I Loved Lucy

My Friendship with Lucille Ball

By: Lee Tannen

Narrated by: Lee Tannen

Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Few people knew America's comic sweetheart Lucille Ball the way Lee Tannen did. Lee first met Lucy as a child but cemented their close and enduring friendship as an adult. During the last 10 years of Lucy's life - years mostly lived out of the spotlight and mainly around a backgammon table in New York; Beverly Hills; Snowmass, Colorado; and Palm Springs - Lee was fortunate enough to be sitting opposite Lucy.

For the first time, we get a glimpse of what it was like to be with Lucy, the way she truly was, and the way she chose to live. This is Lucy the way you've never seen her before; a warts-and-all look at arguably the most famous female entertainer of the 20th century!

©2001 Lee Tannen (P)2013 Lee Tannen

Lovely Lucy Moments

If you could sum up I Loved Lucy in three words, what would they be?

FabulousFunnyFantastic

What did you like best about this story?

Everything and more, all the behind the scenes details were wonderful.Details were perfection...

What about Lee Tannen’s performance did you like?

Wonderful job telling the stories

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last day of Lucy's life.

Any additional comments?

My mother saw Lucille Ball perform at Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina with a traveling troupe of actors in 1939. She said Lucy came out on stage with platinum blonde hair & all the girls just were amazed how beautiful she was! Mother told us she was really a showgirl and she put on a fantastic performance there.

HUGELY VALUABLE

The authors accent is sooooo thick it’s almost unbearable to think there are hours ahead of this voice. However as it goes on, you realize this is the voice of one of Lucy’s friends — a voice she would recognize and look forward to hearing. The chronicle of these lost years are invaluable and by the end of the book you wish the authors voice would go on and on and on.

*love the honesty about Gary Morton. As people in LA refer to him, the male Barbara Sinatra.

Lucy in your Living Room!!

Where does I Loved Lucy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

High on the List!! This is a fast listen because it is so enjoyable. You will feel like you know Lucy personally after this audible title. I have read all sorts of books and have old movies. I am a fan of "I LOVE LUCY" like so many others but this is brand new insight into who she was offscreen.

What was one of the most memorable moments of I Loved Lucy?

Seeing some of the vulnerability and loneliness that she faced in her later years was heartbreaking but there were great moments of JOY also. So much information was shared both positive and truthful---I won't say negative because it was just showing the REAL LUCY through the eyes of someone who adored her but realized she wasn't just that goofball on TV. She had weaknesses and imperfections like all of us.

Which character – as performed by Lee Tannen – was your favorite?

Lee did a great job on bringing forth all the characters that he described. He isn't using different voices to portray characters like in a novel but he describes LUCY's circle of friends. He will mimic some of LUCY's mannerisms or favorite sayings and you feel like you are right in the room with her.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The loss that Lee suffered when his close friend Lucy died.

Any additional comments?

It was such a wonderful gift to get this inside peek at the friendship that Lee and Lucy had for so many years. It changed the perception of who she was outside of her TV characters but still, I LOVE LUCY.

Amazing!!! Wish it was longer!!!

This was absolutely amazing to listen to. Laughed and Cried. Thank you Lee so very much for opening the door to your life with Lucy. This is one of my favorite "biographies" of Lucy I have ever heard and have read to listened to all I have been able to find.

I loved Lucy too!

I grew up watching Lucile Ball and I Love Lucy and she became my idol! Her comic abilities and her immense talent are an inspiration to me. This book showed a side of Lucy that not many people got to see. It makes her real. Thank you Lee for sharing your time with this amazing icon! Now if I can just stop crying. LOL ❤❤❤

I Think Lucy Would Have Loved It :)

What a story. Being an "I Love Lucy" fan for many, many years I (like so many other fans), always wondered if Lucy in real life was anything like Lucy Ricardo. The short answer is no. From Lee's book, I got to see the regular person Lucy, and so many things I would have never guessed about her. I really enjoyed the way Lee wrote/read the book. He didn't sugarcoat a thing about Lucy (from either how truly insecure she could be to how she drove him crazy at times), and I think he wrote this exactly the way she would have wanted. There were so many times I busted out laughing, but also lots of touching parts that had me in tears. As Lee quoted Desi Arnaz, "'I Love Lucy' was never just a title." This book is proof of that.

If you are a Lucy fan, you'll love this. Lee wrote/read it just as if he was sitting and talking to you. He really does love her, as if she were still alive.

I was only a toddler when Lucy died, so I only ever "knew" her as Lucy Ricardo. However, Lee's book shows that as wonderful as Lucy Ricardo was, she doesn't hold a candle to the real Lucille Ball.

I Loved This Book!!

Would you listen to I Loved Lucy again? Why?

Yes!! Lee Tannen is not only a wonderful and funny writer but a very skilled narrator!! It is his story and he brings it to life for his audiences in such a deeply funny and engaging manner. I could listen again and again!!

What did you like best about this story?

Backgammon!!

Which character – as performed by Lee Tannen – was your favorite?

Lee!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending. The whole relationship, really. So poignant and unique and real!!! A special relationship with one of the greatest and most complexly gifted stars of our lifetime!!!

Any additional comments?

Get it now!!!

Exceptional

This book truly gives the most insight into the woman that was Lucille ball. Amazing stories the honesty and humor as told by this author is one of the best. If you are a true Lucy fan this book is a must read

The Unseen Lucy

Knowing how major celebrities spent their time out of the spotlight has been of great interest to many of us for generations. What was Lucy REALLY like in the last decade of her life? If you want to know, this is the book for you. (Keyword: backgammon.) Lucy and Lee's friendship reminds me so, so much of that between Kate Hepburn and A. Scott Berg, also a Jewish gay man. These pairings with gentile (not necessarily gentle) female superstars is intriguing. I so wish Judy Garland had as close and platonic a friendship in her last decade! Alas, I've imagined being such a person. If it is a micro-genre, it's one that I find fascinating. I recommend this book for lovers of Lucy. And I think the one about Kate ("Kate Remembered") is even better. I'd hope anyone who had such personal access into a very famous celebrity's life would be tender in the story-telling. Lee doesn't portray her as two dimensional, far from it. But his title says it all: he loved Lucy.

Why We All Love Lucy

Reading I LOVED LUCY, especially by listening to it as read by the author Lee Tannen, was an immensely satisfying experience. In no particular order, firstly, the author really KNEW Lucille Ball, and in his authentic, New York accented voice, talks (not reads) about his first hand experience as a the best friend to Lucille Ball in the last ten years of her life. Secondly, this is a privileged bird’s eye view of the life of a real celebrity, a true star – very possibly the biggest television star of all time – and what it was really like to be with someone SO FAMOUS that she could never take a walk outside her Beverly Hills home. And, thirdly, this is also a story about their unlikely/likely friendship: Lee was a distant relation, and an avid ‘fan’ who later became her best friend and companion of choice, and what that friendship meant to the highly complex, immensely talented, and incredibly loyal Lucille Ball.

I LOVED LUCY recounts her last ten years. It vividly brings to life the fascinating story of how much America loved Lucy. Lucille Ball was showered with adoration from nearly every person that she came in contact with – a phenomenon even in our celebrity conscious times that was unprecedented, and, in today’s deconstructed times, now unmatchable. For many decades – long after her incredible comedic talent was showcased in a single 1950’s television series - Americans LOVED, LOVED Lucy. (And not only Americans – I remember reading a while back that the ‘sun never set on ‘I Love Lucy’ ‘ – that the original series is playing somewhere in the world, 24 hours a day. The world’s love affair with Lucy will most likely continue as long as the series keeps playing.)

This unique book brings to life what life as a real start is really like. It is riveting to hear how a star of such accomplishments had the same insecurities as we have, and what she really wore, and what she really thought. And, kudos to Lee for telling us so much unvarnished truth about her in a way which just adds onto, and never detracts, from our beloved memories of her.

Besides being an hilarious, and sometimes, poignant, account of her life, there is another equally intriguing story: the transformation of how the author, Lee Tannen, went from being a distant relation and ‘fan’ to becoming her best friend. Unusually witty and acerbic, and with an encyclopedic knowledge of all of Lucille Ball’s oeuvre, Lee endeared himself to Lucille Ball and he was able to play a unique role in her life. Imagine having a best friend who had memorized every episode you ever recorded, and could play back lines whenever life imitated art? Lee’s memory and wit must have added an extraordinarily gratifying dimension to Lucille Ball’s last ten years of life. Who would not want a companion who truly knew your career highlights, what you went through, was curious about what ‘really happened’ during that time, and who you could re-enjoy the best times of your life with? No one, not her family, not her husband, not her managers - only Lee. She had a true appreciator/foil/counterpoint in Lee, and he must have provided an unusually fulfilling relationship for her.

In this book, Desi Arnaz said of their eponymous series: ‘It was ALWAYS all about Lucy’. He, and Ethel and Fred were just the supporting characters to the star Lucy. Desi loved Lucy until the day he died. Lucy loved Desi also until the very end. This book makes that knowledge crystal clear and is every reader’s reward for reading this book.

Lee was lucky to have known Lucy, and Lucy was fortunate to have had Lee in her life when she did. Lee loved her - and this book reminds us of how much we all love her.