Madelyn Pugh Davis, Legendary Writer for I Love Lucy and Other Comedies
Along with Bob Carroll, Jr., her writing partner for 50 years, Davis created hundreds of episodes of network TV, including five series with Ball.
Madelyn Pugh Davis, the acclaimed television writer best known for her collaboration with Bob Carroll, Jr., with whom she created unforgettable material for Lucille Ball, died April 20, 2011, at her Los Angeles home after a brief illness. She was 90.
Davis, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, first worked with Carroll in radio. The duo, who wrote together for 50 years, first worked with Ball in the late 1940s on the CBS Radio comedy My Favorite Husband.
Arnaz, who hoped to persuade CBS to launch a television series with himself and Ball, commissioned Davis and Carroll to write a stage act that they could take on the road to show the network that a series was justified.
The plan worked, and Davis and Carroll wrote the pilot for I Love Lucy with Jess Oppenheimer. The classic comedy series, which continues to air in syndication today, originally ran on CBS from 1951-57.
Davis and Carroll went on to co-write on scores of episodes for I Love Lucy and numerous other series, including The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy and Life With Lucy. Also for Ball, they wrote the 1968 feature film Yours, Mine and Ours, in which Ball co-starred with and Henry Fonda.
IThe team also created the comedy series The Mother-in-Laws, starring Eve Arden and Kay Ballard. Later, they served as producers and writers on Alice, starring Linda Lavin.
Davis and Carroll were nominated for thee Primetime Emmy nominations, and in 1992, the Writers Guild of America honored them with the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award.
Davis was married twice; her first husband was renowned television producer Quinn Martin. Carroll died in January 2007.
Survivors include son Michael Quinn Martin; stepchildren Brian Davis, Charlotte Davis, Lisa Davis and Ned Davis; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Davis and Carroll had the disintinction of being interviewed by the Television Academy’s Archive of American Television. During the two-and-a-half-hour interview, conducted in Los Angeles, on November 24, 1997, by Tom Gilbert, each briefly recounted their early years and influences and then reflected on their career, beginning with their work in radio for such legends as Steve Allen.
They eventually became writers on radio’s My Favorite Husband, which starred Lucille Ball. When Ball made the transition to television with I Love Lucy, producer Jess Oppenheimer hired the team as writers. During the interview they discussed at great length the process of writing for I Love Lucy and the immense talents of the cast. They recounted how some of the classic scenes came about (including the candy factory scene) and how production of the show was done.
They went on to talk about working on Ball’s subsequent series and as well as other sitcoms, including Alice. When Lucille Ball returned to television in 1986 for Life With Lucy, Carroll and Davis were there, too, although Davis admitted “none of us should have done it.”
They concluded the interview with their thoughts on the legacy of I Love Lucy and the timelessness of the series.
The entire interview is available online here.