Free Writing for I LOVE LUCY and Other Funny Stuff: An Interview with Bob Schiller (Past Times Comedy Writing Series) by Jordan Young

Writing I Love Lucy and Other Funny Stuff
    An Interview with Bob Schiller
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Past Times
    Comedy Writing Series, Vol. 1
     
     
    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
     
     
    Copyright © 2013 by Jordan R. Young
     
    Cover: Lucille Ball with Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll Jr. (CBS); Lucy and Desi Arnaz as seen on a poster for The Long, Long Trailer (MGM).
     
     
     
     

     

     
    Contents
     
    Preface
    The Show
    The Writers
     
    Writing I Love Lucy
              Hal Kanter
              Bob Weiskopf
              Bob Schiller
     
    Other Funny Stuff
              Bob Schiller
     
    Notes
    Recommended Reading
    Bibliography
    About the Author
    New from the Author / Connect with the Author
    Writing for Groucho Marx and Fred Allen
    Directing Laurel and Hardy
     
    Preface
     
    Remember when Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz swiped John Wayne’s footprints from the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre? More than likely. It’s one of the funniest moments in the history of television, indelibly etched into the pop culture of the 20 th century.
     
    Bob Schiller had his handprints on that show. In fact, it was the first episode he and his longtime partner, Bob Weiskopf—collectively known as The Two Bobs—wrote for I Love Lucy . “Come on down to the set and watch Lucy perform your material,” invited Jess Oppenheimer, the show’s creator. “She’ll make you think you’re writers.”
     
    Five individuals wrote all six seasons of the landmark TV sitcom, a feat that seems virtually impossible today when platoons of scribes and gagsters people the writing rooms of network shows. Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll Jr., imported by Lucille Ball from her radio program, formed the nucleus of the staff with Oppenheimer.
     
    Weiskopf and Schiller joined the trio for the two final seasons of the sitcom. Though he and his partner co-wrote many of  “the so-called classics,” including the much celebrated grape-stomping episode, “I pay homage to Jess, Madelyn and Bob,” observed Schiller. “They are really responsible for the success of the show. I’m not… They did a remarkable job.”
     
    The interviews presented here are excerpted from my 1998 book, The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age, which features a dozen writers discussing their work in the prehistoric days of broadcasting—the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s—a decidedly different era of popular culture that has been largely forgotten.
     
    Special thanks to Randy Skretvedt, my collaborator on a forthcoming oral history of radio, for joining me on the Hal Kanter interview; John and Larry Gassman, the twin encyclopedias of old-time radio, upon whose computerized brains I’ve often relied; and Kathy O’Connell, my eagle-eyed editor on The Laugh Crafters , for advice, corrections and other favors. Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to the interviewees, without whose enthusiastic cooperation there would have been no book.
     
    Thanks are due also to Jeff Abraham, Norman Corwin, John Dunning, Leonard Maltin, Gregg Oppenheimer, Sabrina Schiller, Pam Young; ABC; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library; BMG Music; CBS Entertainment; Dell Publishing; Dudley Television Corp.; Friends of Old-Time Radio; The Los Angeles Times; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Miller Music Corporation; NBC; New York Public Library at Lincoln Center; Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters; SPERDVAC (Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy); Writer’s Guild of America, West.
     
    Jordan R. Young
    April 2013
     
     

     
     
    THE SHOW
     
    Lucille Ball was the star of a popular radio show when she decided to give television a try. My Favorite Husband , which