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Founders

#230 Lucille Ball (TV's biggest star)

Founders

David Senra

History, Entrepreneurship, Business, Technology

4.82.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2022

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What I learned from reading Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com ---- [3:19] Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Founders #141)  [3:28] Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Founders #193)  [4:37] Lucille Ball gave me advice about Hollywood. “Just remember, when they say, ‘No,’ you hear ‘Yes,’ and act accordingly. Someone says to you, ‘We can’t do this movie,’ you hug him and say, ‘Thank you for believing in me. [6:21] I like reading about people that do things that they're not supposed to do. [9:45] Create a comprehensive family history. [14:43] People with happy childhoods never overdo; they don't strive or exert themselves. They're moderate, pleasant, well liked, and good citizens. Society needs them. But the tremendous drive and dedication necessary to succeed in any field-not only show business-often seems to be rooted in a disturbed childhood. [19:27] This is a school that teaches acting, telling what is going to wind up being one of the most successful actresses that ever lives, that she can't do it. [20:29] I soon learned that to survive you have to be very strong, very healthy, and damned resilient. Rarely does anyone give you an encouraging word. [20:52] I'd show up early for rehearsals and stay until they had to sweep me off the stage. . .I didn't give up. I wore out my soles trudging to casting offices. [21:08] I can't say that I was discouraged. For some incomprehensible reason, knew that someday I'd make it. [21:15] Remember that there are practically no “overnight" successes. Before that brilliant hit performance came ten, fifteen, sometimes twenty years in the salt mines, sweating it out. [25:08] I was determined to stay in Hollywood. I would do what I could to make sure I'd survive the long haul. [27:34] What would you give to be a star in two years?’’ Lela asked me when I first was getting to know her. “What d’ya mean?’’ "Would you give me every breath you draw for two years? Will you work seven days a week? Will you sacrifice all your social life?" “I certainly will," I promised. "Okay," she said, "let's start. Lela was the first person to see me as a clown with glamour. [28:43] Lela taught us never to see anyone as bigger or more important than ourselves. [30:07] Buster Keaton used to tell me about dozens of Hollywood people who ran into trouble. This was comforting, like reading an autobiography and thinking, “Well, that happened to them, too. I'm not the only one.” [35:51] He soon learned that in striking out on your own, you have to throw out your chest and sell yourself. [42:03] I learned the bitter lesson that directors and producers can make or break an actress. I was a star, but I felt that I couldn't afford to turn down parts for fear of infuriating these bigwigs If I did turn down a script I would be put on suspension, without salary. I couldn't accept an offer from any other studio, no matter how good, yet I could be fired at any time without the bosses showing cause. All the glittering “stars" were at the mercy of the whims of the top people. [45:12] I had a driving, consuming ambition to succeed in show business. [47:23] Founder mentality. Desi and I decided that since nobody else seemed to have faith in us as a team, we’d form our own corporation to promote ourselves. Desilu Productions, Inc., was launched. [48:54] At that time, television was regarded as the enemy by Hollywood. So terrified was Hollywood of this medium, movie people were afraid to make even guest appearances. (As bill gates and Walt Disney learned — go with the phenomenon— not against it) [50:50] Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire by James Wallace and Jim Erickson (Founders #140)  Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace by James Wallace (Founders #178)  [52:57] To my delight, I discovered that the I Love Lucy show drew from everything I'd learned in the movies, radio, the theater, and vaudeville. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com ---- “I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0

All the way back in 2019 I received a message that changed the direction of this podcast forever.

0:04.6

It was from Tristan who is one of the co-founders of Reed Wise.

0:08.0

He said, hey, I love the podcast and he told me about the Reed Wise product.

0:12.4

I responded, thanks Tristan, love the idea behind Reed Wise. and he told me about the Reed-Wise product.

0:12.5

I responded, thanks Tristan, love the idea behind Reed-Wise,

0:15.2

I will definitely check it out.

0:16.3

I had no idea that I would become a super user of his product.

0:20.8

And so over the years, I've added my highlights and notes for over 300

0:23.7

books I have over 20,000 highlights and notes for the books that I read for the

0:28.3

podcast and because I can search every single thing I've ever done I use ReedWise every day. I never

0:36.1

close the browser tab. The tab on ReedWise is always open because as I'm

0:40.5

reading, as I'm thinking, as I'm researching researching I'm constantly going in

0:44.7

and re-reading all my notes and highlights.

0:47.3

And you might already know this because every other podcast I go on I talk about

0:49.5

Reedwise, I tweet about it, I post about it

0:51.6

constantly, I've been saying for years it is the best

0:53.9

app that I pay for. And because I go around shouting about how great it is from the mountaintops,

0:58.8

I get a bunch of messages. Nearly every day people have asked me, hey is there a possibility that I can actually get access to your readwise?

1:05.6

And this happened so much for so long. And I thought it was like a superpower of mine.

1:09.3

So I was like, no, no, no, no. And then I started thinking, it was like, well, why is everybody

1:12.3

want this? Like like why do they keep

1:13.7

asking for this and I thought about it's like well if you think about this is like has anybody else in the world

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