Lucy and Desi

By: Warren G. Harris

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

After eight years on the air, Desi Arnaz did not love Lucy any more. On screen, they were dynamite, a comedy pairing more successful than any Hollywood had ever produced. But when the cameras stopped rolling, they fought, screamed and threatened each other more each season. Finally, an argument in Desi's production office turned violent. Lucy hurled a cocktail glass past his head, and Desi demanded a divorce. He moved out that night. After nearly 20 years, America's favorite couple was finished.

When they first got married, no one in Hollywood thought it would last six months. Lucille Ball's acting career was on the skids, and Arnaz was just another Cuban bandleader. But together, their irresistible chemistry produced one of the greatest television empires of all time, and a love story as passionate as it was explosive.

©1991 Warren G. Harris (P)2016 Graymalkin Media, LLC

loved it!!!

As a huge I love Lucy fan , I learned a lot of both Lucille Ball's and Desi Arnaz lives that I would never imagine. I will always be a Lucille Ball fan 😘

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Have always loved Lucy

What made the experience of listening to Lucy and Desi the most enjoyable?

I have always been a huge fan of the show and they in someways remind me of my parents. So I love learning about there history there ups and downs and how they made life work for them selfs. I love learning about the show and the fact that back then work was work u didn't need to like one another but u needed to make it work.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lucy hands down

Which character – as performed by Jim Frangione – was your favorite?

Lucy and I loved learning more about Vivian

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

Oh ye many times I could feel there pain as well as there love

Any additional comments?

There is such a rich history with this iconic couple and I feel even after all these years we will never know the true depths of there connection what they truly met to one another.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

I Love Lucy!

I Love Lucy has been a part of my life since I was born. I loved this book and it's focus not only on Lucy and Desi as a couple but their lives apart from each other. Would definitely recommend!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Interesting behind the scenes of an iconic couple

This audio book seemed to go on and on with a lot of detail about both Lucy and Desi and others in their lives. Overall it was interesting, however a little boring at times. Knowing only about their time on I Love Lucy, this insight to their lives before, during, and after was quite interesting and surprising at times - especially all the philandering!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

I love Lucy and Desi too!

What did you love best about Lucy and Desi?

I own every episode of the original I Love Lucy show, along with its follow up specials. I've read several biographies of Lucille Ball. This one is my favorite because it gives a decent amount of attention to Desi Arnaz's story. The book is well written, nicely paced to hold a reader's interest, and contains info I hadn't found in the previous Lucy biographies of my collection. I listened to this book at every opportunity over the course of a few days. I regretted it when the book came to its ending. I wanted the story to go on and on.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sorry, Desi, but Lucy still comes out on top. She was fabulous. I've seen a few of the old Hollywood B movies in which Lucille Ball appeared. She was gorgeous, funny, smart and a good actress, too. I don't understand why her movie career didn't take off like a rocket back in the day. But if it had, it's likely we would never have enjoyed The Lucy Show, Desilu, Star Trek, The Untouchables and so many other TV classics. In the end, both Lucy and Desi achieved and contributed far more working in television than they would have if either had been more successful with their early show biz dreams.

Have you listened to any of Jim Frangione’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Can't say I've heard Mr. Frangione before, but he certainly was perfect for this Audible book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Love hurts, and yet endures.

Any additional comments?

Lucy, Rickie, Ethel and Fred were among my first babysitters. My harried parents would position my playpen in front of their 1952 model cabinet TV, so that the Ricardos and Mertzes could entertain me (and keep me quiet) as I watched I Love Lucy through the playpen's wooden slats. As I grew older, Lucy and company were always there for me through reruns. They lived in New York apartments nearly identical to those inhabited by my grandparents and great aunts, so even the sets and props were familiar and very real to me. But my parents and other relatives certainly did not have as much fun in their lives as did irrepressible Lucy, Rickie, Fred, and Ethel. I am eternally grateful to Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, and the fabulous writers of the I Love Lucy show. I am also grateful that Mr. Harris wrote this compassionate, respectful book about the Lucille/Desi story. Despite their flaws, those two shared a love that underscored their lives till the end. I am in awe of them.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

best book ever

hated to see this book end! this book was worth the money! Glad I got it!

we all love lucy

always loved lucy and got some good insight on her entire life. what a treasure

What a story. Drama and love.<br />

What's not to love? It's! Lucy. There's love and drama. Everything w would expect in a Hollywood romance.

They will live forever

This was a fantastic book. I grew up watching everything Lucille Ball did and to find out more about her life was so interesting. I think that even if you didn't watch her shows it is still a book well worth listening to.

"Lucy & Desi" - well narrated and informative

I've been a fan of Lucy and Desi since I was a little kid and watched reruns at home, one of the few programs my parents and my siblings and I could watch together and enjoy. Over the years I had heard of their troubles and knew of her success in TV, I had not known much about what happened with Desi. This book enlightens us all on his highs and lows, and both of their incredible life stories. A remarkable business partnership, and despite his cheating it seemed to me that both of them loved each other in their own way throughout their lives. His ability to see where the entertainment industry was headed and their willingness to try new technology and unwillingness to sacrifice quality of performance or production led to new production and filming methods that were industry-changing. Yet the book also delves into their personal stories and paints the complicated picture of their individual and married lives as well as shedding light on their family dynamics. Well worth it.

A Fascinating Couple...

As a child of the 60s I was aware of 'I Love Lucy' on the black-and-white TV, but never actually got the chance to watch it. This title describes the very long, hard slog that both Lucy and Desi faced as they tried to 'make it' in the cut-throat world of post-war Hollywood. Time and again Lucy thinks she is close to her dream only to be let down. A weaker person would've given up and gone back to the farm long ago, but Lucy and Desi were made of stronger stuff.

I also had no idea of the ground-breaking technical breakthroughs the couple were responsible for, being the pioneers of multi-camera live shoots which enabled them to film the live broadcast and then sell the show around the world, ensuring healthy repeat business. One of the first TV shows to do this, they then used the subsequent returns to buy their own studio and not be under the thumb of a studio boss.

A wonderful book about an extraordinary and driven couple. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful