Since I was a boy I was fascinated with anything that had to do with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Their iconic show "I Love Lucy" has been a constant in an ever changing life. Every time someone writes a book or puts out a movie about them or the show, I get hyper critical as these are "my" people and I want it to be right.
Lucie Arnaz did it right in her 1993 Documentary "Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie." It had many gems including those beautiful color silent family movies of the couple and their family. It's been many years since that documentary was made. What else needed to be told?
I was not a fan of Amazon's movie "Being the Ricardos." It took too many liberties in telling the story. My review of that film would be a Ricky Ricardo "eye yay yay yay yay." And yes, since I have devoured every book, newspaper, magazine article and TV interview since the 1970s and watched their work incessantly, any little discrepancy irks me.
That being told, the newest entry in the Lucy/Desi story is the Amy Poehler production called simply "Lucy and Desi". The simple title is almost as iconic as Desi's book which he called "A Book"... because he said that is what it was!
There's an old big band song that has the lyrics "it seems to me I've heard that song before...." and that's the way I felt about much of Poehler's "Lucy and Desi." Many of the audio excerpts, pictures and interviews were very familiar. She had access to a lot of material however that was "new", provided by Lucie Arnaz. That made all the difference. That audio of Lucy and Desi telling their stories was woven together in a delightful way. She uses clips of "I Love Lucy" very cleverly to move the story of the real life couple along. It's all the same story I've heard so many times but this time it is fresh once again. So I give it a thumbs up/must watch for old Lucy fans like me or people who say "Lucy Desi who?" In my mind, I fancy myself as an expert in the area of Lucy and Desi and could have easily put together this documentary. Even though Poehler didn't ask me for any advice (tongue planted firmly in cheek as I write this....) she did great. What a "wundaful" job she did with "my" people's story.
I found it amusing that on "I Love Lucy" there were three writers for the first few years and a staff of experts you can see on the show credits that run for a few seconds to list them all. This documentary production had a zillion producers/directors/advisors and even make-up people. My my, have times changed!
I forgive Amy for using the syndicated opening of "I Love Lucy" in telling the story but of course the heart on satin is so iconic that that opening just HAD to be featured. I guess the folks in the documentary COULD have been watching a rerun!
I hope newer generations will continue to discover "I Love Lucy." Despite all the Amazon hoopla, Sirius/XM "Let's Talk with Lucy" show and interest in their lives, I am amazed at bloggers and commentaries of younger people who have never even seen an "I Love Lucy" episode. It just isn't on all over the TV as it was when I was young.
For anyone out there who wants a few gems from my archives, here are a few links.
My blog where I have digitalized some of my Lucy/Desi archives (I have so much more and really need to start this up again...but time slips away...) Lucy Archives
An audio interview from Desi recorded off of the TV onto my little cassette player as he visited Detroit for his book promotion (I am so proud that the TCM podcast used my Lou Gordon Show audio....even though I wasn't mentioned....) Desi Arnaz in Detroit
And here's a show I just uploaded. It's Desi's radio show Your Tropical Trip
Life has been busy. I am uploading a lot of my old radio airchecks of big band and nostalgia music of the 1940s and 50s, realizing that even though they are from the 1980s, they are so old now they are a piece of history. Preserving this material for future generations is a goal.
Oh, and if someone is doing yet another Lucy/Desi project, I'm available! ;)
