[Phillip Beall]

All,

I love surprising myself, pleasantly, and then sharing that surprise with others.  This has zero to do with ham radio, but I will tell you, it was educational and so I am going to post it to the General Ragchew area.  It is a New York Times “Opinion – Guest Essay” by Todd S. Purdum.  “Mr. Purdum, a former Times correspondent, is the author of a forthcoming biography of Desi Arnaz.”

The piece was titled What Desi Arnaz Could Teach Hollywood Today (May 18, 2025).  Oh my.  I first saw I Love Lucy in syndication.  I had no idea just how big a deal it was.

In 1950 Lucille Ball and her husband, the Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, were approached about doing a show for the new medium – TV.  From the article:

“But there was a problem: Ball wanted to make the move only if Arnaz — who’d helped start the conga dance craze in nightclubs in the 1930s and fueled America’s demand for Latin music after World War II — could play that husband on TV.”  [Producers and advertisers were wary of having a Cuban dude on a television show. – Phillip]

“Arnaz, a Cuban immigrant and self-taught showman, had an idea: The couple would undertake an old-fashioned vaudeville tour of major cities around the country. He and Ball would demonstrate the real-life chemistry that he knew would click with Americans if they only had a chance to see the act.”

“Miracle of miracles, it worked. Critics and audiences from coast to coast raved at the couple’s onstage antics, as Lucy clowned with a battered cello while Desi sang and drummed his heart out.”

“Ricky Ricardo [became] a beloved figure to the 30 million people who watched his show each week. He was the one TV star who did not look or sound like any other — he was forever telling Lucy she had some “’splainin’ to do”…”

“Before “I Love Lucy,” television was largely a live medium in which programs ran once, then disappeared.  Arnaz assembled a team that arranged to film their show in front of a live audience so that it could be preserved pristinely on 35-millimeter film.”

“This production method was more costly, so the network insisted that Ball and Arnaz take a weekly pay cut. They agreed — if they could own the negatives of the show. The eventual multimillion-dollar value of the approximately 180 half-hours they produced provided the capital that made Desilu Productions the largest studio in Los Angeles, and the biggest producer of television content in the world. Arnaz’s technical innovations also made it possible for the show to be repeated (thus giving birth to the rerun) and resold (thus creating the syndication market).” [Emphasis added. – Phillip]

I had no idea that Desi Arnaz was basically the father of reruns and syndication!  Did you?  Setting aside the fact that this piece is a not very subtle plug for DEI, I encourage you to please click the link What Desi Arnaz Could Teach Hollywood Today and go give it a read.  I found it to be a historically fascinating read.

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

[Author]

Posts