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NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

In 1951, I Love Lucy was the highest-rated show on TV. It co-starred Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, as her TV husband. On Dec. 22, Amazon Prime began streaming a biopic about the couple, titled Being the Ricardos (the couple’s characters’ last name). It was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, 60.

The film “crammed” three major crises the real Lucy and Desi faced into one dramatic week in 1951 (Desi’s infidelity; allegations that Lucy was a Communist; and how they would handle Lucy’s reallife pregnancy on TV.) The latter two crises actually happened over three years, and Desi’s infidelity only ended when the couple split in 1960.

Yes, this time frame takes liberties. But it ain’t nothing compared with the way Sorkin depicts Jess Oppenheimer (1913-88), the only real-life Jewish character who is a big character in the film. You would think, from the film, that Oppenheimer was “only” the producer of I Love Lucy. You would never know that he was a top comedy writer before he (1948) was hired by a radio show starring Lucille Ball. Oppenheimer’s funny scripts and character development turned the show into a hit. That radio show led CBS to offer Ball a TV show.

Again, you’d never know, from the film, that Oppenheimer created the premise of I Love Lucy (band leader married to a funny housewife) and he gave the show its name. Oppenheimer never says anything funny in the film, so you never really “get-it” that he was not “just” the show’s head producer — he was the show’s head comedy writer, and he co-wrote all the scripts for years (with Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Pugh. These two writers are in the film, but they never say anything funny either).

Years ago, I talked to Oppenheimer’s son, Gregg, now 70, after reading a detailed and funny autobiography started by Jess and finished, after his death, by Gregg. The father Gregg loved and admired was not the dour Jess Oppenheimer that Sorkin created to fit his dramatic purposes.

Also made up is Ball’s dislike of Judy Holliday (1921-65) based, supposedly, on jealously. There’s a flashback scene in which Ball says that Holliday can play only one role (a dumb blonde). Ball says this as she is being fired (1942) by the RKO movie studio. However, Holliday’s first dumb blonde roles were in two backto-back hit movies made much later (Adam’s Rib, 1949, and Born Yesterday. The latter earned Holliday the 1950 Best Actress Oscar).

Holliday and Ball were probably secretly sympathetic toward one other. Ball saved her career by playing a “ditz.” She lied about why she briefly joined the Communist party — said it was a clerical accident. (Ball knew what she was doing. See the film. It’s accurate about why Ball really joined.).

Holliday, who had strong leftist ties, played a “ditzy dumb blonde” in front of Congress (1951) and they “cleared” her. She wasn’t blacklisted. Holliday’s tested IQ was genius level — 172.

The Ricardos cast includes Linda Lavin, 84, as the “older” Madelyn Pugh and John Rubenstein, 75, the son of the great pianist Arthur Rubenstein, as the older Oppenheimer.

I just caught up with the (still-streaming) Amazon Prime series I Know What You Did Last Summer. Its first, eight-episode series began on Oct. 15 and concluded on Nov. 12. Of course, the series is based on the horror movie series of the same name. Reviews are mixed.

One of the co-stars is Ezekiel Goodman, 25. His mother, Sara Nemeth Goodman, 54, is the series’ head producer and she wrote three of the show’s episodes. Sara grew up in the Detroit area. She had her bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield.

More catch-up: In October, a Western called Old Henry opened in about 30 theaters. It got good reviews and it really took off as a video-ondemand offering. There is real Oscar buzz about the performance of the film’s star, veteran character actor Tim Blake Nelson, 57. The National Board of Review just named Old Henry one of the top 10 indie films of 2021.

Earlier this year, Nelson talked about the 20th anniversary of the release of The Grey Zone, a Holocaust film that he wrote, directed and acted in. Many have called it the most accurate Holocaust drama ever made.

Nelson grew up in Oklahoma, the son of Jewish parents. His mother’s parents settled in Tulsa after fleeing Nazi Germany. Nelson’s maternal grandfather went to work for an oil-drilling company founded by a relative. Nelson’s uncle, George Kaiser, now 79, took over the company in 1969 and made it supersuccessful. Kaiser, a multibillionaire, is Oklahoma’s biggest giver to general and Jewish charities.

BY DOMINICK D VIA WIKIPEDIA