Desi Arnaz: The "Prince" of Cuba, The King of Television
Chances are you know of a show called I Love Lucy. It was a show that changed TV forever and followed the Ricardo family’s hilarious antics for over a decade. From that show, a star was born, Lucille Ball.
While she might be the name you remember most, you’d be forgetting one of TV's most essential players both in front of and behind the scenes: Desi Arnaz.
Desi’s life is a fascinating one. It’s a story of riches to rags to riches. The boy who had everything taken away from him due to a revolution rebuilt his life in a foreign land, married a fiery red head, became a father, ran a media empire, and wound up as one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. This is the story of the “Prince” of Cuba and the King of Television.
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www.britannica.com/event/Cuba...
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archive.org/details/book00arn...
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archive.org/details/book00arn...
archive.org/details/book00arn...
archive.org/details/book00arn...
archive.org/details/book00arn...
A Book by Desi Arnaz
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
by Coyne Stevan Sanders and Thomas W. Gilbert
Lucy & Desi: The Legendary Love Story of Television’s Most Famous Couple
by Warren G. Harris
Lucy and Desi (2022) - Documentary
Пікірлер: 94
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@danielsantiagourtado3430
3 ай бұрын
Karl is awesome 🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤. Please do Charles XIV of sweden
@erraticonteuse
3 ай бұрын
For half a second, my brain parsed James's insta handle as "james somerton" 😱
Controversial or not, the man became one of Hollywood's legends.
My mom was a server at a restaurant that was, at the time, one of two renown restaurants in our city. She spilled wine right in Desi Arnaz’s lap. He was incredibly gracious, laughed it off, tipped her well.
“One of the biggest problems with comedy was that I did not understand some of the jokes” Desi Arnaz
"I Love Lucy was never just the title"... got damn't, who's cutting onions in here?
0:10 these smallwood jokes are just getting better! Keep them coming karl😂😂😂😂😂😂
@marksusskind1260
3 ай бұрын
my faves are mathematical: double L, double U, double O
So glad you did Desi quickly after Lucy.
I would love to see a video on George Burns and Gracie Allen in the same way you just did Lucy and Desi.
Desi and Lucy were always hilarious on the old roasts. RIP to two legends of comedy.
I worked on his ranch in 85, he was always kind to me.
The name is Smallwood, but the Energy is BD...
Thank you for doing his own biography episode as well. It really was a good show and like I said they did change television at that time.
Amazing video as always and a very interesting if troubled man. It must have be traumatized to go from very wealthy to dirt poor so quickly and then having to struggle for so much of his youth. It probably contributed to his issues and him and Lucy both with a lot of emotional baggage made an amazing if volatile pair. Oh and the last time they talked was on what would have been their wedding anniversary.
Lucille Ball was....the star. She continued to have a great career even after Desi quit. It's clear that the guy made enough money to live the life he wanted without working anymore. He became financially independent to say the least.
13:19 You mean fiery? Like fire-ree? I mean is that how British people say it? Lol
@SSRT_JubyDuby8742
3 ай бұрын
I have duplicated this comment, without knowledge of your's, apologies, 😔.
@bunyipdragon9499
3 ай бұрын
I pointed this out in the Lucille Ball bio but I'm sure she'd be ok with feary instead of firey (fiery) 😂
Together the brought us Star Trek and mission impossible .. True Giants
RIP.
i have the whole series, i love lucy and rickey
Fun video
1:50 - Chapter 1 - The prince of cuba 3:00 - Chapter 2 - Losing everything; the cuban revolution of 1933 4:45 - Chapter 3 - From riches to rags 7:05 - Chapter 4 - From rags to rumba 8:50 - Chapter 5 - Conga ; desi's dance of desperation 10:45 - Chapter 6 - Too many girls 11:55 - Chapter 7 - Desi meets his match ; lucille ball 13:50 - Chapter 8 - A cuban goes to war ; WW2 15:10 - Chapter 9 - I love lucy & the rise of desilu 20:50 - Chapter 10 - A marriage on the rocks 22:00 - Chapter 11 - Half of desilu calls it a day 24:05 - Chapter 12 - Desi's final days 24:55 - Chapter 13 - The legacy of the prince of cuba & the king of television 25:45 - Conclusion
Could you do one about voice actress June Foray.
@erraticonteuse
3 ай бұрын
Yes! She was a legend and totally deserves wider recognition. Such a long career too, from Rocket J. Squirrel to Grandma Fa in Mulan, her work is iconic.
Glad you guys did both so close together. There are always two sides to every story. I didn’t know as much about him as I did about Lucy, so thanks for this.
Man was a true talent. Shame he could never stop sleeping around on Lucy.
@okjoe5561
3 ай бұрын
Lucy got around too. Welcome to Hollywood.
@michellecrocker2485
3 ай бұрын
@@okjoe5561 Lucy was sleeping around? I never heard about that
@okjoe5561
3 ай бұрын
@@michellecrocker2485 Sure. She had a boyfriend in NYC, that's why she did that play on Broadway. Orson Welles told a story that he and Lucy got together and he couldn't, shall we say, rise to the occasion for her so she spread it around that he was a colorful word for homosexual. In Desi's autobiography (a very good book, by the way) when Lucy said she wanted a divorce and was going to take him for everything he had, he showed her a piece of paper with the name of someone she was seeing and she quieted down real quick. To be fair, no one is faithful in Hollywood.
@lordoftheflies7024
3 ай бұрын
@@okjoe5561what? Lucy wanted orson wells? He had a nice voice and all that but ladies man he most certainly didn't look the part.
@okjoe5561
3 ай бұрын
@@lordoftheflies7024 Orson Welles was quite the ladies man. Read a biography on him.
interesting video
This one and the Lucile Ball video have both been amazing, loving content lately as a whole
You should cover william joyce lord haw-haw
Really enjoyed this video - presentation, history and facts....and...informative entertaining.
Can you do a video on colonel ivan savin alik??
Unreal how many times this channel has posted a video on an obscure person in history that I was randomly thinking about
Thanks Karl, good video! 😊❤
He never got the credit for all he did.
KARL, Gonna miss you on fact fiend, it's great to see you here though.
LUCY I’M HOME!!!
What happened too Whistle boy then?
Thanks.
Bob-Alu!
That title though....
Dead Arnaz was a gracious man a really funny man and not ha🎉d on the eyes!
Has anyone requested a video on Amelia Earhart or Clara Barton?
24:43 well that was beautiful
Wait what happened to the other host?
2:35 that's a a lot of stuff in his plethora... but no pinatas???
The husband of the Empress of Star Trek. Lucille Ball saved Star Trek.
I have been asking this since before Simon hit 50k subs. JAMES DOOHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Btw you're doing a great job.
He made a statement with Ed Sullivan on the miracle of living in the US. It's one of the most moving statements I've ever heard. 👍🏿
@JJJBRICE
2 ай бұрын
It was at a testimonial on the Sullivan show for ILL and Arnaz was accompanied by the other members of the fabulous foursome . He mentioned only in America could go from cleaning bird cages to be being a success on ILL . Arnaz was tearing up saying this and Sullivan was embracing him .
Smallwood 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 🫡 you are a brave man 🧍♂️
I always wanted to make these kinds of videos but I have no idea where to start
Interim - job ! ? Gotta change yer moniker.
Loved the show. Great job everyone. Parenthetically, I’m low key getting angry Karl still has to say interim
Why is Carl Tinyphallus here?
"feary"?
Make an episode about Dom Pedro II of Brazil. He was the greatest Brazilian of all time.
i dont lik to watch the later ones, you can tell they werent in love
Wow ! Desi - Lu sure wassa powerhouse !
Ballsy ❌ Audacious ✅
Desi Arnaz deserves better where’s simon
@brix7816
Ай бұрын
In case you somehow haven't realized, or seen the news, Simon has quit Biographics and Geographics forever.
Kyle Smoregood
Where’s Simon? When’s he coming back
@joeobrien196
3 ай бұрын
He left after disagreement with owner. Comeback unlikely.
86th
Would you all do one about The Three Stooges or about Casey Kasem?
I heard that after Lucy died, their daughter wanted to edit the show to remove all the smoking since heavy smoking killed both of them but it couldn't be done because so much of the show involved smoking in some way. I think it was in their contract with Philip Morris for their sponsorship that if nobody on screen was smoking they would have to go off script and offer everyone a cigarette or cigar.
Do Andrew Johnson 1st us president to get impeached!
I love how the viewership has completely dropped since Simon left the channel. I used to watch this everyday.
Just look at the numbers. When will people realize that Simon made the channel. Just accept defeat and return it to him ... if he wants it. Just look at the numbers.
He was a talented musician and made a surprisingly good straight man for lucy. They were very funny together. Just a shame he was a cheating pos.
I see the viewership levels dropped significantly since Simon left. She made a huge mistake with this. Went from millions of views to thousands.
I’ve noticed that the 6 counties ( popularly known as’ Northern Ireland ‘ ) seems to contain a more than average proportion of folk with….intriguing surnames. Particular members of loyalist militias such as the UDA. Every other leader of them seemed to have been saddled with surnames such as ‘ Pickles ‘ , ‘ Smalls ‘, ‘ Cheese ‘, ‘ Dicklesbury ‘, & what have you…😂
Too Many Girls was ironically the story of Lucy's marriage to Desi.
Learn to pronounce "fiery", please.
I like you but your hosting you fidget too much and joke around its a history channel its more Let get down to it...reduce the goofiness and just give it straight i think it would be better. A joke or two here and there ...Its like Tars in interstellar lets get on that valium setting
This man has far too much hair on top of his head and none on his face....
Also, your catchphrase is rubbish.
Seriously, you don't need to spell your name, it is written on the screen. Please just get on with the programme, like your predecessor did, no one cares about the narcissistic preamble, and anyone who wants that info can listen to you repeat it all at the end.
No.
He constantly cheated on Lucy. If it wasn't for Lucy Desi arnaz would have never got anywhere. She insisted to CBS that he had to be on the show. I love Lucy. He was a piece of crap
@25Erix
3 ай бұрын
The affairs went both ways, remember?
@dewgirl101
Ай бұрын
Yeah she advocated for him to be on the show, but I Love Lucy would have never made it off the ground without Desi.
Worst Biographics EVER ? Pretty boring subject