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Laughing with Lucy: My Life with America's Leading Lady of Comedy

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While the name Madelyn Pugh Davis might not be super familiar, almost everyone is familiar with her work. As one of the first women writing in TV, she co-wrote nearly every episode of the classic sit-com "I Love Lucy." This fascinating memoir is a behind the scenes look at her life and work.

Madelyn started out wanting to be a foreign correspondent. But, since this was the 30's, women didn't get those kinds of jobs, and she had to settle for anything she could get. Moving to California, she started working at CBS, first in news, then in entertainment when she started working on a weekly radio comedy program called "My Favorite Husband" starring a comedian named Lucille Ball. It was also during this time that she hooked up with Bob Carroll, Jr., her long time writing partner.

The book spends lots of time talking about "I Love Lucy," starting with the birth of the show. There are many familiar stories here, the network's reluctance to make a show about an interracial couple, Desi's desire to film the show in front of a live audience, the making of the pilot, Lucy's pregnancy in season two, etc. Madelyn also debunks a few myths that have sprung up over the years, such as Vivian Vance's weight being in her contract and Lucy's fake nose catching fire in a season four episode.

The book does talk about other things. Being a memoir, we also get some talk about Madelyn's life. She doesn't spend too long at it, but it continues to entertain. It also gives an interesting view of Los Angeles in the 1940's. It's certainly changed over the years.

Madelyn also talks about her post "I Love Lucy" work, including all of Lucy's other TV shows and the classic "Alice." These were just as fascinating to me, even though I have never seen them, and make me very interested fixing that.

There are times the book begins to feel like an episode guide for whatever series she's currently discussing, but it never lasts too long. She will start telling a story about something that happened behind the scenes at that time. These include some of the extra things she had to do as the only female staff member of the shows such as watching for any wardrobe malfunctions Lucy might have performing the stunts or dealing with the sometimes temperamental star.

The one thing you won't find here is dishing on the behind the scenes rumors. As Madelyn states in the first chapter, it's poor form to do that when someone can't defend themselves. While she does discuss character flaws that Lucy and Desi had, she doesn't dwell on them. Instead, a very complimentary view of the two comes to the forefront. She praises them equally for the success of the show. The picture she paints shows Desi willing to pay for anything they dreamed up and Lucy willing to do it. If it brought laughs, it would happen.

The book feels like a conversation with a good friend over a cup of coffee. This makes it an easy, fun read. I actually read it in two days, staying up way too late at night to read just a little more.

This book provides a fascinating look at life behind the scenes of a just emerging medium as well as a classic show. Fans of early Hollywood history or "I Love Lucy" will eat it up.

This book is just as the title says: Madelyn Pugh Davis's relationship with Lucille Ball as part of the writing team for several of Lucy's shows. It was easy and fun to read; sometimes reiterating stories I had heard previously, but most often not. Madelyn did a good job of imparting fresh stories without dishing any dirt. A good read, but the book is no doubt for people who really love Lucy - a reader with just a casual interest may get bored.

Madelyn Pugh Davis tells us upfront that this is no tell-all tome...that to dish on longterm employers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz would be unfair since they are dead and cannot defend themselves.
She also adds that as the writers of "I Love Lucy," she and her partner Bob Carroll Jr. were in the dark much of the time about personal scandal and gossip.
This is the crux of her book. Desi Arnaz called her the 'Girl Writer' when he wasn't mangling her given name by calling her 'Mallen.' He called Pugh and Carroll 'the kids' or as he pronounced it, 'the kits.'
Pugh's stories of her own beginnings in the TV and radio writing trades would be absorbing enough - but chuck Lucy, Desi and company in the mix and you have yourself a page turner.
Pugh writes with warmth, enthuiasm and energy (qualities by the way in which she admired Arnaz).
Straight out of college, she was turned down for a job as a newsletter writer for a meat-packing company. As she wittily points out, the meat-packing company smelled bad and somebody with the last name of Pugh shouldn't be working in a place like that.
Her adventures up to and including all the incarnations of "Lucy" are absorbing. She dishes in an amusing, professional and tasteful way about hard-headed Lucy and working with gues stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - and that famous 69 carat diamond ring.
As an ardent Lucy fan,I loved hearing about how Pugh and Bob Carroll jr. drove up to northern Calfornia to meet the North famly whose marrriage and staggering 20 children led to the screenplay for the Ball-Fonda classic, "Yours Mine And Ours." (A Desi Arnaz idea).
There are tons of nuggets here - both professional and private. When Pugh married her college sweetie, Dr. Richard Davis, she moved herself and her small son to his Frank Lloyd Wright house in Indiana. She hated the house both because its construction design lent itself to dark bathrooms and a miniscule kitchen, but also because strangers dropped by unanounced to get a look at it.
The chipmunk watching her each morning is hysterical. Movie version, anyone?
The author says that for her, it is gratifying when fans tell her they watch "I Love Lucy" when they are feeling blue and it gives them a lift. I will keep "Laughing With Lucy" handy so that I may dip into it on my 'off days' as a reminder that even the original Girl Writer had her share of ups and downs.

Having read tons of other books on everything tied to Lucy, I was especially happy to come across this memoir of what I consider to be one of television's best writers. Ms. Davis writes succinctly but thoroughly and entertainingly about many of her memories associated with what many people consider to be television's all-time best sit-com. It is a great, fun read for anyone interested in "I Love Lucy."

How many comedy writers have surrived so long with one performer? The author started with Lucille Ball on the radio series My Favorite Husband. She and her partner Bob Carroll Jr. wrote for the full 6 year run of I Love Lucy. (Jess Oppenheimer, who created the series, left after the 5th season. By the way, this book makes a great companion to his book.) They also worked on the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, and Here's Lucy. In between, they wrote the story for her feature film, "Yours, Mine, and Ours," plus various specials. Sadly, the final series, Life With Lucy, is best forgotten. The author does a good job of dealing with various stories regarding I Love Lucy and its main star. You won't read about the problems that broke up the Ball-Arnaz marriage here. Ditto for the strife between Vivian Vance and William Frawley. There's also no mention of the scare regarding Lucy's onetime registration with the Communist party. Ms. Davis may have wished to protect the now deceased stars. Or she wasn't directly involved in such matters. This book provides a wonderful behind-the scenes look at Lucy's various series. Ms. Davis tried out many of the stunts beforehand. Would a woman be capable of them? While her partner is listed as a co-writer, this is essentially her story. We learn about the struggles she had as a woman comedy writer. There's material on her personal life too. The author writes with great affection for both Lucy and Desi. She notes that his contributions were often overlooked. Ms. Davis and Mr. Carroll later became producers on Alice. I caught one goof in the book. Earl Hamner did create The Waltons. But he wasn't involved in Little House On The Prairie. Still, this is a very good read. Please check it out.

Lucy liked to "xaggerate," and she often went on TV talk shows and amplified her own role in the filming of her classic TV sitcom. Madelyn Pugh was there and she now gently corrects her former boss. In the grape-stamping episode, she writes, it's NOT true that the other actress in the grape vat didn't speak English, nor was it true that the fight wasn't in the script and the other temperamental wine woman knocked her down and tried to drown her. But Lucy liked a colorful story, as we all do.

Fascinating tales abound in this book, such as hearing about the notebooks in which Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll would jot down all their ideas, including some which never came to fruition. Such as the episode of I LOVE LUCY in which an old boyfriend of Lucy's would come to pay a call, played by Frank Sinatra. And how about the "almost filmed" episode of the LUCY-DESI hour in which Lucy was to try out for a big break, the lead in a Broadway musical WILDCAT? Lucy was supposedly going to try to browbeat bob Hope into backing her and Leonard Bernstein into giving her singing lessons. Her rival? None other than Vivian Vance, who was to be given the consolation prize, a featured part in a revival of COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA (probably as Sheba). Alas, it didn't happen.

And there are some great backstage stories, unprintable here, concerning gay icons Tallulah Bankhead and Gypsy Rose Lee. I didn't know that Madelyn Pugh, the writing genius of I LOVE LUCY, was married to Quinn Martin, the innovative "Act IV" producer of THE FUGITIVE and BARNABY JONES? Too bad they divorced so quickly, but the combination of so much talent in one marriage must have made for a combustible union--she, the greatest single TV writer of all time, and he, the man who practically invented the "drama" series. They had a charming son, Michael, about whom Madelyn tells several stories, the kind that if you were her boy you'd be wishing she'd shut up.

She doesn't seem to like Lucy very much, but she keeps mum about specifics and praises her for her courage and comic aplomb.

The only problem with the book is that it's pretty long and not all of it is all that interesting. But, if you know someone who loves the program I LOVE LUCY, or someone with a soft spot for the 13 orphan episodes of Lucy's final disastrous series LIFE WITH LUCY, you'll get this one for him or her. After all, this is the woman who came up with the term, "vitameatavegemin girl."

Madelyn Davis Martin wrote for Lucy on radio and television. She and her writing partner Bob Carrol, Jr. put more words in Lucy's mouth than anyone else.
This book is a must for Lucy fans!
One interesting fact... everything stunt we saw Lucy do on I Love Lucy, this lady had to try first. You did not hand Lucille Ball a script with stunts in it unless you had tried them first to make sure they could be done... and this lady did.

It's always great to read about the behind the scenes of the I Love Lucy show...I knew most of what I read already, but REALLY enjoyed the photos from the author's collection.

A good biography of one of the brains behind the Lucy factory. Knowing the limitations and talents of Lucy helped make the Lucy icon what it is today. Giving Desi credit where it is long overdue, and busting a few myths that Lucy herself liked to perpetuate, this is a good read of behind the scenes and one of, if not the first, female comedy writers.
Her trials as one of the first female writers doesn't seem to stop her excellent comedic writing abilities and reminds all of us how hard it was for those first female TV writers. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Lucy was so funny - because she had Ms. Pugh there to bring the male writers up (not down) to reality.

I was in my 20's when Lucy and Desi first aired. It is simply
the best comedy show ever and that includes the writing. I always
wondered just who these superb writers were. Now I have found out
due to this excellent book. The show was so very funny, you do
wonder what people wrote the lines but then you also know that
they had to have Lucy. Her timing was better than I ever seen in
any actor and actress. Thank you, Madelyn, it was indeed a joy
to read your rememberances.