I Love Lucy: The Untold Story (18 page)

CBS EXEC.
So how did you solve the problem?

HUBBELL.
Lucille Ball and her husband have agreed to take over production of the show. We still get the same cut from each week’s broadcast, but now any cost overruns are
their
responsibility.

CBS EXEC.
(
Impressed.
) That’s brilliant, Hub. But why would they ever agree to that?

HUBBELL.
(
Puzzled.
) That’s the strange part. It was
their
idea. It seems that they want to
own
the
negatives
.

CBS EXEC.
(
Surprised.
) The negatives? What
good
are they after the show’s already been on the
network?

HUBBELL.
Hell if I know. I mean it’s not like anyone will ever pay
good money
to show old episodes of
I Love Lucy.

(
Applause.
)

MUSIC.
(
I Love Lucy Theme.
) (
Fade for...
)

ANNCR.
I Love Lucy: The Untold Story
was written by Gregg Oppenheimer, based on his father Jess Oppenheimer’s best-selling memoir,
Laughs, Luck...and Lucy.
(
Pause.
) Our cast featured Alan Oppenheimer as Jess Oppenheimer,
Phil Proctor
as Walter Winchell and Desi Arnaz,
Amy Pietz
as Lucille Ball,
Richard Herd
as Hubbell Robinson,
Ivan Cury
as Harry Ackerman,
Stuffy Singer
as Don Sharpe,
Dick Van Patten
as William S. Paley,
Tommy Cook
as Milton Biow,
Michael Weston
as Richard Denning,
Tom Hatten
as Hal Hudson,
Janet Waldo
as Lucy’s friend Betty,
Tony Lawrence
as Martin Leeds,
Connie Sawyer
as Hubbell Robinson’s secretary, Mary,
Lea Gould
as Jess Oppenheimer’s secretary, Merce,
Dann Cahn
as Ralph Levy, director of the “I Love Lucy” Pilot,
Shirley Mitchell
as the telephone operator, and yours truly,
Gregg Berger
, as Bob LeMond, Eliot Daniel, and the man in Hubbell Robinson’s office. (
Pause.
) Our Jell-O Jingle Singers were
Dora Peterson, Phil Proctor,
and
Melinda Peterson
. (
Pause.
) Today’s program was written, produced, and directed by
Gregg Oppenheimer
.