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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)

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We all love Lucy!

Wonderful first-hand account of the pioneer days of TV, before it became such a complex high-stakes industry . . . and way before it self-shattered into a "Reality" factory that majored in artifice and contrivance and stage-managed spontaneity. No, these were the wonderful days when talent was ENOUGH!! Magnificent story, well told and presented.

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