Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television by Todd S Purdum is a captivating biography. The book shows how he was a trailblazing Cuban American who helped to revolutionize television and its technology. Readers will learn about Desi’s personal and professional life including his family, the famous TV show “I Love Lucy,” and the studios.
For example, the author explains how he was “charming, warm, and self-destructive. He had streaks of genius with a lot of forthright. He gave a quote that someday people will have a TV as big as the wall on their house. He was persistent and resourceful.”
Desi Arnaz is presented as a conflicted person. As a child his family went from being very affluent to owning nothing after the 1933 Cuban Revolution. Eventually, they came to America as refugees. By twenty, he had formed his own band and sparked the conga dance craze in America.
“He saw his whole world burn down in front of his eyes. He felt real men did not share their feelings with strangers. It was bottled up and he had to find relief somewhere, maybe with his sexual compulsions and some in drinking. The one way he found a constructive outlet was his willingness to risk everything. Having experienced the worst, he became a risk taker. He looked at things and said why or why not. He had resolve to find ways around, never giving up.”
He met Lucille Ball when they both were filming a movie. They fell madly in love, married, and eventually decided to work together on their TV show, “I Love Lucy” to salvage their faltering marriage.
“Without Lucy Desi would have been a second-tier band leader. Without Desi Lucy would have been the queen of the B movies. What is wonderful about their story is what they gave to each other. Desi gave Lucy a foil to play against, a brilliant counter point, since he reacted to her. He was the eyes and ears of the show’s audience. It is Desi’s frustrations and exasperations that people identify with, more than Lucy’s adventures. She gave Desi a brilliant co-star that elevated him. He let her get the laughs and he was the set-up.”
Readers learn about his many achievements, including pioneering the three-camera setup for sitcoms, filming in front of studio audiences, and syndicated reruns.
“He made the decision to film on high quality 35 mm film, so it still looks pristine. He also wanted to own the rights to the film, his own intellectual property, the foundation of his empire. His decision to use three cameras at once to record the comedy to get the action/reaction in the same moment, to capture the spontaneity. Lucy influenced women in comedy. I think performers from Carol Burnett to Amy Poehler to Tina Fey are the heirs to Lucy’s comic sensibility. She paved the way to showing women could be funny. Although Lucy was not verbally funny and could never tell a joke. But she was funny when she could act out a story with physical moves and gestures. Her influence is very long lasting.”
But unfortunately, he had faults that affected his marriage, including drinking too much and infidelity. In later life, both stayed in touch and never fell out of love with each other.
“With the show he let Lucy be the star and shine. He was careful to give her the credit. But at home he was the dominant figure. They were opposites attracted to each other. They must have bonded in that both had struggles in their early life. They also had to support the care and feeding for their mothers. There was a spark between this dark exotic guy and this All-American girl. She had put up with his infidelity for ten years. I don’t think it was ever easy for her, and she never liked it, but she knew about it and put up with it. What crushed her was for it to be so public and it appeared like he was rubbing her face in it. But I think they truly loved each other very deeply from the very beginning. I do not think they ever stopped loving each other. He sent her flowers every year on her birthday. After they got divorced and a lot of tension passed, they had a very affectionate relationship.”
Anyone who has watched reruns of “I Love Lucy” will enjoy the tidbits and facts presented in this book. Readers will see Desi Arnaz in a different light from a television pioneer to a savvy businessman. A bonus is how the author intertwines the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz with the social, political, and cultural events of the time from the Communist Red Scare to Americans moving to the suburbs.
