Cuban-born actor Desi Arnaz is best remembered for his role as Ricky Ricardo in the classic American television series I Love Lucy. Photo credit: TV Radio Mirror. GPA Photo.
In The New York Sun, Mario Naves notes the impact of Desi Arnaz on television in America, referencing a new biography of Arnaz by Todd Purdum, titled Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television. Naves writes:
Mr. Purdum’s bio is a corrective to Arnaz’s public image as a hot-headed Cuban given to malapropisms. As the subtitle makes plain, Arnaz was more than “Mr. Lucille Ball” — a designation that he found infuriating. He was a behind-the-scenes innovator in the fledgling medium of television, which at the time was frowned upon: The new technology was seen as a decisive step down the ladder of the entertainment hierarchy. With their respective movie careers in a lull, Desi and Lucy took a gamble and threw their lot in with the small screen. The payoff was significant.
While proving his mettle as a comic performer — a talent he honed with admirable doggedness as Ricky Ricardo — Arnaz established standard-setting precedents in the formatting, production, and distribution of television programs. Through a confluence of happenstance, a knack for cultivating talent, and a wily organizational savvy, Arnaz transformed Desilu Productions into a major force in popular entertainment and, in the process, became not only wealthy but powerful. When “I Love Lucy” became the no. 1 show in the United States, word came down from the corporate powers-that-be: “Don’t f— around with the Cuban!”
Read more here.
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