Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple - Softcover

Edelman, Rob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580630952 ISBN 13: 9781580630955

Publisher: Renaissance, 1999

Synopsis

Meet the Mertzes is an expansive dual biography chronicling the lives of two of America's most popular situation-comedy actors, William Frawley and Vivian Vance, who portrayed Fred and Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy. This meticulously researched book contains interviews with Frawley's and Vance's colleagues, friends, and relatives, and explores their personal and professional lives before, during, and after I Love Lucy. With a complete filmography and videography of each, Meet the Mertzes finally sets the record straight on the lives and legacies of these compelling stars who detested one another.

You'll learn about:

-Vance's successful Broadway career prior to I Love Lucy
-Frawley's vaudevillian roots and his passion for baseball
-Vance's nervous breakdown after the collapse of her first marriage
-Frawley's drinking and carousing
-Lucille Ball's caustic relationship with both of her costars
-Vance's hatred of being known to the world as Ethel Mertz

About this title

Review:

"She's one of the finest gals to come out of Kansas, but I often wish she'd go back there." --William Frawley on Vivian Vance

"I loathed William Frawley and the feeling was mutual. Whenever I received a new script, I raced through it, praying that there wouldn't be a scene where we had to be in bed together." --Vivian Vance on William Frawley

About the Author:

Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg authored Angela Lansbury and The John Travolta Scrapbook. Edelman wrote Baseball on the Web and Great Baseball Films. He is also a contributing editor to Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide annual and Movie Encyclopedia, and is a freelance writer. Kupferberg is a film archivist, consultant, and researcher. They reside in Amersterdam, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Renaissance
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1580630952
• ISBN 13: 9781580630955
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306