50 | DECEMBER 30 • 2021

I DON’T LOVE AARON
SORKIN; ‘HOME GIRL’
HELMS HORROR SERIES;
OSCAR BUZZ
In 1951, I Love Lucy was the
highest-rated show on TV.
It co-starred Lucille Ball and
her real-life husband, Desi
Arnaz, as her TV husband.
On Dec. 22, Amazon Prime
began streaming a biopic
about the couple, titled
Being the Ricardos (the
couple’s characters’ last
name). It was written and
directed by Aaron Sorkin,
60.
The film “crammed”
three major crises the
real Lucy and Desi faced
into one dramatic week
in 1951 (Desi’s infidelity;
allegations that Lucy was a
Communist; and how they
would handle Lucy’s real-
life pregnancy on TV.) The
latter two crises actually
happened over three years,
and Desi’s infidelity only
ended when the couple
split in 1960.
Yes, this time frame
takes liberties. But it ain’t
nothing compared with the
way Sorkin depicts Jess
Oppenheimer (1913-88),
the only real-life Jewish
character who is a big
character in the film. You
would think, from the film,
that Oppenheimer was
“only” the producer of
I Love Lucy. You would
never know that he was a
top comedy writer before
he (1948) was hired by a
radio show starring Lucille
Ball. Oppenheimer’s funny
scripts and character
development turned the
show into a hit. That radio
show led CBS to offer Ball
a TV show.

Again, you’d never
know, from the film, that
Oppenheimer created the
premise of I Love Lucy
(band leader married to a
funny housewife) and he
gave the show its name.
Oppenheimer never says
anything funny in the film,
so you never really “get-it”
that he was not “just” the
show’s head producer —
he was the show’s head
comedy writer, and he
co-wrote all the scripts for
years (with Bob Carroll Jr.
and Madelyn Pugh. These
two writers are in the film,
but they never say anything
funny either).
Years ago, I talked to
Oppenheimer’s son, Gregg,
now 70, after reading
a detailed and funny
autobiography started by
Jess and finished, after his
death, by Gregg. The father
Gregg loved and admired
was not the dour Jess
Oppenheimer that Sorkin
created to fit his dramatic
purposes.
Also made up is
Ball’s dislike of Judy
Holliday (1921-65) based,
supposedly, on jealously.
There’s a flashback scene
in which Ball says that

Holliday can play only one
role (a dumb blonde). Ball
says this as she is being
fired (1942) by the RKO
movie studio. However,
Holliday’s first dumb blonde
roles were in two back-
to-back hit movies made
much later (Adam’s Rib,
1949, and Born Yesterday.
The latter earned Holliday
the 1950 Best Actress
Oscar).
Holliday and Ball
were probably secretly
sympathetic toward one
other. Ball saved her career
by playing a “ditz.” She
lied about why she briefly
joined the Communist party
— said it was a clerical
accident. (Ball knew what
she was doing. See the
film. It’s accurate about why
Ball really joined.).
Holliday, who had strong
leftist ties, played a “ditzy
dumb blonde” in front of
Congress (1951) and they
“cleared” her. She wasn’t
blacklisted. Holliday’s
tested IQ was genius level
— 172.
The Ricardos cast
includes Linda Lavin,
84, as the “older”
Madelyn Pugh and John
Rubenstein, 75, the son
of the great pianist Arthur
Rubenstein, as the older
Oppenheimer.

CATCHING UP
I just caught up with the
(still-streaming) Amazon
Prime series I Know What
You Did Last Summer. Its
first, eight-episode series
began on Oct. 15 and
concluded on Nov. 12. Of
course, the series is based
on the horror movie series
of the same name. Reviews

are mixed.
One of the co-stars is
Ezekiel Goodman, 25.
His mother, Sara Nemeth
Goodman, 54, is the series’
head producer and she
wrote three of the show’s
episodes. Sara grew up
in the Detroit area. She
had her bat mitzvah at
Congregation Beth Ahm in
West Bloomfield.
More catch-up: In
October, a Western called
Old Henry opened in
about 30 theaters. It got
good reviews and it really
took off as a video-on-
demand offering. There is
real Oscar buzz about the
performance of the film’s
star, veteran character
actor Tim Blake Nelson,
57. The National Board of
Review just named Old
Henry one of the top 10
indie films of 2021.
Earlier this year, Nelson
talked about the 20th
anniversary of the release
of The Grey Zone, a
Holocaust film that he
wrote, directed and acted
in. Many have called it the
most accurate Holocaust
drama ever made.
Nelson grew up in
Oklahoma, the son of
Jewish parents. His
mother’s parents settled
in Tulsa after fleeing
Nazi Germany. Nelson’s
maternal grandfather went
to work for an oil-drilling
company founded by a
relative. Nelson’s uncle,
George Kaiser, now 79,
took over the company in
1969 and made it super-
successful. Kaiser, a multi-
billionaire, is Oklahoma’s
biggest giver to general
and Jewish charities.

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NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY DOMINICK D VIA WIKIPEDIA

Aaron
Sorkin