Two New Panelists Added To LOL Seminar

The Post-Journal reported that two more panelists have been added to the Laugh Out Loud (LOL) Seminar being held in March by the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center.

The two new panelists are Christina Carroll and Sebastien Gendry. Carroll is an artist and the daughter of legendary "I Love Lucy" writer, Bob Carroll Jr. Gendry is an author, educator, motivational speaker and yoga enthusiast.

Lucie Arnaz, president of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center and host of the panel expressed her excitement about Carroll and Gendry participating in the event:

With Bob Carroll’s recent passing, Christina has a lot to share about how laughter helped those close to her father get through the past months.

I feel particularly drawn to the work of Laughter Yoga. I’m looking forward to Sebastien’s teaching me — as well as the audience — how to do some serious laughing.

Desi Arnaz Jr., Sean Astin and Jim Dunnigan are also members of the panel.

LOL will be held March 3 in Boulder City, Nevada. Seating is limited and all tickets are $20. For more information call the Historic Boulder Theatre at 702-293-1161 or visit lucy-desi.com.

Related Links:
Lucie and Desi Jr. Participating in LOL Seminar In March

How To Send Your Condolences To The Carroll Family

If you would like to send a condolence card or letter to Bob Carroll Jr.'s family, you can mail them to this address:

The Family of Bob Carroll
c/o The Lucy-Desi Center
300 N. Main Street
Jamestown, NY 14701

The Lucy-Desi Center will forward all correspondence to Mr. Carroll's family.

TelevisionWeek Honors 'I Love Lucy' Co-Creator

With the recent passing of "I Love Lucy" co-creator Bob Carroll Jr., TelevisionWeek is presenting a retrospective of the most popular American sitcom of its generation.

View TelevisionWeek's extensive online tribute to Bob Carroll and I Love Lucy:

http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=552

Longtime Lucy Writer, Bob Carroll Jr., Dead at 87

NWI.com reports:

Bob Carroll Jr., a pioneering television writer who worked on all of Lucille Ball's TV shows, including "I Love Lucy," has died. He was 87.

Carroll, who had been in failing health for the past month, died Saturday, family friend and fellow TV writer Thomas Watson told The Associated Press on Monday.

Carroll and Madelyn Pugh Davis, his writing partner of more than 60 years, were working on comedian Steve Allen's radio show in the 1940s when they learned Ball was looking for writers for her show, "My Favorite Husband."

"They actually conned Steve Allen into writing his own show one week and took the time off to write a spec script for Lucy," Watson said. "CBS and Lucy loved it, and they became the first permanent writers on 'My Favorite Husband."'

When the show moved to television in 1953, Ball took her writers with her, changing the name to "I Love Lucy" and adding real-life husband Desi Arnaz to the cast.

Carroll and Pugh went on to work on every episode of the long-running show, Watson said, as well as many episodes of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," "The Lucy Show," "Here's Lucy" and "Life With Lucy." The latter show went off the air in 1986, three years before Ball's death.

Many of the shows had essentially the same premise: Lucy gets involved in some routine function and, often through well-intentioned deviousness coupled with incredible clumsiness, manages to turn it into a pratfall-filled disaster.

Carroll and Davis also collaborated on several other projects, including the 1968 film "Yours, Mine and Ours" and the Arnaz-produced sitcom "The Mothers-In-Law."

Carroll was born Aug. 12, 1919, in McKeesport, Pa. (Though some sources list 1918 as his birth date, Watson confirmed that 1919 was correct.)

Carroll moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., with his family when he was 3. His interest in writing was piqued as a teenager when he entered a radio contest, submitting a script he had written while laid up in bed recovering from a hip ailment, Watson said. His submission won first prize.

After a couple of years, he left for Los Angeles, where he landed a job as an usher with CBS radio affiliate KNX, Watson said. After a stint in the mailroom he was promoted to the writing staff.

Married and divorced twice, Carroll is survived by a daughter.

See also:
Obituary: Bob Carroll Jr. / Comedy writer for Lucille Ball, others
Bob Carroll (TV writer)

Photo Credit: AP Photo