Fifty-five years ago, a sitcom called I Love Lucy transformed the television landscape and made its leading lady, Lucille Ball, a superstar. No one could have known that Ball, formerly a showgirl, B-movie queen, and radio actress, would become one of the world’s most beloved performers, and take her place in a rare pantheon reserved for the likes of Elvis, Marilyn, and Chaplin. This book, by acclaimed Lucy author Michael Karol—Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia, The Lucille Ball Quiz Book, Lucy in Print—examines Ball’s impact and dissects what it was, and is, that makes Lucy not only an icon of laughter, but a powerful tonic in a troubled world.
Michael Karol is an award-winning New York-based entertainment journalist and author. His books include Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia; The ABC Movie of the Week Companion; The Lucy Book of Lists: Celebrating Lucille Ball's Centennial and the 60th Anniversary of I Love Lucy; Sitcom Queens: Divas of the Small Screen; The TV Tidbits Classic Television Book of Lists; and KISS KILL: A Vampire's Tale. He has interviewed a long and eclectic list of performers, producers, writers and "experts" over the years, everyone from soap diva Susan Lucci to blues legend Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, songbird Phyllis Hyman and Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section at the NIH; actors Eva La Rue, Kaye Ballard, Cameron Mathison, Debbi Morgan, Denise Nickerson, John Noble, Jane Connell, Gale Storm, Doris Singleton, Kathryn Joosten, Lindsay Hartley, and David Hedison, among many others; and behind-the-scenes movers and shakers like Wonderfalls creator Bryan Fuller and House, M.D.'s creator and executive producer, David Shore; I Love Lucy's film editor, Dann Cahn; and director William Asher, who helmed I Love Lucy and Bewitched, among other classics.
Michael has been quoted and referenced in magazines ranging from The Star to Rue Morgue, and in such books as 2003's Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball; 2004's Mixed Nuts: America's Love Affair with Comedy Teams From Burns & Allen to Belushi And Aykroyd; and 2008's How to Be Like Women of Power: Wisdom and Advice to Create Your Own Destiny. He has written for and been interviewed on the Web by sites like Theofantastique.com (http://www.theofantastique.com/2010/02/03/michael-karol-the-abc-movie-of-the-week/) and The Terror Trap (www.terrortrap.com). His own website can be found at www.Sitcomboy.com. Michael keeps a bottle of Vitameatavegamin by his computer for health and inspiration.
