When Asher finally returned to the soundstage, he said that “Desi was there [and] he was furious.” The filmmaker got what he assumed was an expletive-laden dressing down — in Spanish. “I settled him down and said, ‘Look, Desi, here’s what happened,'” Asher said. Apparently, the director’s explanation was enough for Arnaz to take his side, but the producer and star still asked Asher to make peace with his wife. “‘What you should do is go into Lucy’s dressing room. She’s crying. Go talk to her and settle this thing,'” Asher recalled Arnaz saying.
In the end, the initial point of conflict did blow over. Asher apologized to Ball and said he started crying too when he saw her cry in her dressing room. The pair’s working relationship changed afterward, but Asher saw it as a positive thing. “I’ll tell you this,” he’s quoted as saying in DGA Quarterly. “I never had trouble from her after that. She had her opinion and would offer it, but nothing ever behind my back.” The utilitarian methods of early TV meant that Asher would go on to direct not just a few episodes of the show, but every single installment from season 2 through season 4, plus roughly half of the show’s final season.
Ball would eventually make her own official directing debut two decades later, shooting an episode of “Here’s Lucy” and helming the film “Bungle Abbey.” Half a century later, though, she’s still remembered as the unstoppable, hardworking comedic force behind “I Love Lucy,” despite never taking a turn in the director’s chair on the show.
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