The National Comedy Center’s Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum announced today that it will be preserving the archive of acclaimed writer and producer Bob Carroll, Jr., who, together with his writing partner Madelyn Pugh, made up the legendary creative team behind I Love Lucy (along with producer Jess Oppenheimer).
The announcement coincides with the anniversary week of Bob Carroll, Jr.’s passing in 2007, as the museum honors and commemorates his enduring legacy in comedy.
The preservation of this collection – donated by Bob Carroll, Jr.’s daughter Christina – marks the first time that historians and archivists will be able to mine the inner workings of two of comedy’s greatest minds, as the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum showcases these creative papers, which were pivotal to the history of television comedy.
The collection features thousands of richly annotated creative papers and scripts written by Carroll and Pugh over five decades of radio and television, from Steve Allen’s radio shows and Lucille Ball’s My Favorite Husband radio program (the precursor to I Love Lucy) to multiple drafts of I Love Lucy scripts annotated by Carroll to scripts of Ball’s subsequent series: The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy and Life with Lucy, representing a remarkable career-long creative collaboration between Ball, Carroll, and Pugh that spanned four decades.
Additional highlights include annotated scripts for Desilu projects written by Carroll and Pugh, including sitcoms The Mothers-In-Law and The Carol Channing Show, and feature films like Yours, Mine and Ours, as well asscripts for the Warner Bros./CBS sitcom Alice, starring Linda Lavin, produced and written by Carroll and Pugh. Among the most unique items in the collection are Pugh and Carroll’s personal correspondences, including concepts for unaired TV shows, many of which were possible vehicles for Lucille Ball, but also conceived for artists like Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Diahann Carroll, Eva Gabor, and Suzanne Pleshette.
“Bob Carroll, Jr. was a key architect of the situation comedy’s narrative structure, character formations, and comedic rhythms,” stated Dr. Laura LaPlaca, Vice President and head of the Carl Reiner Department of Archives and Preservation at the National Comedy Center. “Every television sitcom can trace ancestry to his foundational contributions. Together with Madelyn Pugh, he built a body of work with impacts that resound throughout comedy history.”
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were vocal in acknowledging the work of their writers in an era when recognizing behind-the-scenes creatives was not common. In fact, upon receiving the Emmy Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1954, Ball used her acceptance speech to express “It wouldn’t be right to call our writers up here and give it to them, would it? But I wish we could,” with Arnaz imploring the newly-established Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to create categories specifically for writing.
“There was no one who Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz championed more passionately and more often than her writers – Bob Carroll, Jr. and his writing partner Madelyn Pugh,” stated National Comedy Center and Lucy Desi Museum Executive Director Journey Gunderson. “Our work at the National Comedy Center and Lucy Desi Museum is based on Lucille Ball’s vision to honor and preserve the art form of comedy and rooted in her belief in the importance of comedy’s innovators and creators, like Bob Carroll, Jr. We are honored to preserve his significant artistic legacy for generations to come, here in Lucille Ball’s hometown.”
“The fact that my father ‘left the planet’ (his term for death) eighteen years ago this week perplexes me, but what is assuring is to know so much of his comedic works are safely protected and appreciated at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York,” stated Christina Carroll.
“At the National Comedy Center, scholars and interested fans now have the opportunity to learn how this comedy writer thought and worked with his career-long partner, Madelyn Pugh. Quite the creative realm was my father’s mind. Hers too. Funny, of course, but also playful, curious and observant. And they knew the value of timing,” added Carroll. “My father loved to learn and help those coming up. I am certain this opportunity to share his life’s work would fill him with tremendous pride and appreciation as it does me.”
The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, operated by the National Comedy Center, explores the lives, careers, and legacy of the “First Couple of Comedy” and the incredible impact they had on the world, as well as the pioneering role and remarkable influence that I Love Lucy and Desilu Studios had on the entertainment industry.
The mission of the National Comedy Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural institution, is funded by philanthropic support. Donations and grants support its museum and its work to present the vital story of comedy and preserve its heritage for future generations. Visit comedycenter.org.
