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I Love Lucy: The Untold Story  By  cover art

I Love Lucy: The Untold Story

By: Jess Oppenheimer, Gregg Oppenheimer
Narrated by: Larry Dobkin, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, Richard Denning, Gale Gordon, Bea Benaderet, Bob LeMond, Frank Nelson
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Publisher's summary

Your exclusive backstage pass to the creation of I Love Lucy:

  • I Love Lucy: Behind the Scenes, by Jess Oppenheimer with Gregg Oppenheimer - Winner, Listen Up Awards Best Pop Culture Audiobook of the Year
  • Full-cast performance of Gregg Oppenheimer's play I Love Lucy: The Untold Story
  • 15-minute Bonus Track: never-before-released 1961 interview with Jess Oppenheimer about the creation of I Love Lucy

All royalties from this edition benefit the Motion Picture & Television Fund - caring for those in the entertainment community who are in need.

"A true genius. I owe so much to his creativity and friendship." (Lucille Ball)

Jess Oppenheimer, "the brains" behind I Love Lucy, gives us an insider's view of this groundbreaking show, generously interspersed with recordings of classic Lucy radio and TV comedy performances - including her famous "Vitameatavegamin" routine.

Oppenheimer weaves a wonderfully entertaining tale of the creation of this landmark series and its evolution from Lucy's hit radio sitcom, My Favorite Husband. Lucy aficionados will delight in his personal accounts of stars like Desi Arnaz, William Frawley, Vivian Vance, and of course, Lucille Ball.

Narrated by three-time I Love Lucy veteran Larry Dobkin, and featuring comedy performances by Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley, Vivian Vance, Gale Gordon, Bea Benaderet (Petticoat Junction, The Flintstones), Frank Nelson (The Jack Benny Program), and more!

Oppenheimer's reminiscences come to life in his son Gregg's new radio play, I Love Lucy: The Untold Story. Recorded on I Love Lucy's 60th anniversary (10/15/11), starring such talents as Dick Van Patten (Eight Is Enough), Phil Proctor (Firesign Theatre), Amy Pietz (Caroline in the City), Richard Herd (Seinfeld), and I Love Lucy veterans Janet Waldo ( "Peggy Dawson", the bobby-soxer with a crush on Ricky Ricardo) and Shirley Mitchell (Lucy Ricardo's girlfriend "Marion Strong").

©2012 Gregg Oppenheimer (P)2012 Gregg Oppenheimer

Critic reviews

  • Listen Up Awards, Best Pop Culture Audiobook of 1998
"A charming and interesting memoir of the creation of the famous I Love Lucy TV show…. Oppenheimer, the program's creator and producer, uses a number of radio and TV sound bites to supplement his story. Dobkin naturally and effortlessly reads this story of how Oppenheimer began writing for Lucy while she was still performing on radio and then switched to the new medium of television. His voice is always clear, never hurried, and quite pleasing." ( Audiofile)
"Fans of I Love Lucy will enjoy this fascinating look at the making of the series by its producer and head writer…. Plenty of amusing anecdotes about the actors and their antics at work. What is most impressive about this audio is Larry Dobkin’s narration. Listening to his gruff but affectionate tone, chuckling reminiscently at certain memories, one would never know it wasn’t Oppenheimer himself." ( Billboard)

What listeners say about I Love Lucy: The Untold Story

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A must for Lucy fans

I really loved Jess Oppenheimer's story of the beginnings and inside workings of the I Love Lucy Show. I could not put it down. There were 3 parts of this audio book. The story performed by the narrator who was very pleasant and easy to listen to, then Jess Openheimer's son did an old time radio play performance of the story (with some great old stars performing), then Jess Oppenheimer in his own voice telling the story - all in a little over 4 hours. Loved each version. CBS thought I Love Lucy was the show that no one would ever want to watch reruns of. Imagine.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great inside look at an iconic TV show

What did you love best about I Love Lucy: The Untold Story?

I had just listened to a biography of Lucille Ball so it was interesting to hear Oppenheimer's perspective on Lucille, Desi, and the TV show.

What did you like best about this story?

I love the TV show and still watch the reruns--I loved hearing about the inside scoop.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no--I just enjoyed it

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Very Informative & Entertaining

What made the experience of listening to I Love Lucy: The Untold Story the most enjoyable?

learning what went on behind the scenes and how the show/episodes were created.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lucy, obviously, but the narrator, Larry Dobkin, did an excellent job.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The entire book was very entertaining. It covered lots of history about the show that I had not previously known.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended for any I Love Lucy fan!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story, just wish there was more!

I loved listening to this however it left me wanting to hear more about want went on during the production of I Love Lucy.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Really enjoyable!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Definitely!

Any additional comments?

I love the back story - well told story by the man behind much of the magic.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A behind the scenes look at radio program

Would you try another book from Jess Oppenheimer and Gregg Oppenheimer and/or the narrators?

I am a Lucy lover through and through and it's actually hard for me to write anything disparaging, but this book was just so so. Lots of grandstanding, in my opinion. Narrators voice was irritating at best.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jess Oppenheimer and Gregg Oppenheimer ? Why or why not?

I'm open to listening to anything.

How could the performance have been better?

I guess I'm always up for more interesting, not widely known tidbits of information. I knew most of the stuff presented.

Did I Love Lucy: The Untold Story inspire you to do anything?

Yes, go to Ebay and find any fun Lucille Ball merchandise! :)

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A Must Have For I ❤️ Lucy Fans

I ❤️ LUCY:THE UNTOLD STORY is by the show”s Executive Producer Jess Oppenheimer and (I believe his son) Gregg Oppenheimer.

The audible book explains how Jess got involved, after writing for radio’s “The Baby Snooks Show” starring Fanny Brice, to then working with Lucille Ball on her radio show, “My Favorite Husband.”

MFH would be the precursor to ILL and the way Oppenheimer describes it, everything aligned with the casting, the writing team of Bob Carol Jr. and Madelyn Pugh, Desi Arnaz’s being a shrewd business man (which changed how sitcoms were filmed, preserved, and rerunning them) along with the wonderful comedic talent of Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley.

The book gives listeners the inspiration for many of the storylines and details about Arnaz’s marriage to Ball. It also talks about the bitter relationship between Frawley and Vance, and how Ball was terrible at each of the first table reads of the script saying that “anyone who witnessed those first table reads would’ve said ‘keep the other three but get rid of the red head’.” Of course, Ball would be on point by the time each episode was filmed before a live studio audience, so she made it all seem so effortless.

What’s really great about ILL:TUS is that there are audio clips of scenes both from MFH and ILL, which illustrate what was being described a few minutes earlier.

Fans of ILL will recognize some of this book as excerpts were provided in the special features of each season release of ILL on DVD, but here you get the whole book. It gives listeners insight into the behind-the-scenes stories of one of the greatest television sitcoms of all time and any fan of I ❤️ Lucy would enjoy it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hollywood history retold

Being a huge Lucy fan, I enjoyed this audio experience. However, the same stories were told two and three times practically word for word. A 2011 restaurant skit from Lucille's 1940s pre-I.L.L. radio show is included and lots of fun. Then we hear it performed on I.L.L.; there was no appreciable difference. The story of Desi wanting top billing was told three times: twice by the author and once in a 2011 60th anniversary radio play written by the author's son--incorporating all the main points Jess told earlier--practically in the same words. That said, the 2011 play was a satifying listen. Amy Pietz demonstrated just the right register and timbre to portray Lucille convincingly without doing a strict impersonation. This audiobook is a vehicle for Jess O. to give himself props but I can't be hard on him. His accomplishments are certainly significant and I enjoyed him describing his process and responsibilities--and correcting the record when need be. I recommend it but want folks to be aware of how it is edited to be repetitive. Also: it's for a good cause: in part, providing some netting for struggling actors.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

This should be free

This selection is 3.5 chapters and should not require a credit purchase. The content is good but don’t waste a credit to purchase it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Insight on How to Birth A Classic!!

Love hearing all the ups and downs and background of what it took to bring I Love Lucy to life.

Had no idea the fighting, bickering and passion involved to make millions laugh for decades.

Will definitely watch the shows in a different way knowing some of the stories, mess-ups that were kept, and what the stars were thinking, or their motivation as they came together and made this classic.

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