Sign-In
Cart
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz: They Weren't Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Volume One (1911-1960) of a Two-Part Biography
Paperback
Series: Magnolia House
Entertainment & Performing ArtsBiographies GeneralGeneral Sociology
Publisher Price: $39.95
ISBN13: 9781936003716
Publisher: Blood Moon Productions, Ltd.
Published: May 7 2021
Pages: 576
Weight: 1.68
Height: 1.17 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
From 1951 through 1956, I Love Lucy was the most-watched show in television. Its launch was as rocky as the marriage of the real-life show-biz pros who crafted it.
After their divorce in 1960, Lucille Ball appraised Desi Arnaz, her former husband: He's like Jekyll and Hyde. He drinks and gambles, he's awash in broads and booze, and that gay actor, Cesar Romero, is his devoted slave. Love? she asked. I was always falling in love with the wrong man. Including Desi.
Arnaz summed up his marriage to Lucille: We were anything but Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. They had nothing to do with us. We dreamed of success, fame, and fortune. And guess what? It all led to hell.
Their early struggles were epic. As a girl, Lucy at times was literally chained to her backyard in Jamestown, New York. As a teenager, she broke away and earned a reputation as The Jamestown Hussy, riding around with Johnny DaVita, a local hoodlum.
Later, she broke into show business, hustling sugar daddies and stage-door Johnnies who gave her money and gifts. When she was desperate, she worked as a nude model.
In the 1930s, she migrated to Hollywood and made films for RKO.
Desi, however, was born to wealth and privilege in Cuba. At the age of twelve, as an incentive to helping him lose his virginity, he was escorted to a local bordello by his father.
Having lost most of their assets in the Cuban Revolution, his family fled. In Miami, Desi got a job as a janitor cleaning out canary cages. Later, in Manhattan, he accepted whatever gigs he could get. He became the kept boy of the gay composer Lorenz Hart, sustaining an affair with superstar Ginger Rogers on the side. That included the task of escorting her into Canada for an abortion. He was eventually hired by bandleader Xavier Cugat to beat hell out of those Afro-Cuban drums.
After drifting to Hollywood, he spotted Lucy on a sound stage dressed like a two-dollar whore who had been badly beaten by her pimp.
[That was, indeed, the character she developed for her role in Dance Girl Dance (1940). During its filming, she more or less politely resisted the lesbian advances of her director, Dorothy Arzner. Desi succeeded where Arzner failed, marrying Lucy that same year.] Characterized by violent fights and long separations, their stormy marriage staggered along for two traumatic decades.
Desi's obsession with sex became legendary. He seduced every prostitute in Polly Adler's infamous NYC whorehouse. In Hollywood, Lana Turner and Betty Grable came and went from his life, along with countless showgirls and hometown gals attending his on-the-road band shows.
Meanwhile, Lucy waited for his return, occupying her nights with the son (Elliott Roosevelt) of the U.S. president; actor/mobster George (Black Snake) Raft; and George Sanders, Zsa Zsa Gabor's suicidal husband. Coming and going from her boudoir were-among many others-William Holden, Milton Berle, Henry Fonda, Orson Welles, and Robert Mitchum.
By the early 1950s, the careers of both Lucy and Desi had run out of gas. TV executives objected to his Cuban accent. But I Love Lucy was launched nevertheless and shot up in the ratings, morphing into the most successful sitcom in TV history.
With gold arriving in wheelbarrows (Desi's words), Lucy and Desi bought RKO Studios and launched Desilu Productions. It became the largest motion picture and television studio in the world.
This first-of-a-kind biography of TV's wackiest and most eccentric couple is generously stuffed with ironic facts and blunt assessments from their frenemies. It radically changes the premises of the American Dream that helped fuel its success.
Also in
Entertainment & Performing Arts
Kitchen Confidential Annotated Edition: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Bourdain, Anthony
Paperback
A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond
Thayil, Kim
Tepedelen, Adem
Hardcover
The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg--And the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema
Fischer, Paul
Hardcover
Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life in Lyrics: My Life in Lyrics
Parton, Dolly
Oermann, Robert K.
Hardcover
North of Ordinary: How One Woman Left It All Behind for Wilderness and Wonder in Alaska's Frozen Frontier
Aikens, Sue
Hardcover
Lil' John: Laughing My Way Through Life: Stories from an Accidental Career on Cleveland Tv--And More!
Rinaldi, John
Paperback
Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life
Sioux, Nia
Hardcover
Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days
Beard, Javon
Whitfield, Bill
Hardcover
Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, New Edition: Collected Stories
Mueller, Cookie
Paperback
Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock 'n' Roll)
Hyden, Steven
Hardcover
Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum
Fortenberry, Nelle
Fox, Michael J.
Hardcover
A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks
Meslow, Scott
Hardcover
Don't Buy What I'm Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole, Fat Self
Chekowsky, Lu
Hardcover
From Here to the Great Unknown: Oprah's Book Club: A Memoir
Presley, Lisa Marie
Keough, Riley
Paperback
Martin Scorsese All the Films: The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short
Bousquet, Olivier
Devillard, Arnaud
Schaller, Nicolas
Hardcover
Jess and Norma: A Lifetime of Laughter and Our Unbreakable Bond
Burton, Norma
Asquith, Jessica
Paperback
Book Meets World: The Definitive Inside Story of the Hit Sitcom Boy Meets World
Fishel, Danielle
Strong, Rider
Friedle, Will
Hardcover
The Extended Universe: How Disney Killed the Movies and Took Over the World
Osterweil, Vicky
Hardcover
House of Psychotic Women: Expanded Edition: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films
Janisse, Kier-La
Paperback
Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever
Singer, Matt
Hardcover
Every Time a Bell Rings: The Legacy of It's a Wonderful Life, America's Most Beloved Holiday Film
Theisen, Lauren
St James, Emily
Hardcover
Lucas Wars: The True Story of George Lucas and the Creation of Star Wars
Hopman, Laurent
Roche, Renaud
Hardcover
The Way Love Goes: A Guide to Building a "Beaurtiful" and Everlasting Relationship
Da Brat &. Judy
Hardcover
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride
Layden, Joe
Elwes, Cary
Paperback
Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder with the Truth
King, Amy Duggar
Hardcover
Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend
Malkoff, Mark
Hardcover
Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dolly Parton: Country Wisdom for Life's Little Challenges
Sharaf, Juliana
Hardcover
The Love Producer: My Unscripted Journey from a Reality TV Career to My Own Happily Ever After
Laplaca, Julie
Paperback
100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life (Large Print Edition)
Van Dyke, Dick
Hardcover
Infinite Steps: Thirty-Three Dancers and Their Lives in Ballet
Larsen, Gavin
Schiavone, Gene
Paperback
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power
Miller, W. Jason
Hardcover
It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect But Plenty of Sex and Drugs
Dangerfield, Rodney
Paperback