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Desi 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.
Arnaz began his career as a professional musician
in 1936 as an Afro-Cuban jazz musician, playing guitar and percussion
for a Latin orchestra. He took a pay cut to work in New York City for
mentor Xavier Cugat, whom he would later describe as a world-class
cheapskate but excellent teacher. Arnaz returned to Miami six months
later to lead his own Latin musical group. It was there he introduced
America to the Conga Line. After forming his own orchestra he returned
to New York.
Arnaz was equally successful as a recording artist. Beginning his
musical career in 1937, he released what became his signature song,
the Santeria-flavored "Babalú", 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.
He produced and starred in I Love Lucy, in which
he played a fictitious version of himself, Cuban orchestra leader
Ricky Ricardo, and starring his real-life wife, Lucille Ball, as
Ricky's wife, Lucy. Television executives had been pursuing Ball to
adapt her very popular radio series My Favorite Husband for
television. Ball insisted on Arnaz playing her on-air spouse, so the
two would be able to spend more time together. The original premise
was for the couple to portray Lucy & Larry Lopez, a successful
showbusiness couple (he a band leader, she an actress) whose glamorous
careers interfered with their efforts to maintain a normal marriage.
Market research indicated, however, that this scenario would not be
popular, so Arnaz changed it to make Ricky a struggling young
orchestra leader and Lucy a plain housewife with showbiz fantasies but
no talent at all. He would often play in and later own, Tropicana
Club, which under his ownership, he renamed Club Babalu. Initially,
the idea of having Ball and the distinctly Latino Arnaz portray a
married couple encountered resistance, for he was told that his Cuban
accent and Latin style would not be agreeable to American viewers; but
the couple overcame these objections by touring together in a live
vaudeville act they developed with the help of Spanish clown, Pepito
Perez, and Ball's radio show writers. Much of the material from their
vaudeville act was used in the original "I Love Lucy" pilot, including
Lucy's memorable seal routine. (The pilot originally ran as the third
episode of the show's first season.)
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