Lucy & the Gifted Child

On a huge Hollywood sound stage one night last week, after the day's work was done, TV's most popular comedienne stood before a twelve-layer cake and read the words on the icing: "The first 100 shows are the hardest." But for Lucille Ball and Husband Desi Arnaz, the first 100 shows have also been rewarding: approximately 50 million people--one out of every three Americans--tune in to I Love Lucy every Monday night (CBS, 9 p.m.). No other regular TV show has ever claimed such an audience.

Most of Lucy's fans think it is only the wacky, wide-eyed clowning of Lucy herself that keeps them tuning in. week after zany week. Lucille herself knows better.

Last week, eying her towering cake, she paid homage to the three people most responsible, besides herself and Husband Desi, for keeping the show on top of the heap. Said shrewd Comedienne Ball: "I love them dearly, I appreciate them daily, I praise them hourly, and I thank God for them every night." Everyone in the studio, from stagehand to sponsor's representative, knew that Lucy was talking about Chief Writer and Producer Jess Oppenheimer and Writers Bob Carroll Jr.

and Madelyn Pugh.

Bossman. The show's heaviest burdens fall on Oppenheimer, whom Lucy calls "Bossman." A onetime "gifted child" whose career has been closely watched by psychologists ever since he was in the second grade, Oppenheimer, 41, has one of the toughest jobs in television. As producer of Lucy, he must keep track of 13 separate Lucy shows at all times. Last week, for instance, he discussed the show to be shot nine weeks from now, edited the finished script for the show eight weeks away. The same day, he had to check on costumes and casts for episodes three and four weeks in the future, while taking care of production details for last week's 100th show (which will be telecast Oct. 4). After that was filmed, he had to supervise the cutting, editing and dubbing of the shows shot two, three and four weeks ago.

As chief writer, Oppenheimer had a problem last week. He told Carroll and Pugh: "We've got to do something new. When we started out, Desi is in show business and Lucy tries to get into the act. Later, we did more about the husband-and-wife angle, and when that got heavy we were lucky and Lucy had her baby. Now we've got to think of something else. Let's take them from New York to Hollywood. Desi could get a studio offer."

Consistency & Constancy. Carroll put in: "Let Desi take a screen test. That would give us a couple of funny scenes with Lucy." Pretty, demure Madelyn Pugh, onetime radio writer, added: "Suppose Hollywood was shooting Don Juan and they thought Desi would be perfect for the part. This opens up all kinds of scenes. Lucy trying to play femmes fatales, Lucy getting jealous of the women Desi must make love to in the show ..."

That afternoon Oppenheimer told the others to go ahead alone, then turned to the finished script based on the previous week's conference that they had handed him that morning. Says Oppenheimer: "Sometimes I don't touch a word of their script; other times I change a great deal. I may be wrong when I change it, but I've got to do what I think is right. Afterwards, I dictate the entire script so I can give it the consistency and constancy that every show needs. Rightly or wrongly, the show sounds the same each time because it funnels through me. I know the mood and feel of our other shows; I can bring it all into line, so that nothing sounds too different or out of character. That's one of the things that makes the show stay on top."

Believable Premise. "But the best reason Lucy clicks, aside from the fact that Lucille is such a great girl, is that our show is tailored to get the greatest identification. We never start off from an unbelievable premise. If the audience can accept the beginning of our show, and know that's real, like a wife being in debt or a husband trying to sneak out to a fight, then they will go along no matter how extreme the show gets."

Lucille and Desi, who are practically the last people in the company to read a script, go along too. Occasionally they make minor suggestions, but they have never turned down a script. Says Lucy of her writers: "We just trust them completely and always."

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