Bob Carroll, 87, wrote for Lucy *

Bob Carroll Jr. worked with writing partner Madelyn Pugh Davis for more than 60 years, including on all the television series that Lucille Ball starred in. Carroll and and Pugh (her name then) were writing for comedian Steve Allen’s radio show in the 1940s when they heard Ball was hiring for her show, “My Favorite Husband.” When she moved to television in 1953 with "I Love Lucy," they went with and wrote the pilot episode — and the rest is history. In those days, Carroll and Pugh would write scripts for 39 shows a season — and they apparently wrote every episode during the show's run. Always mystifies me how a Hollywood figure of the stature of Carroll can die on Saturday and the word doesn't hit the wires until late Monday night. In the photo from 1954, Carroll and Pugh flank "I Love Lucy" producer Jess Oppenheimer.

Noted: TV Week's Tom Gilbert interviewed Davis on Monday. She had this to say about her partner:

"We had the same sense of humor. We really never argued about anything. People always ask where we got our ideas because we turned out so many scripts. We never liked to do off-color stuff. And we never used topical humor-thank God for that; we had no way of knowing we were going to last for 50 years."

She added about the partnership, "I think Bob was funnier than I am. I was the more of the driver-and I did the typing."