Lucy & Desi: The Love Letters

The daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz offers an intimate and revealing look into her parents’ marriage. Ball and Arnaz are best known for their legendary sitcom, I Love Lucy, and also for their occasionally tempestuous relationship. But when Ball died in 1989, her daughter discovered a much different side to her parents in a box of love letters written largely between 1940 and 1951, a decade when Arnaz was occupied with his military service while Ball’s acting career was taking off in Los Angeles. The letters are presented here alongside photographs, while a timeline gives readers insight into the historical events surrounding the couple. (In July 1933, Ball was “offered a chorus girl role” and left New York for California, around the same time Desi’s home in Cuba was “burned to the ground during a violent revolution.”) After they met in 1940, their ensuing letters were full of humor and love. Once Desilu, their production company, became successful, Arnaz wrote to Ball, who was also the company’s vice president, “Dearest Veepee: May I take this opportunity to tell you how much I have enjoyed our association for the past eleven years.” Revealing, tongue-in-cheek, and relatable, this is a moving tribute to a famous partnership. (Nov.)