More Raves For The "I Love Lucy" Scrapbook

Ron Berthel of The Reno Gazette-Journal writes:

Those who want to relive TV history can visit every episode of "I Love Lucy" -- all 193 of them -- through "The 'I Love Lucy' Scrapbook" (Running Press, $35).

Elizabeth Edwards, a longtime friend and employee of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, covers the nine-year run of the classic 1950s sitcom in photos, facts and reproductions of letters, telegrams, postcards, newspaper clippings, print ads, documents, lyrics and personal notes from archives and collections.

Among the removable artifacts are a piece of white tulle like that used in the tutu Lucy wore in episode No. 19, "The Ballet"; a swatch of wallpaper from the disastrous "Redecorating" episode; and a receipt for $483 for 700 pounds of meat, giving Ricky good reason to have a beef with Lucy in "The Freezer," episode No. 29.

Celebrating the arrival of Little Ricky -- probably the most famous birth in TV history -- are a paper sleeve holding a realistic (but not real) 45 rpm record of "There's a Brand New Baby at Our House" and a pocket with a removable and tattered birth certificate dated Jan. 19, 1953.