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. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY DOMINICK D VIA WIKIPEDIA

Aaron 
Sorkin

