Max Goes To Hollywood
By: Mark Starlin
Tags: Max Headline, Humor, Hollywood, Crime, Fiction

Charlotte and I arrived at General Service Studios at 9:30. We were escorted by a page to the dressing room of Desi Arnaz. Desi was one of the main characters in the television show I Love Lucy, along with his wife, Lucille Ball.

After introductions, Desi invited us to accompany him while he did his job. In addition to being a star on the show, he was the show’s producer. I quickly discovered that both he and Lucy ran the show and wore many hats.

“Why is I Love Lucy based in Hollywood? Aren’t most television shows broadcast live from New York?” I asked Desi.

“That’s right. But we didn’t want to leave California, so we talked the studio into allowing us to film the show here and send them the finished product to broadcast.”

“That’s quite an undertaking.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Fortunately, there are many talented production people in Hollywood who saw the potential of television.”

“Isn’t producing a show on film expensive? You’re basically shooting a short movie every week.”

“You’re right, again. Although it is more like a play. We have an audience in the studio, which makes the show more exciting and captures the audience’s reactions. It was Lucy’s idea. She feeds off the audience’s energy. Lucy and I took pay cuts to cover the cost of the film. In exchange, we got 80% ownership of the show.”

“Smart. If the show stays popular, you could make a killing.”

“That’s the way I saw it too, my good man. It was a show of faith on our part. But I believe it will be rewarded.”

“Well, it certainly is popular. I love the show,” Charlotte added.

“Thank you, darling. We are thrilled with the show’s success.” Desi replied.

It was obvious Charlotte found Desi Arnaz charming. Of course, a grizzled reporter like me wasn’t so easily charmed by a Hollywood pretty boy.

But, despite my previous objections, I was glad to have Charlotte along. I had never seen the show and didn’t own a television. It seemed silly to me. Staring at people in a box.

As we were talking, a woman with bright red hair walked up and smiled at us.

“Who have we here?” She asked Desi.

“This is Max and Charlotte. They are reporters for Big City News. This is Lucy, my wife, and the star of the show.”

“I am so pleased to meet you. You are so funny. And beautiful,” Charlotte said.

“Oh, thank you, dear. That is so sweet,” Lucy replied.

“Pleased to meet you,” I said, trying not to stare. Charlotte was right. Lucy was beautiful.

“Max and Charlotte are going to write a story on the show and plan on spending the week with us,” Desi said.

“Wonderful. Well, I have to get going, I have scriptwriting to oversee,” Lucy said, then she left.

We walked to the living room set. A stage designed to look like the inside of a New York apartment.”

“Why are there so many cameras?” I asked.

“We got the idea from Ralph Edwards of Truth Or Consequences. Using three cameras simultaneously allows us to capture all the shots we need of the actors without doing multiple takes. It saves time and makes the audience reactions continuous.”

“Ingenious,” I said.

“It works well. We rarely have to do retakes.”

I was actually finding the production of the show interesting. Desi seemed quite bright and a shrewd businessman.