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17th out of 34 books
—
3 voters
Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball
For more than fifty years Lucille Ball has been television's most recognizable and beloved face. As Lucy Ricardo she was the ultimate screwball housewife, getting herself into and out of scrapes with unmatched comic finesse. Indeed, she was so funny, and so central to the cultural landscape, that we often overlook Ball's role in shaping that turf: as producer of her own sh...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
August 19th 2003
by Knopf
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Quite late did I come to appreciate Lucille Ball. By chance on a recent road trip and overnight stay in Jamestown, New York I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jamestown was her hometown and where her remains were interred. This is Jamestown, New York not the first English Settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. My wife and I then took the time to visit two homes where she grew up and the modest marker at the family burial plot.
More than 60 years after the beginning of "I Love Lucy" her prog...more
More than 60 years after the beginning of "I Love Lucy" her prog...more
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Lucille Ball is my mom’s idol. She loves that woman. She has every biography, every cookbook and every salt and pepper shaker you can imagine emblazoned with a red heart and two stick figures happily smooching. I Love Lucy is the most famous comedy of all time. I never watched television growing up – modern tv, that is – so I have a deep appreciation for past entertainment that not a lot of people my age do. Therefore, it was only a matter of time until the bug of curiosity bit me and I picked u...more
As currently on my desire of reading biographies, I jumped back into the entertainment industry. The selection involved seeing the book and thinking, “I bet that would be an interesting read”. A few tid bits I found funny/interesting;
- Desi’s back ground in Cuba was more privileged that one would think. He was no slum kid from Havana. Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was the son of a prominent and wealthy Cuban Politician. His father was not only the mayor of a major port, he owned three la...more
- Desi’s back ground in Cuba was more privileged that one would think. He was no slum kid from Havana. Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was the son of a prominent and wealthy Cuban Politician. His father was not only the mayor of a major port, he owned three la...more
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An avid fan of I Love Lucy, I love bios and I particularly like bios of people I admire. Lucille Ball is perhaps the funniest women in American TV (maybe all TV), but she had some serious issues (hers and that of first husband Desi Arnaz). If you had an entirely positive view of Lucy, this book will tarnish that, so beware.
I learned that Lucille Ball was the total opposite of the Lucy character. Not the most pleasant person to work with and quite demanding.
Feb 20, 2011
Kimber~!!
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone, anyone, anyone!
Shelves:
biographies
Really long, informational book about Lucille Ball! I loved, loved, loved it!! Stefan Kanfer did an amazing job giving you every little detail about Lucy's life. Who was her first date? Where was she born? If you want to know this, read this book! It's amazing and really funny and detailed. I read this book when I was working on a school report about historic women, and I got Lucille Ball. I found it and wasn't sure about it at first, but then I started reading and fell in love!!! Beautiful, det...more
Lucille Ball is one of my favorite female comedians of the 1950's. I thought it would be really great to read a biography about her to see how she started out in her road to fame. It showcases her early childhood years all the way until her death. It not only gives her history on her background of fame , but the struggles she had to endure to get where she is today. This books covers detail about her marriages throughout the years, behind the scenes look at what went on behind the cameras which...more
I have been watching I Love Lucy for as long as I can remember, and I just adore Lucille Ball! I have always been interested in her and the other shows/movies she has been in, and I was excited to learn more about her. This book provided a vast amount of information, it was pretty detailed and thorough in many places, however, it seemed to lack in the relation of this information. I found it a bit tedious at times, and not as enjoyable as I'd hoped. Overall, the book presented a good deal of inf...more
Early in the run of I Love Lucy, Ball gave co-star Vivian Vance a hard time. Vance decided, "If by any chance this thing actually becomes a hit and goes anywhere, I'm gonna learn to love that bitch." She did, and so did the rest of the world. But according to Kanfer's excellent, compulsively readable biography, Ball (1911-1989) was much easier to love from afar (as was Kanfer's previous subject, Groucho Marx). Despite all the laughter the gifted red-headed comedienne produced, her personal life...more
This was a really interesting book. I think Lucille Ball is just hilarious; I saw this at the library and just thought it might be fun to learn a little more about her.
The most interesting things I learned in this book were her acting projects before and after 'I Love Lucy'. Of course she had many, I had never heard of them or considered what else she might have done. The author works hard to be unbiased, and often provides us with other biographers' interpretations of events.
Interesting read,...more
The most interesting things I learned in this book were her acting projects before and after 'I Love Lucy'. Of course she had many, I had never heard of them or considered what else she might have done. The author works hard to be unbiased, and often provides us with other biographers' interpretations of events.
Interesting read,...more
I'm beginning to see a pattern in the lives of all old Hollywood stars. They had troubling home lives (some kind of parental problem), restless childhood and teenage years before pursuing stardom, working hard to be stars, working hard to maintain said stardom, and the stardom eventually being the root cause of their unhappiness. This poses the question: Is fame really worth it? I don't know. If someone were to call Lucille Ball up from heaven or purgatory or wherever she currently is, would sh...more
If I had to describe this book in one word: tedious. I felt like it was an assignment and that I "had" to read it. It doesn't seem like any detail of Lucy's professional life was missed, but I think the book would have benefitted from "skipping" some of the specifics. EVERY movie and EVERY costar was mentioned. Maybe it's because I was not a part of the Lucy era, and I didn't recognize many of the names. I actually (dare I say it) was grateful for the part of the book where Lucy died because it...more
I LOVE LUCY! Lol, there's a reason why they chose to name the show that. It's very detailed, if you're into that sort of thing (and I am!) It goes a little into the early life of Ball, but focuses mainly on her rise to fame and snips of her subsequent life after show-biz. It's a must read for Lucille Ball fans.
I have always had a huge spot in my heart for Lucille Ball. I've tried to read this book several times, but the writing is so frustratingly tedious and glib that I couldn't continue reading this biography about such a ridiculously talented comedian. The author's voice and style just don't do it for me.
An interesting look at the ups and downs of life as Lucille Ball
"As a movie actress Lucille Ball was, in her own words, “queen of the B-pluses.” But on the small screen she was a superstar–arguably the funniest and most enduring in the history of TV. In this exemplary biography, Stefan Kanfer explores the roots of Lucy’s genius and places it in the context of her conflicted and sometimes bitter personal life. Ball of Fire gives us Lucy in all her contradictions. Here is the beauty who became a m...more
"As a movie actress Lucille Ball was, in her own words, “queen of the B-pluses.” But on the small screen she was a superstar–arguably the funniest and most enduring in the history of TV. In this exemplary biography, Stefan Kanfer explores the roots of Lucy’s genius and places it in the context of her conflicted and sometimes bitter personal life. Ball of Fire gives us Lucy in all her contradictions. Here is the beauty who became a m...more
Nov 22, 2009
Elena
added it
I like Lucille Ball and I thought I would like this. It was not interesting and the story did not engaged me. Maybe because it talks about so many artists and people the author assumes you know (we are not all that old!) I didn't finish this one either.
To any child of the forties or fifties, the main character of this book needs no introduction. Perhaps the level of talent behind the persona does, however. I suspect that the author does about as good a job as anyone can in melding an attempt to both separate the two, while at the same time integrating them and coming out with a unified real person. Kanfer's story telling and biographical depiction of Lucille Ball was fun and easy to like. Harder to enjoy is his description of family life at th...more
One of the best Lucille Ball books I've read. My other favorite is Love, Lucy. This one is in depth, interesting, and details her entire life. So glad I picked this up.
Very dense with lots of information. Towards the end, it felt like the author was trying to squeeze in every quote ever written about Lucille Ball. I learned a lot of new stuff about her early career, but it was kind of sad how bitter she became towards the end.
If you're an avid I Love Lucy fan, this is a great read. You'll delve into how Lucille started off her career in Hollywood, how her relationship with Ricky blossomed over the years (as well as its downfalls) and several other facts about her tumultuous life that you probably never knew about. You'll also go behind the scenes and learn about her friendships with cast members: Ethel and Fred. Overall, after you've finished with this book you'll have a higher degree of respect for this woman that b...more
LOVED reading about her background, struggles and demons. She is a classic!
A well-balanced and well-written biography - an interesting read.
EVERYONE should read this. My favorite biography i've ever read.
Confirmation of the awesomeness that is Lucille Ball.
I thought that this was good, but a little sad...
As entertaining as the comedienne herself. Wrought with personal drama, self-sabotage...this book is definitely a good insight to how Lucille became the icon she was then and still is today.
Dec 16, 2012
Stephanie
marked it as to-read
Recommended by Nick Hornby.
Very interesting book!
This was a different book to read.....I think we all have a picture of Lucille Ball in our heads, & that picture is of Lucy Ricardo. We forget that she wasn't Lucy. It was a little difficult to digest the books tales of an insecure, tough, & headstrong woman.
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| Lucille Ball and Star Trek | 3 | 11 | Dec 03, 2008 09:05pm |
Stefan Kanfer is the author of fifteen books, including the bestselling biographies of show business icons: GROUCHO; BALL OF FIRE (Lucille Ball); SOMEBODY (Marlon Brando); and TOUGH WITHOUT A GUN (Humphrey Bogart). He has also written many social histories, among them THE LAST EMPIRE, about the De Beers diamond company, and STARDUST LOST, an account of the rise and fall of the Yiddish Theater in N...more
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