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Oppenheimer contract with Desilu for sale


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How interesting...must be some story behind this. Such as what are these "claims" Oppenheimer made about Desilu. Seems like Desi was giving in. December 54 was the start of the Hollywood story arc, so the show was going great guns. I read somewhere (in his book, maybe) that Jess didn't appreciate Desi getting "executive producer" credit. I think they were sorry to see Jess leave, but I suspect there was tension about who was actually running things. The term "Oppenheimer shows" is a vague one. I suspect Desi thought he was pulling a fast one by optioning "Life without George" as the basis of "the Lucy Show". I can see both sides of the argument that The Lucy Show, at least initially, was based on the ILL Lucy character. But since the first two seasons of TLS were Bob and Madelyn, who's to say who wrote what initially? If I were to weigh in as a judge, I'd probably side with Desilu. If there was s show that most resembled I Love Lucy, I would think it would be the Mothers In Law, with some plots lifted directly from ILL. I wonder if he went after Desi Arnaz productions for a piece of that.

Jess eventually sued over the continuation of the Lucy character and Desilu settled with him. For some reason I thought it included Lucy Carter in Here's Lucy, though I think Jess is on even shakier ground if he claimed this version was an extension of "his" creation. Even if all Jess's claims were valid , I can see why Lucy was miffed and did not refer to Jess as one of her I Love Lucy writers for many years. Especially if the suit included LBP. Desilu was a public company so the stockholders took the hit, but LBP revenue only went into 4 pockets: hers and Gary's.

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How interesting...must be some story behind this. Such as what are these "claims" Oppenheimer made about Desilu. Seems like Desi was giving in. December 54 was the start of the Hollywood story arc, so the show was going great guns. I read somewhere (in his book, maybe) that Jess didn't appreciate Desi getting "executive producer" credit. I think they were sorry to see Jess leave, but I suspect there was tension about who was actually running things. The term "Oppenheimer shows" is a vague one. I suspect Desi thought he was pulling a fast one by optioning "Life without George" as the basis of "the Lucy Show". I can see both sides of the argument that The Lucy Show, at least initially, was based on the ILL Lucy character. But since the first two seasons of TLS were Bob and Madelyn, who's to say who wrote what initially? If I were to weigh in as a judge, I'd probably side with Desilu. If there was s show that most resembled I Love Lucy, I would think it would be the Mothers In Law, with some plots lifted directly from ILL. I wonder if he went after Desi Arnaz productions for a piece of that.

Jess eventually sued over the continuation of the Lucy character and Desilu settled with him. For some reason I thought it included Lucy Carter in Here's Lucy, though I think Jess is on even shakier ground if he claimed this version was an extension of "his" creation. Even if all Jess's claims were valid , I can see why Lucy was miffed and did not refer to Jess as one of her I Love Lucy writers for many years. Especially if the suit included LBP. Desilu was a public company so the stockholders took the hit, but LBP revenue only went into 4 pockets: hers and Gary's.

I think Mr Oppenheimer deserved lots more credit for the success of the show and yes, he was pissed that Desi took credit for lots of his work, but did he ever do anything that became a success after his breach with Desilu?  I know he did some great Danny Kaye specials, but what else?

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Claude, I have some dvds of a show called Angel that Jess created. In it, an American man marries a French girl & brings her home to the US. Cute show, a bit like ILL in reverse (which I'm sure was intentional as that formula worked so well in ILL!). A huge bonus was that Doris Singleton was a regular as the next door neighbor & friend of the woman named Angel. Shirley ?? (who played Marion Strong on ILL) is in one of the episodes I have, too. I'm not sure how long the series was on or how well it did in the ratings, but I thought it was good.

 

If anyone is interested in them they are for sale at Shokus video.

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I think Mr Oppenheimer deserved lots more credit for the success of the show and yes, he was pissed that Desi took credit for lots of his work, but did he ever do anything that became a success after his breach with Desilu?  I know he did some great Danny Kaye specials, but what else?

Various projects, I think: He produced the one season wonder The Debbie Reynolds Show -- which was very "Lucy"-like, from my vague recollection of it, circa 1969-70.  ;)

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Creator of "Glynis", Desilu's 1963 mystery-comedy, that was cancelled after 13 episodes (and turned up 2 years later as the summer replacement for the LUcy Show). I have 3 episodes of "Glynis" and IMO it was under-appreciated...Jess also produced "Get Smart" for a time.

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Claude, I have some dvds of a show called Angel that Jess created. In it, an American man marries a French girl & brings her home to the US. Cute show, a bit like ILL in reverse (which I'm sure was intentional as that formula worked so well in ILL!). A huge bonus was that Doris Singleton was a regular as the next door neighbor & friend of the woman named Angel. Shirley ?? (who played Marion Strong on ILL) is in one of the episodes I have, too. I'm not sure how long the series was on or how well it did in the ratings, but I thought it was good.

 

If anyone is interested in them they are for sale at Shokus video.

Hon, used to watch ANGEL every week, but I dun't thin it lasted too long.   

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Creator of "Glynis", Desilu's 1963 mystery-comedy, that was cancelled after 13 episodes (and turned up 2 years later as the summer replacement for the LUcy Show). I have 3 episodes of "Glynis" and IMO it was under-appreciated...Jess also produced "Get Smart" for a time.

Always watched Glynis too, loved the great Glynis Johns.

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