career, and the pre-television days. Her unique voice does shine through. I was impressed by her openness and for fans of classic films,
autobiographies, and movie stars, this was a refreshing book well worth the read.
1996 / Hardcover / 288 pages
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