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Lucy & Desi by Warren G. Harris: book review



Lucy & Desi: The Legendary Love Story of Television’s Most Famous Couple (1991, this edition 2016) is about the comedic married duo Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in the 1950s. Romantic and loving on screen, playing Lucille Mcgillicuddy and Ricky Ricardo for 8 years; volatile and dysfunctional off screen in real life; they stayed married for 19 years due to their two children, and their joint businesses, including equal investments in the Desilu Productions (subsequently Paramount Studios and CBS Television Studios).

This biography details their lives from the day they met in June 1940 (when Desi was 23 and Lucy was 29) to the divorce proceedings initiated in November 1959, and beyond, with all its laughter and tears.

From Cuba, Desi Arnaz (1917-1986) was a band-leader and American Lucy Ball (1911-1989) was an aimless actress when they first met. Together they had the ‘chemistry’ that produced one of the greatest television empires of all time, with nearly 30 television shows on all three major networks. For example, Desilu produced The Untouchables, Star Trek, and Mission Impossible.

Never a redhead, Lucy became one of the best known redheads in history. Her friend thought she should dye her hair red for a week-long theatre role as a ex-shopgirl in 1927. ‘I had no talent … I couldn’t dance. I couldn’t sing … I had no flair. I wasn’t a beauty, that’s for sure’ so she acted as the ‘studio clown’ to get attention. After her rise to fame, enough hair dye ‘to last her to age 110 at least’ was stored in a disaster-proof safe.

Desi, on the other hand, had talent. He had his own orchestra by the time he was 20, playing in Miami Beach. He could sing and dance (even if it was only the conga, which he initiated at his club to get audience participation). And he was charismatic. Desi was hired for a part on Broadway as a singing-and-dancing actor in Too Many Girls in 1939 and in the movie in 1940. Lucy was hired as one of the ‘too many girls.’

The first joint television appearance of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz took place on Ed Wynn’s broadcast in December 1949. They performed separately, but took bows together.

This biography sets the historical aspects of Broadway, the film industry, the radio industry, and finally, the televison industry and the first use of Super Cinecolor (a cheap alternative to Technicolor). Television was the new media. In 1948 in America 1.2 million people had a television set, which rose to almost 4 million a year later. Manufacturers were predicting additional sales of at least 5 million sets in 1950. Lucy and Desi capitalized on this growing trend.

The biography concludes with the lives of Lucy and Desi’s children, Lucie (1951-) and Desi Jr (1953-) and the legacy of the television show: When I Love Lucy became a television program, it was a slapstick sitcom. Added to the mix was the rarity – a female comedic lead. It made history in audience domination and for being filmed in front of a live studio audience. Success did not end when the 8-year program ended in 1957: I Love Lucy continued an enduring legacy across the globe to the present day. In 2017 Gillian Anderson portrayed the Lucy Ricardo character in the American Gods episode, ‘The Secret of Spoons.’

This biography is detailed in its descriptions of work and home life, the highs and lows of show business, and the volatile arguments between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (who started them and what they were about). It is an incredibly interesting account of the private lives of a public couple.









MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).



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