Lucy

Didn't Desi really run things?

Australopithecine Studios was looking for someone taller and who was less of a drunk.

“Mission: Impossible”

I once saw Lucie Arnaz speak. She felt her father didn't get the credit he deserved. Lucy focused mostly on her own acting while Desi made Desilu and empire.

Gary Marshall convinced us to look over it.

Desi ran things until 1962, then it was Ball only until she sold it in 1967. However, Lucy had always been involved artistically and is known to have personally approved shows such as The Untouchables. Neither she nor Desi get enough credit for being the first woman and the first Latino, respectively to run a major studio, which they also founded. You would think, especially in today’s climate, it would get a lot more attention. Irna Phillips, the Mother of the Soap Opera, is another who should get a lot more attention for blazing a trail in a male dominated business.

To be honest, Lucy as "Studio Chief" has been over stated in recent years.

Desi was the big cheese at Desilu until the divorce and he left the company and she reluctantly had to take on executive duties she wasn't thrilled to be doing. She loved performing but had little love for running the big picture.

Most biographies discuss this but it's become very popular to reframe her as this big, bold, feminist icon fighting her way to the top of corporate Hollywood and running Desilu with an iron fist and impeccable taste in picking hits when she actually mostly hated doing it and was relieved to sell it so she could focus on acting.

It was originally called, “Mission Possible,” but Lucy changed it “Mission Impossible” and the rest is history.

[quote]Mission Possible

Oh, good grief!

R7 has it right.

OP, because it was the fans who loved Lucy, not the people in the industry.

R7 True, She didn't overly enjoy her time at the top, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she was still at the top and broke a glass ceiling. Also, Star Trek & Mission Impossible proves that it really was her making the decisions and that she wasn't just a figurehead which makes it more compelling. The board of directors thought that at least one of the shows should be dropped for financial reasons, but she overrode them and the rest is history.

How rich was Lucy? Google says 60 million which I can't tell if it's true or no.

She sold Desilu for $17 million($132 Million in today's money). I'd imagine that between that and her various other work and investments $60 million would be possible.

[quote]She sold Desilu for $17 million($132 Million in today's money).

Did that include the real estate where the studios were located (the former RKO lots)? The real estate alone would be worth 10 times that today. After they bought the RKO properties, Desilu had more sound stages than both MGM and Fox.

R15 Yeah I think it was for everything. I read someplace that one reason she chose Gulf-Western was because they were committed to production, she didn't want to just sell it to someone who would tear it down and develop it, which other studios were already doing. One thing she seemed aware of was that a studio provided many people with jobs and so she wanted to sell to someone that would keep people employed. She probably could have gotten even more for the real estate, even then, if she just wanted the money. Fox had already proven that with the Century City development in 63.

Lucille Ball's reaction to this thread:

One of her provisions in selling the studio was that no one was to be out of a job.

It's common now to trash her and pretend she turned into some bitchy, ballbusting, alcoholic hag after I Love Lucy. The truth is that she had a monumental heart of gold that she had to keep hidden because she was a woman venturing into unseen territory. She was also a woman deeply hurt by the actions of her ex husband. She HAD to get tough.

Desi said it best when he stated their divorce boiled her hatred.

Oh, my sides!

I love Lucy (who doesn't?) but people who want to make her into some sort of Holy Saint crack me up.

Lucy wasn't a particularly nice person to work with...she was bossy and insisted everyone perform in HER style which after I Love Lucy ended became a rather forced braying style of yelling all your lines and playing everything VERY broadly. In one of her bios there's an interesting section with a young William Windom guesting on The Lucy Show in the mid 60s and they're doing the table read and Windom is underplaying, figuring out the character etc and Lucy isn't having it. She's BRAYING out her lines full throat in a larger than life full performance style even though they're in a rehearsal room at DesiLu and she insists Windom ape her style (which the regular actors are also doing). And, Windom tries but...he's miserable. I don't remember if he quit or Lucy fired him but he didn't do the episode.

You could also ask the three kids who appeared in the first 3 seasons of The Lucy Show how wonderful she was...she axed the lot of them when she changed the format.

She was a talented lady but she was also a battle axe. And, really, except for I Love Lucy, where she had Desi calling all the shots and a strong production team, all her shows after ILL where she had more power, were horrible. They consisted of redoing old bits from I Love Lucy but everything was louder and courser. And, Lucy looking ridiculous because she was in her 50s and 60s trying to pretend she was 35.