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Desi Arnaz (born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III) (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-American musician, actor, comedian and television producer.
Early lifeDesi Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second largest city, to a wealthy family. His ancestors had been among the original recipients of Spanish land grants in the eighteenth century. His father served in the Cuban House of Representatives and became Santiago's youngest mayor. The 1933 revolution, led by Fulgencio Batista,overthrew the American-backed President Gerardo Machado, landed his father in jail, and stripped his family of its wealth and power. Arnaz's father was released when U.S. officials, who believed him to be neutral during the revolt, intervened on his behalf. Arnaz and his parents then fled to Miami, Florida. Music career
Arnaz was equally successful as a recording artist. Beginning his musical career in 1937, he released with what became his signature song, the Santeria-flavored "Babalu", in (1946). The song was written by Margarita Lecuona, a renowned composer and cousin of famed Cuban composers Ernesto and Ernestina Lecuona. "Babalú" was released for RCA Victor. Film careerIn 1939, he starred on Broadway in the successful musical Too Many Girls. He then went to Hollywood to appear in the 1940 movie version at RKO, which starred actress and comedian Lucille Ball. Arnaz appeared in several movies in the 1940s, most notably Bataan (1943). Shortly after he received his draft notice, but before he was actually inducted, he injured his knee. Although he made it through boot camp, he was eventually classified for limited service, and ended up directing U.S.O. programs at a military hospital in the San Fernando Valley. In his memoirs, he recalled discovering that the first thing soldiers requested was almost invariably a glass of cold milk, so he arranged for beautiful starlets to greet the wounded soldiers as they disembarked and pour milk for them. After leaving the Army, he formed another orchestra, which was successful in live appearances and recordings. After he became engaged in television, he kept the orchestra on his payroll throughout the period he remained an active producer. I Love Lucy
Desilu ProductionsWith Ball, he founded Desilu Productions. At this time, most television programs were broadcast live, and as the largest markets were in New York, the rest of the country received only kinescope images (the result of placing 35 mm or 16 mm film cameras in front of a television monitor and shipping the prints to other time zones for broadcast at a later date, resulting in extremely poor quality). Arnaz developed the multicamera setup production style using adjacent sets that became the standard for all subsequent situation comedies to this day. The use of film enabled every station around the country to broadcast high-quality images of the show. Initially, Arnaz was told that it would be impossible to allow an audience onto a sound stage, but he worked with the famous cameraman Karl Freund to design a set that would accommodate an audience, allow filming and also adhere to fire and safety codes. Network executives considered the use of film an unnecessary extravagance. Arnaz convinced them to allow Desilu to cover all additional costs associated with the filming process, under the stipulation that Desilu owned and controlled all rights to the film. Arnaz's unprecedented arrangement is widely considered to be one of the shrewdest deals in television history. As a result of his foresight, Desilu reaped the profits from all re-runs of the series. Arnaz also pushed the network to allow them to show Lucille Ball while she was pregnant. According to Arnaz, the CBS network told him, "You cannot show a pregnant woman on television." Arnaz consulted a priest, a rabbi and a minister, all of whom told him that there would be nothing wrong with showing a pregnant Lucy or with using the word pregnant. The network finally relented and let Arnaz and Ball weave the pregnancy into the story line, but remained adamant about eschewing use of pregnant, so Arnaz substituted expecting, pronouncing it 'spectin' in his Cuban accent. 'In addition to I Love Lucy, he produced December Bride, The Mothers-in-Law, The Lucy Show, Those Whiting Girls, Our Miss Brooks, and the The Untouchables, all Top Ten shows in their time. He is also credited with the invention of the rerun. Beliefs"Good taste"Also worth noting is the firm stance Arnaz and Ball took as to "basic good taste," avoiding racial or ethnic jokes, poking fun at the handicapped, and the like. Arnaz recalled that the only exception consisted of making fun of Ricky Ricardo's accent—and noted that even these jokes worked only when Lucy, as his wife, did the mimicking. "When Fred and Ethel made fun of Ricky's accent, they didn't get a laugh." PatriotismArnaz was adamantly patriotic—in his memoirs, the first object of thanks was the United States itself: "I know of no other country in the world," he said, in which "a sixteen-year old kid, broke and unable to speak the language," could reach the astonishing heights of success that he had. Arnaz' warm feelings towards his adopted country most likely influenced the storyline of I Love Lucy in certain subtle ways. Over the show's six-year run, the fortunes of the Ricardos closely mirror that of the archetypical 1950s American Dream: at first, they live in a tiny brownstone apartment; Ricky's fortunes continue to improve, and they move into a slightly larger one with a view after Little Ricky is born. Later, Ricky gets his big break and goes to Hollywood; shortly after returning to New York, all of them have the chance to travel through Europe, an adventure that most Americans back then could never afford. Finally, Lucy and Ricky echo the Zeitgeist of 1950s America and head for the suburbs. Fred Mertz, with his unrelenting stinginess and fears about money, symbolizes the lean years of the Depression, now a fading memory. MarriagesImage:Lucy & desi 7.jpg Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz Arnaz married Lucille Ball in 1940 and initiated divorce proceedings in 1944, but reconciled before the interlocutory decree became final. He and Ball were the parents of actress Lucie Arnaz (born 1951) and actor Desi Arnaz, Jr. (born 1953). Arnaz's marriage with Ball began to collapse under the strain of his serious problems with alcohol, drugs, and womanizing. According to his memoir, the combined pressures of managing the production company as well as supervising its day-to-day operations had greatly worsened as it grew much larger. Arnaz was also suffering from diverticulitis. He and Ball divorced in 1960; she was 49 and he was 43. When Ball returned to weekly television, she and Arnaz worked out an agreement regarding Desilu wherein she bought him out. Three years after the divorce, Arnaz married his second wife, Edith Mack Hirsh, and greatly reduced his show business activities. He served as executive producer of The Mothers-in-Law, and during its two-year run, made 4 very amusing guest appearances as a Spanish matador, Senor Delgado. Although Arnaz remarried after his divorce to Ball in 1960, they remained friends. It was evident that they still loved each other very much, as they continued to speak by telephone every single night until his death. Despite the divorce, he continued to send Lucy flowers every year on their wedding anniversary, which was Nov. 30th. [June 19 was the date they were married in a church]. After their divorce, Lucille got into an accident while making a film with Bob Hope. When Arnaz heard, he rode by horse from his ranch to the hospital. Family home movies later aired in television showed Ball and Arnaz playing together with their mutual grandson, Simon (or "Simón", if Arnaz's mock protests are to be believed), shortly before his death. Later lifeIn the 1970s, he co-hosted a week of shows with daytime TV favorite Mike Douglas. Vivian Vance appeared as a guest, and in this brief reunion viewers could see the genuine affection each had for the other. Arnaz also headlined a Kraft Music Hall special on NBC that featured his two children, with a brief appearance by Vance. To promote his autobiography, A Book, in 1976 Arnaz served as a memorable guest host on Saturday Night Live with his son, Desi, Jr., also appearing. Arnaz played the drums and sang a song in Spanish, and also read Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" in a heavy Cuban accent (he pronounced it "Habberwocky"). He ended the broadcast by leading the entire cast in a raucous conga line through the SNL studio. Desi and Edith eventually moved to Del Mar, California, where he lived the rest of his life in semi-retirement. He contributed generously to charitable and non-profit organizations, including San Diego State University. Arnaz would make a guest appearance on the TV series Alice, starring Linda Lavin and produced by "I Love Lucy" co-creators Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll Jr. This would be one of Arnaz's last television appearances remembered by American audiences. Arnaz, a lifelong smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 1986, and died from the disease on December 2, 1986, at age 69. His wife, Edith, had died previously, also from cancer. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered. A widely published photograph taken at his funeral mass shows an aged Lucille Ball emerging from the church. LegacyDesi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for contributions to motion pictures at 6327 Hollywood Boulevard, and for television at 6220 Hollywood Boulevard. Filmography
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