Bob Weiskopf, the award-winning TV scribe who co-wrote some of the most famous episodes of I Love Lucy, died on February 20, 2001, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.
    Weiskopf, who was born in Chicago, first tried his hand at comedy writing at the suggestion of friends Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. Panama and Frank lured him to Hollywood in 1940, where he managed to sell some jokes to Bob Hope for his radio program. From there, Weiskopf moved on to The Eddie Cantor Show, then Rudy Vallee's Sealtest Program.After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, he sent his new bride, the former Eileen Ito, east to avoid the internment camps, and moved in with fellow Rudy Vallee writer Jess Oppenheimer (who 13 years later would hire his former roommate to write for I Love Lucy).
    Weiskopf and his wife were reunited a few months later when he moved to New York, where he was hired to write radio comedy for the legendary Fred Allen. When Weiskopf received a draft notice ordering him to report on June 1, 1942, he requested atwo-weekdelay so that he could finish writing the last two Fred Allen shows of the season. The Draft Board summarily rejected his request, explaining, "Everybody knows Fred Allen writes his own material."
    Fortunately, Weiskopf was soon stationed in New York City, and was able to keep writing forAllen--anassignment that would last for nine years, until Weiskopf moved to the West Coast.
    After arriving in Los Angeles, Bob and Eileen set about to find a school for their son. The woman they had turned to for help in their search not only recommended a school, but added that her husband, Bob Schiller, was also a comedywriter--andthat he was looking for a partner. The two Bobs met, and the rest is history.
    Moving into the new medium of TV, Weiskopf and Schiller wrote for two Desilu shows, Make Room for Daddy and Our Miss Brooks. One day on the Desilu lot they ran into Weiskopf's old roommate, Jess Oppenheimer, and within an hour the two Bobs had joined the I Love Lucy writing staff. The award-winning team of Weiskopf and Schiller went on from there to write other classic shows such as All in the Family and Maude.
    Weiskopf is survived by his wife, Eileen, sons Kim and Walt, and two grandchildren.

 Read more about Weiskopf & Schiller. 

 More Lucy news...

 Visit our Lucy gift store!