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On The Bookshelf

THE ORIGINAL

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All `Lucy' All The Time

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BILL CARROLL

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A

ctress Candice Bergen
describes in her autobiog-
raphy how her entire youth
was taken over by a wood-
en dummy, Charlie McCarthy, used
by her famous ventriloquist father,
Edgar. Charlie was like a real brother,
and he dominated the family.
Gre 14: Oppenheimer feels
the same way about the I
Love Lucy television show,
created by his father, Jess,
who also served as the show's
producer and head writer.
Gregg's life has been almost
totally consumed by the I
Love Lucy phenomenon. Now
48, he grew up around the set
— where his father spent
most of his time — even
attending elaborate birthday
parties given by Ball for her
children, Lucy and Desi Jr.
After his father's death at
age 75 in 1988, Gregg start-
ed working in earnest on
editing an 85-page manu-
script Jess had started writing
toward the planned publica-
tion of his autobiography. He
also left behind six file cabi-
nets filled with Lucy scripts,
notes and correspondence.
Gregg did several years of
research to complete the
memoirs, becoming one of
the world's foremost
authorities on I Love Lucy.
His research included
watching and rewatching all
of the Lucy shows on his
father's old 16mm movie
projector — even detecting
the laughter of certain relatives in the
always "live" audience.
The result was a 290-page autobiog-
raphy of Jess Oppenheimer, Laughs,

Jess went on to marry a Jewish
woman, Estelle Weiss, and Gregg was
confirmed at a Reform temple.
After a brief stint as a rehearsal
camera operator, Gregg graduated
from M.I.T., with a degree in art and
design. He obtained a law degree at
the University of California at
Berkeley and became a partner in a
prestigious law firm.
But he just couldn't stay away
from Lucy. He complet-
ed the book, then gave
LAAck
up practicing law. "Law
.and
was becoming busier,
How I Came tz, C1::ate the
and more crass and com-
Molo Po/11,qm "Rir(orn of 'J Mite
mercial," he said. "It
took up a lot of time
away from my family.
My career as a writer and
speaker is less lucrative,
but it's more rewarding."
Of course, it helps
that, while Ball and
Arnaz sold all of their
rights to I Love Lucy to
CBS for $4.3 million in
1956 — they foolishly
Gregg Oppenheimer:
thought the popularity
of its reruns couldn't last
He first net Lucille
more than a few years
Ball in 1955, when
— Jess Oppenheimer
kept his ... a move
he was 4. Ball asked
worth millions.
His widow, Estelle,
the toddler, "Where
owns 10 percent of the
show and CBS owns 90
did you get those big
percent. Arnaz died
brown eyes?" His reply: in1986, Ball in 1989.
Jess' own show busi-
"They came with the
ness career began with a
theater group at the San
face. " She nearly fell
Francisco Jewish
over laughing.
Community Center,
which provided him
with a rich source of sit-
ed version of him. I only felt eerie writ- uation comedy routines later in his
career, forming the basis for at least two
ing about myself through his voice, so
of the classic Lucy episodes.
I just removed those references."
He wrote for Bergen and
Both of Jess' parents were Jewish,
McCarthy, Jack Benny, Al Jolson,
but Jess was brought up in the
Rudy Vallee, John Barrymore, Fanny
Christian Science faith. His father had
Brice and Fred Astaire, and produced
been blinded in a botched surgery and
specials for Bob Hope, Danny Kaye
regained his sight during "his Christian
and Debbie Reynolds, winning two
Science period," as, in desperation, he
Emmys along the way.
began trying several religions.
His association with Ball started in
"So I didn't really know much
1948 when he became head writer,
about being Jewish," Jess relates in the
producer and director of her radio
memoir, "except that my mother
series with actor Richard Denning, My
always instructed me that if anyone
Favorite Husband.
asked my religion, I was to say 'I'm
With the advent of TV, Ball insisted
Jewish and proud of it.' That got me a
on working in a show with Arnaz, who
lot of bloody noses."

caught up with Oppenheimer by
phone at his Santa Monica, Calif.,
home, where he lives with his wife,
Debbie, and daughter, Julie, age 13.
The co-author said it really didn't
feel strange writing in his father's voice
because "I just transformed myself
back to that time, and my father's
words came easy to me. We were very
close ... we had similar senses of
humor, so the book was just an extend-

Gregg Oppenheimer
completed his father's
unfinished memoirs,
and became an expert
on one of America's
best-loved sitcoms.

Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create
the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time. First

published in 1996, the book enjoyed
seven hard-cover printings before com-
ing out in paperback in the spring
(Syracuse University Press; $19.95 ).
Gregg Oppenheimer, on a tour of
bookstores in seven states to greet
those who just can't get enough of
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, appears Oct.
26 at Borders in Birmingham and
Oct. 27 at Borders in Ann Arbor.
Prior to his visit, The Jewish News