Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple

301 pp. Meet the Mertzes is an expansive dual biography chronicling the lives of two of America's most popular situation-comedy actors, William Frawley and Vivian Vance, who portrayed Fred and Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy. This meticulously researched book contains interviews with Frawley's and Vance's colleagues, friends, and relatives, and explores their personal and professional lives before, during, and after I Love Lucy. With a complete filmography and videography of each, Meet the Mertzes finally sets the record straight on the lives and legacies of these compelling stars who detested one another. You'll learn about: Vance's successful Broadway career prior to I Love Lucy; Frawley's vaudevillian roots and his passion for baseball; Vance's nervous breakdown after the collapse of her first marriage; Frawley's drinking and carousing; Lucille Ball's caustic relationship with both of her costars; Vance's hatred of being known to the world as Ethel Mertz.