Today is the birthday of Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III, better known as Desi Arnaz. He was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He was known for playing the conga drum and popularized the conga line in the United States. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, in which he co-starred with his wife Lucille Ball
publicity photo
Many think of him as the straight man for Lucille Ball, however, he was equally with her the financial wizards. He negotiated a deal whereby they retained the rights to the I Love Lucy show and they bought Desilu Productions. Arnaz and Ball are credited as the innovators of the syndicated rerun, which they pioneered with the I Love Lucy series.
Arnaz and Ball co-founded and ran the television production company Desilu Productions, originally to market I Love Lucy to television networks. After I Love Lucy
ended, Arnaz went on to produce several other television series, at
first with Desilu Productions, and later independently, including The Ann Sothern Show and The Untouchables.
Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, on March 8, 1894, a descendant of Cuban nobility, The Cuban Revolution of 1933
forced Arnaz and his family to lose everything and flee Cuba. A mob
attacked and destroyed the family's houses, property, and livestock. The family then fled to Miami. The family came to the U.S. with no money and he had to live with
his father in a garage that was infested with rats and roaches. His first jobs included working at Woolworths
and cleaning canary cages in Miami. He then went into the tile business
with his father before turning to show business full time.
Xavier Cugat,
after seeing Arnaz perform, hired him for his touring orchestra,
playing the conga drum and singing. Becoming a star attraction
encouraged him to start his own band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. Arnaz and his orchestra became a hit in the New York City club scene,
including a club named La Conga, where he is credited with introducing
the concept of conga line dancing to the United States.
The Muppets conga line
He came to the attention of Rodgers and Hart who, in 1939, cast him in their Broadway musical Too Many Girls. The show was a hit and RKO Pictures bought the movie rights. Arnaz went to Hollywood the next year to appear in the show's movie version at RKO, which also starred Lucille Ball. Arnaz and Ball fell in love during the film's production and eloped on November 30, 1940.
On December 1, 1945, Arnaz formed another orchestra and hired his childhood friend Marco Rizo to play piano and arrange for the orchestra.
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