Bart Andrews Dies at 64; 'I Love Lucy' Enthusiast Wrote TV Trivia Books - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Zoneboy · 01-21-2010, 02:53 AM

He said he could name the title of any of the 179 "I Love Lucy" episodes when given three words from the script -- "unless the line is 'Honey, I'm home.' "

Link

Bart Andrews, a prolific author of TV trivia tomes who wrote "The 'I Love Lucy' Book," an early definitive appreciation of the classic sitcom, has died. He was 64.

Andrews died Dec. 26 at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center following a heart attack, said his sister, Cathy LaGreca. After a series of strokes, he had moved four years ago from West Hollywood to a nursing home in Los Angeles.

"He was the first guy to ever write a history of the 'Lucy' show. It was the first book," said Lucie Arnaz, daughter of the program's stars, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

"It has been extremely helpful to the estate," Arnaz told The Times last week. "Early on . . . that was the book you went to."

Although Andrews was born Feb. 25, 1945, in Brooklyn, N.Y., in a sense his "real birth" took place on Aug. 8, 1950, the day his father brought home the family's first TV set, Burt Prelutsky wrote in The Times in 1977. It was a 12-inch RCA Victor.

"After that, I'd rush home and watch anything," Andrews said in the article. He also recalled the shock he felt as a child when he attended a taping of the "Howdy Doody" show and "couldn't believe" the star was "only just a puppet."

His world was forever altered when his parents tuned in to the Oct. 15, 1951, premiere of "Lucy," he wrote in "The 'I Love Lucy' Quiz Book." His parents "let me stay up past my bedtime to watch."

As an adult, Andrews said he could name the title of any of the 179 "I Love Lucy" episodes when given three words from the script -- "unless the line is 'Honey, I'm home.' "

He considered the discovery of the long-missing unaired pilot episode -- a copy was found in 1990 -- "the biggest find in terms of archival material in the history" of TV.

By then, he had written more than 25 books, most of them TV-related with "Trivia" or "Quiz" in the title. His final book, "Out of the Madness," was an unauthorized biography of Janet Jackson published in 1994.

The four books he wrote about Ball and her seminal comedy turned Andrews into an acknowledged expert on the sitcom that unfailingly made him laugh.

"The 'I Love Lucy' Book," released in 1985, was a revised and expanded version of a 1976 book that he co-wrote, "Lucy & Ricky & Fred & Ethel." Amid the minutiae were nuggets of "refreshing dissonances," according to a 1976 review of the earlier book. They included a quote from William Frawley, who played Fred Mertz, on Vivian Vance, who portrayed his TV wife, Ethel: "I don't know where she is now and she doesn't know where I am and that's exactly the way I like it."

The idea for a writing career based mainly on esoterica from the airwaves grew out of a family gathering where younger cousins failed to stump Andrews with TV trivia.

"After I got home, I wrote out 20 questions and mailed them to the boys with the promise to send them answers in a week," Andrews told The Times in 1977. "In the meantime, I ran into a friend in publishing who thought there might be a book in that sort of thing. And I've been at it ever since."

He was born Andrew Stephen Ferreri, the second of two children of businessman Joseph Ferreri and his wife, Camille, and grew up in New York City.

After attending New York University, he moved to Los Angeles to work for pioneering TV producer Sheldon Leonard as Bart Andrews, a pen name he adopted in high school. He became a freelance writer and literary agent before finding his niche in trivia.

At his West Hollywood apartment, he devoted a room to his extensive "I Love Lucy" memorabilia, which included a photograph of the show's cast displayed atop his family's first TV. For years, Andrews drove a 1953 Pontiac with a license plate that read "I LV LCY."

His sister is his only immediate survivor.

Scoobiedoo30 · 01-21-2010, 12:50 PM

RIP

catlover79 · 01-21-2010, 12:55 PM

Madame X · 01-21-2010, 01:47 PM

My Bart Andrews book, "The I Love Lucy Book," is well-worn; it is my main go-to reference. It's amazing Bart was only 64. He was so knowledgeable about a show that premiered when he was only six years old!

Thank you, Bart.

Benno123 · 01-21-2010, 07:25 PM

Until The Lucy Book was released, his books were my main point of reference. Sad news indeed.

Marvo301 · 01-21-2010, 07:32 PM

I own a copy of the "I love Lucy Book". Not only have I read it cover to cover, I have also used it as a reference tool.

Bart Andrews

HuntingtonM15 · 01-21-2010, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I own a copy of the "I love Lucy Book". Not only have I read it cover to cover, I have also used it as a reference tool.

Bart Andrews

Same here. It's an excellent book.

MOWERDAN · 01-29-2010, 11:41 AM

Wow, I am really sorry to hear this. I've always admired this guy since I first bought that yellow paperback verison of "The Lucy Book" way back in the '80s. Before the internet and "E! True Hollywood Story" episodes, etc. His books were our savior for all things Lucy. I still read that book and others from him to this day.

I remember that picture in the yellow book of him as a young boy at a picnic where he had first met Lucy. He was definitely a trailblazer for us dieheart Lucy fans. All that inside info really kept my interest going for many years.

caladon · 02-03-2010, 11:14 PM

Sorry to hear about Mr. Andrews' passing.

I have a Bart Andrews story that I'd like to post:

It was the early 80's and Mr. Andrews was a guest on a local talk show. The show was "Let's Rap" with Alicia Sandoval and was shown on L.A. station KTTV channel 11. Mr. Andrews was the guest and he was discussing his Lucy book. At one point in the interview, he showed a picture of Lucy standing next to a shell of a refridgerator. He mentioned that he didn't know the story behind the picture. I recognized it from "The Lucy Show" episode where Lucy is trying to identify a mystery sound on a radio quiz show. She thought the sound came from an ice tray being quickly pulled out of the freezer. When Lucy tries to pull the frozen tray out, she actually ends up pulling out the whole inside of the refridgerator. Then when she unplugs the refridgerator, she discovers the mystery sound is actually a refridgerator being unplugged.

I called the station the next day and they relayed a message to him. A couple of days later, I got a call from him and told him I about the picture. As I told him the story, he suddenly remembered the episode and thanked me for the information. We talked for about an hour about all sorts of TV trivia.

coffield3 · 02-03-2010, 11:24 PM

Aww what a shame. R.I.P

I may have to buy this book if its still made available.

lucyandethel · 02-14-2010, 01:57 AM

Bart was a wonderful guy and truly a dedicated Lucy fan. I met him in West Hollywood back in the mid-1990s when I lived there as well. Lucy fans owe him a debt of gratitude because his book spawned so many others about Lucy and the show.

01-21-2010, 02:53 AM	#1
Zoneboy RIP, I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU :( Moderator Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 13, 2003 Location: AT HOME WISHING ALL THIS WAS JUST A DREAM AND THAT I'LL WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE. Posts: 34,404	Bart Andrews Dies at 64; 'I Love Lucy' Enthusiast Wrote TV Trivia Books He said he could name the title of any of the 179 "I Love Lucy" episodes when given three words from the script -- "unless the line is 'Honey, I'm home.' " Link Bart Andrews, a prolific author of TV trivia tomes who wrote "The 'I Love Lucy' Book," an early definitive appreciation of the classic sitcom, has died. He was 64. Andrews died Dec. 26 at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center following a heart attack, said his sister, Cathy LaGreca. After a series of strokes, he had moved four years ago from West Hollywood to a nursing home in Los Angeles. "He was the first guy to ever write a history of the 'Lucy' show. It was the first book," said Lucie Arnaz, daughter of the program's stars, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. "It has been extremely helpful to the estate," Arnaz told The Times last week. "Early on . . . that was the book you went to." Although Andrews was born Feb. 25, 1945, in Brooklyn, N.Y., in a sense his "real birth" took place on Aug. 8, 1950, the day his father brought home the family's first TV set, Burt Prelutsky wrote in The Times in 1977. It was a 12-inch RCA Victor. "After that, I'd rush home and watch anything," Andrews said in the article. He also recalled the shock he felt as a child when he attended a taping of the "Howdy Doody" show and "couldn't believe" the star was "only just a puppet." His world was forever altered when his parents tuned in to the Oct. 15, 1951, premiere of "Lucy," he wrote in "The 'I Love Lucy' Quiz Book." His parents "let me stay up past my bedtime to watch." As an adult, Andrews said he could name the title of any of the 179 "I Love Lucy" episodes when given three words from the script -- "unless the line is 'Honey, I'm home.' " He considered the discovery of the long-missing unaired pilot episode -- a copy was found in 1990 -- "the biggest find in terms of archival material in the history" of TV. By then, he had written more than 25 books, most of them TV-related with "Trivia" or "Quiz" in the title. His final book, "Out of the Madness," was an unauthorized biography of Janet Jackson published in 1994. The four books he wrote about Ball and her seminal comedy turned Andrews into an acknowledged expert on the sitcom that unfailingly made him laugh. "The 'I Love Lucy' Book," released in 1985, was a revised and expanded version of a 1976 book that he co-wrote, "Lucy & Ricky & Fred & Ethel." Amid the minutiae were nuggets of "refreshing dissonances," according to a 1976 review of the earlier book. They included a quote from William Frawley, who played Fred Mertz, on Vivian Vance, who portrayed his TV wife, Ethel: "I don't know where she is now and she doesn't know where I am and that's exactly the way I like it." The idea for a writing career based mainly on esoterica from the airwaves grew out of a family gathering where younger cousins failed to stump Andrews with TV trivia. "After I got home, I wrote out 20 questions and mailed them to the boys with the promise to send them answers in a week," Andrews told The Times in 1977. "In the meantime, I ran into a friend in publishing who thought there might be a book in that sort of thing. And I've been at it ever since." He was born Andrew Stephen Ferreri, the second of two children of businessman Joseph Ferreri and his wife, Camille, and grew up in New York City. After attending New York University, he moved to Los Angeles to work for pioneering TV producer Sheldon Leonard as Bart Andrews, a pen name he adopted in high school. He became a freelance writer and literary agent before finding his niche in trivia. At his West Hollywood apartment, he devoted a room to his extensive "I Love Lucy" memorabilia, which included a photograph of the show's cast displayed atop his family's first TV. For years, Andrews drove a 1953 Pontiac with a license plate that read "I LV LCY." His sister is his only immediate survivor.
	__________________ 'Twas The Night Before Christmas And All Through The Full House Not A Creature Was Stirring, Not Even Mighty Mouse. All My Children We're Nestled All Snug In Their Beds While Visions Of Sugarbakers Danced In Their Heads. Last edited by Zoneboy; 01-21-2010 at 04:07 AM.

01-21-2010, 12:55 PM	#3
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,382
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01-21-2010, 07:32 PM	#6
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,456	I own a copy of the "I love Lucy Book". Not only have I read it cover to cover, I have also used it as a reference tool. Bart Andrews
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

02-03-2010, 11:24 PM	#10
coffield3 <3 Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 23, 2006 Location: England Posts: 7,379	Aww what a shame. R.I.P I may have to buy this book if its still made available.
	__________________ Roseanne Fan!! ღღღ

01-21-2010, 12:50 PM	#2
Scoobiedoo30 Member Forum Superstar Join Date: Jun 27, 2002 Location: KENNER, LOUISIANA Posts: 27,654	RIP

01-21-2010, 01:47 PM	#4
Madame X Member Senior Member Join Date: Sep 15, 2006 Location: Oregon Posts: 1,831	My Bart Andrews book, "The I Love Lucy Book," is well-worn; it is my main go-to reference. It's amazing Bart was only 64. He was so knowledgeable about a show that premiered when he was only six years old! Thank you, Bart.

01-21-2010, 07:25 PM	#5
Benno123 Jenna Fischer Rocks My World!! Senior Member Join Date: Nov 01, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,036	Until The Lucy Book was released, his books were my main point of reference. Sad news indeed.

01-29-2010, 11:41 AM	#8
MOWERDAN Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 04, 2002 Location: NEW JERSEY Posts: 64	Wow, I am really sorry to hear this. I've always admired this guy since I first bought that yellow paperback verison of "The Lucy Book" way back in the '80s. Before the internet and "E! True Hollywood Story" episodes, etc. His books were our savior for all things Lucy. I still read that book and others from him to this day. I remember that picture in the yellow book of him as a young boy at a picnic where he had first met Lucy. He was definitely a trailblazer for us dieheart Lucy fans. All that inside info really kept my interest going for many years.

02-03-2010, 11:14 PM	#9
caladon Member Senior Member Join Date: Jun 30, 2001 Location: Massachusetts state home for the bewildered Posts: 1,151	Sorry to hear about Mr. Andrews' passing. I have a Bart Andrews story that I'd like to post: It was the early 80's and Mr. Andrews was a guest on a local talk show. The show was "Let's Rap" with Alicia Sandoval and was shown on L.A. station KTTV channel 11. Mr. Andrews was the guest and he was discussing his Lucy book. At one point in the interview, he showed a picture of Lucy standing next to a shell of a refridgerator. He mentioned that he didn't know the story behind the picture. I recognized it from "The Lucy Show" episode where Lucy is trying to identify a mystery sound on a radio quiz show. She thought the sound came from an ice tray being quickly pulled out of the freezer. When Lucy tries to pull the frozen tray out, she actually ends up pulling out the whole inside of the refridgerator. Then when she unplugs the refridgerator, she discovers the mystery sound is actually a refridgerator being unplugged. I called the station the next day and they relayed a message to him. A couple of days later, I got a call from him and told him I about the picture. As I told him the story, he suddenly remembered the episode and thanked me for the information. We talked for about an hour about all sorts of TV trivia.

02-14-2010, 01:57 AM	#11
lucyandethel Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 18, 2009 Location: Los Angeles CA Posts: 435	Bart was a wonderful guy and truly a dedicated Lucy fan. I met him in West Hollywood back in the mid-1990s when I lived there as well. Lucy fans owe him a debt of gratitude because his book spawned so many others about Lucy and the show.