The Desilu Old Hollywood Effect: Desi Arnaz Was The Man Who Made Television What Know It To Be Today In the 21st Century – And Lucille Ball Was The Woman Who Redefined Femininity And Motherhood In The 1950’s

We’ve been doing a lot of talking about old Hollywood, particularly in the previous blog entry on Patty Duke, as well as on her son’s continued work to advocate for and bring awareness to mental illness following her death. It was work that she was truly passionate about. But we can’t ever talk about Patty Duke and not even mention Lucille Ball. She was the queen of comedy; still is. She starred on her own television series, I Love Lucy, with her then-husband, Desi Arnaz, in the 1950’s. The two were married between 1940 and 1960.

What does this have to do with Patty Duke, you ask? A lot. She was romantically involved with Ball and Arnaz’s son, Desi Arnaz Jr. when she was 23 and he was 17. Lucille Ball was very much against the relationship and didn’t hesitate to make it known. I understand. I wouldn’t be happy either if my son is involved with a 23-year-old woman when he’s underage. And let’s make it clear that just because someone’s 18 and of legal age doesn’t mean that they should be courted by someone that much older.

To go back to our original point, it was believed for many years that Arnaz Jr. was the biological father of Sean Astin, Duke’s son. He was raised by John Astin, Duke’s second husband, and was legally adopted by him at a very young age. When Sean was in his teens, Duke told him that Arnaz Jr. was his biological father, and the two had developed a close bond with one another. It was only when Sean was 26 that the real truth was revealed following a DNA test, which was that Michael Tell was Sean’s biological father. Duke and Tell were only romantically involved briefly; having married during one of Duke’s manic episodes. The marriage was annulled after 13 days.

Sean’s bond with Arnaz Jr. didn’t end following the revelation. They stayed close. In fact, Sean now considers himself to have FOUR dads; the fourth being Michael Pearce, who was married to Duke between 1986 and 2016 – until her death. If you want to read more about the complicated tale of Patty Duke, you can do so by reading the previous post. Here, however, I want to put all my focus on the tale as old as time: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They were the ones that made television what we know it to be today. Ball was the face and brand. Arnaz was the brains of it all.

At the time, and by at the time I mean in the 50’s, when the idea for I Love Lucy was pitched, executives only wanted Ball on board, leaving Arnaz behind; mostly because he was Cuban. They wanted a white man to play the part of her on-screen husband. In turn, Ball said she’d only be a part of the show if Arnaz was hired to play her on-screen husband, Ricky. They agreed. The show also co-starred Ball’s friend and frequent collaborator, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley as Ethel and Fred Mertz, Lucy and Ricky’s friends and neighbours. When Frawley was hired, he had a drinking problem, and Arnaz firmly said to him that if he ever drank on the job, he’d be axed. He never drank on the job. He was previously fired in 1928 from the Broadway show That’s My Baby for punching fellow actor Clifton Webb in the nose.

Fun fact: Vance and Frawley hated each other; so much so that when she heard the news that Frawley had passed away in 1966, Vance made a toast in front of an entire restaurant. The hate they had for one another stemmed from from personality clashes, age differences, and differing work ethics. Frawley, known for his cantankerous nature, was 22 years older than Vance and had a reputation for being difficult. He also had a habit of only learning lines for his scenes, which led to him being unaware of the overall plot. Vance, on the other hand, was known for standing up to Lucille Ball, which sometimes clashed with Frawley’s old-fashioned views. 

Nevertheless, Vance and Frawley managed to keep working together until 1960. The ones who couldn’t manage to continue working together were Ball and Arnaz themselves. In 1957, I Love Lucy ended after 6 seasons and 180 episodes. This was due to Ball’s desire to pursue other projects and the changing landscape of television. She wanted to focus on her production company, Desilu Productions, and explore new creative directions. What followed was The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, a show with the same concept, airing between 1957 and 1960. It starred the original cast, but consisted of 13 episodes, each 60 minutes in length instead of 23 minutes in length.

While it’s true that Ball wanted to focus on other endeavors, she was also growing increasingly frustrated as her marriage to Arnaz was crumbling. The couple divorced primarily due to Arnaz’s struggles with alcohol and alleged infidelity, which caused significant strain on their marriage. They initially reconciled after Ball’s first divorce filing in 1944, but their issues persisted, leading to their eventual divorce in 1960. To look at the matter more thoroughly:

• Desi’s Drinking and Infidelity: Desi Arnaz had a well-known problem with alcohol, and his alleged affairs were a major source of conflict. Ball, in her memoir, described how his nightlife and stories of his indiscretions caused her deep hurt and humiliation. 

• Career Demands: Their demanding careers, especially with the success of I Love Lucy kept them apart for long periods and added to the stress on their relationship. Desi’s frequent travels for work and late nights when he was home, while Lucy had to be up early for filming, further exacerbated the situation. 

• Communication Breakdown: The stress of their lives led to frequent arguments and a breakdown in communication, making it difficult for them to resolve their issues. 

• Final Straw: Despite attempts to work through their problems, including reconciliation after the initial divorce filing, the repeated issues with Desi’s behavior ultimately led Ball to file for divorce a second time in 1960. 

Following the divorce in 1960, both Ball and Arnaz remarried, and they were married to their respective second spouses longer than they were married to each other. Ball married Gary Morton in 1961, and the two were married until her death in 1989. Morton then married Susie McAllister in 1994, and they were married until he died in 1999. Arnaz married Edith Mack Hirsch in 1963, and they stayed together until her 1985 death. Arnaz passed away the following year. Before Morton proposed to Ball, he’d asked Arnaz for his blessing.

In her 1989 memoir, Love, Lucy, Ball wrote of her marriage to Arnaz breaking down, ‘Desi’s nightlife had even blasé Hollywood talking. Confidential Magazine published a story about a Palm Springs weekend of his, and this too hurt and humiliated me deeply. … During the summer of 1944, Desi stopped coming home. He drank and he gambled, and he went around with other women. It was always the same — booze and broads. I’d seen it coming. I was always hoping things would change. But Desi’s nature is destructive. My husband would frequently have temper outbursts in front of the children, and this was very bad. It was so bad I thought it would be better if we were apart. It was sort of a Jekyll and Hyde sort of thing. He would have tantrums in front of friends and relatives, and we could have no social life for the last three to four years.’

And in his 1976 book, A Book, Arnaz wrote of his marriage and eventual divorce from to Ball, ‘The more our love life deteriorated, the more we fought, the less sex we had. The more unhappy we were, the more I worked, and the more I drank. … At this point I hadn’t slept in the master bedroom for almost a year. … So I began to fill my needs elsewhere. And so did she. I followed her and as she stopped to have a drink, I told her, ‘Lucy, I want a divorce.’ She looked up at me, and those big blue eyes can express many emotions, the desire to kill not being the least of them. Her temper got the best of her. She asked, ‘Why don’t you die then? That would be a better solution, better for the children, better for everybody. … I’ll tell you something, you bastard, you cheat, you drunken bum – I’ve got enough on you to hang you. By the time I get through with you, you’ll be as broke as when you got here.’ I was about to light a cigarette when she came at me with a dueling pistol, pointed it at my face and pulled the trigger. I lit my cigarette on its flame. … I told her, ‘Look I know you didn’t mean everything you said, but for the sake of the children, let’s try to make this as amicable as possible’.

Arnaz also revealed in the book that he told Ball that she should be the one to file for divorce and not him, so that she could keep up her public appearance. He wrote that he told Ball, ‘We’ll get a good lawyer for you and you’ll be the one to sue for divorce. We will have no trouble arriving at a fair financial settlement and all that other stuff, but please, don’t ever threaten me again’. Two years after their divorce, Ball also bought out Arnaz to own the majority stake of their production company, DesiLu, which they founded in 1950. Ball later sold her shares of DesiLu to Gulf + Western (later Paramount Television) for $17 million.

Despite all the turmoil they’d faced in their marriage, Ball and Arnaz still maintained a great friendship with one another. According to Lucie Arnaz, their daughter, the last time they spoke was on what would’ve been their 46th wedding anniversary, November 30, 1986. She said in the book DesiLu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, ‘I just shut the door and let them have their time together. I started them off, like two kids on a first date. I had to hold the phone. I couldn’t get out of the room. And he said, ‘I love you, too, honey. Good luck with your show.’’

Desi passed away a few days later. At his funeral, Ball remembered her late ex-husband by calling him a great showman. She said, ‘Just look at the stuff he’s done over the years. It’s on three or four times every day. He was a great part of our innovation in this business.’ Ball herself passed away in 1989, and following her death, Morton said to his friend, ‘I guess she’s (Lucy) happy now; she’s with Desi.’ This very much suggests that Morton knew and was aware of the great bond Ball shared with Desi, even after they long divorced. It’s not to say that she didn’t love Morton, but that she loved both him and Desi at the same time.

Yes, it is possible to be in love with two people at the same time. But sometimes, just because you love someone doesn’t mean you should be with that person. Ball and Arnaz loved each other immensely, but they weren’t meant to be together in the longterm. They were meant to have experienced that love, to have children together and build a life together. They were meant to make history in the television world together. And yet, they were meant to be with other people; the ones that they respectively had ended up with until the end of their lives.

Ball was absolutely right in her eulogy. Desi Arnaz WAS a great showman. He practically invented television. What we know now to be television was invented by him. Okay… maybe I’m being too overly dramatic. He didn’t actually invent television. But he played a pivotal role in revolutionizing television production and business, particularly with the show “I Love Lucy”. He is often credited with “inventing television” in the sense that he pioneered the filming of sitcoms with multiple cameras in front of a live audience, a technique that remains a standard today. This, along with his development of the rerun and syndication models, significantly changed the television landscape. To break things down more thoroughly:

• Multiple-camera setup: Arnaz developed a system for filming I Love Lucy using three cameras simultaneously on a set in front of a live audience. This allowed for a more dynamic and engaging viewing experience, and it also enabled the show to be filmed efficiently, which was crucial for creating reruns.

• Filming for reruns: Arnaz’s decision to film I Love Lucy rather than relying solely on live broadcasts from New York was groundbreaking. This allowed for the creation of reruns, which became a significant source of revenue for the show and paved the way for the syndication model, where shows are sold to different stations for rebroadcast. 

• Shift in production center: By filming in Hollywood, Arnaz helped shift the center of television production from New York to Los Angeles, a change that continues to this day. 

• Breaking conventions: Arnaz and Ball, as an interracial couple, challenged the norms of the time by starring in I Love Lucy. Arnaz’s Cuban background also brought a unique perspective to the show, which resonated with audiences. 

Philo Farnsworth was the one who invented television in 1927, but it was Arnaz who pivoted the way into making television what we know it to be in the 21st century. His innovative business model transformed how television was produced and consumed, making him a key figure in the medium’s development. He came up with the idea for reruns when Ball became pregnant with Desi Arnaz Jr during filming. It was to give her time to recover following his birth. Ball’s pregnancy was written into the show, making Lucy pregnant too. The episode where Lucy gave birth aired on the very same day Desi Arnaz Jr. was born, January 19, 1953. This coincidence made the episode particularly memorable and drew a massive television audience.

Both Lucie and Desi Jr. were conceived naturally, though the road to conceive for Ball and Arnaz wasn’t easy. Lucie was born 10 years into the marriage. For a long time, Ball was a working woman, and motherhood didn’t slow her down. This in itself was monumental during that time. Her character, though a housewife, didn’t fit societal norms either. She WANTED to work, and did everything she could to get there; even if her husband didn’t approve. Motherhood didn’t stop her from getting her vision become a reality. As Betty Friedan wrote in her 1963 classic The Feminine Mystique, ‘The American housewife . . . was healthy, beautiful, educated, concerned only about her husband, her children, her home.’ But that wasn’t Lucy Ricardo. She wanted more for her life. She had dreams.

Actress, and Ball’s friend, Carol Burnett, said, ‘There is no doubt that Lucille Ball created a whole new audience for watching television. She took you on some kind of a wild journey over those 22 minutes, and you could not wait to see what else she was going to cook up. Within six months of the show’s airing, the audience reached 11 million, with I Love Lucy attracting 67 of every 100 nine o’clock Monday night viewers. That year I Love Lucy was nominated for an Emmy award for Best Comedy Show, and on May 26, 1952, Lucy graced the cover of TIME. She was already pregnant with Desi Jr. at the time.

Fear came into play by the general public and those who were behind the making of the show. At the time, The Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters prohibited anything sexually suggestive on the air, and that included even the discussion of pregnancy, since it implied that a couple, even a married one, had engaged in baby making. Desi Arnaz, however didn’t fear anything. When he was asked about the show’s future, Arnaz said, ‘What is so wrong if she has a baby in the show as Lucy Ricardo?’ When executives suggested that Lucy hide the pregnancy by sitting behind chairs or tables, Arnaz simply responded, ‘Not Lucy.’ And still, it was feared that the show would be cancelled. Together with the show’s writer Jess Oppenheimer, Desi discussed plans for the fictional Lucy’s pregnancy with CBS and sponsor Philip Morris. They all agreed to do what had never been done before: incorporate Ball’s real-life pregnancy into the show. Since the word “pregnancy” itself was not allowed on TV, they resorted to phrases like “expecting” and “with child,” and sought the blessings of a priest, a minister, and a rabbi who were given the script to read. 

Perhaps my all-time favourite I Love Lucy moment was when Lucy told Ricky she was pregnant. It was at his club. As Ricky walked around the club singing “Rock-a-bye Baby,” he asked several couples if they were the lucky pair who was expecting, but each one shook their heads with a no. He then noticed Lucy seated at a table. “Hiya, honey,” he said, happily. And yet, yet didn’t notice that his glowing wife was nodding her head yes. Suddenly, after a few seconds, he caught on, knelt down before her and tearfully announced, “It’s me. I’m going to be a father. How about that,” as he gazed into Lucy’s eyes.

Such a beautiful, emotional moment it was. As a viewer, you could feel the couple’s true emotions running through their veins as they were about to become a little family. Director William Ashert said, ‘The audience was in tears. It was terribly emotional.’ It was a dream come true for them; it truly was – both for the fictional couple and Lucille and Desi themselves. They’d been trying to have a baby for 10 years before their first-born daughter, Lucie, was born. They’d gone through heartbreak in those 10 years as Ball had several miscarriages. When Lucie was conceived, Ball was already in her 40’s. Her dream of becoming a mother seemed impossible. Desi Jr. was another blessing. The Arnaz family were proclaimed to be TV’s First Family by Life.

Throughout her life, Ball was a workaholic. She wasn’t happy unless she was working. She herself admitted to it. Motherhood didn’t change that, which was groundbreaking for a woman at that time. She was truly ahead of her time. Not only did you never hear of a woman being in the workforce at the time, but you especially didn’t hear of a working MOM during that time. For her, work was a labour of love. During an interview with Mount Vernon Argus, she said, ‘I love beginnings. I love the beginning of a day, I love a new season. I love empty apartments. People are always asking us now if we have achieved everything we want. We haven’t nearly achieved all our dreams. I’m not talking about material things, of course, I love working toward any hope, any goal. The struggle is inspiring. I’m not happy unless I’m working. What would I do if I weren’t working? I’m hardly the type to play bridge with the girls. I may not work as steadily, but I must work. In my spare time, there are so many things I want to do.

Now I know that I just labeled Lucille Ball as being a workaholic, but in reality, I don’t think she was. I think it was what society labeled her as at the time. She was just a woman who truly loved her work, and she was a woman who also loved being a mom. She balanced her thriving career with raising her children, and sought advice from other mothers on how to manage the challenges of both work and family. While she enjoyed her work and embraced new beginnings, and she also worried about her children’s well-being and the smooth functioning of her household. To break it down more thoroughly:

• Balancing Act: Lucille Ball was a workaholic, but she also valued her role as a mother and homemaker. She’d often discuss parenting strategies with other mothers in her circle, like Debbie Reynolds. 

• Seeking Advice: She wasn’t afraid to admit that she sometimes felt “flying blind” as a mother and sought guidance from other women in the industry. 

• Worry and Responsibility: Ball reportedly worried about her children’s well-being, ensuring they were taken care of, and that household tasks were handled, including homework. 

• A Different Kind of Mom: Unlike the zany Lucy Ricardo, Lucille Ball was described as more serious and responsible in real life. 

• Pioneering Television Mom: She famously incorporated her real-life pregnancy into the I Love Lucy show, making her one of the first pregnant women on television. 

After suffering multiple pregnancy losses during the first decade in her marriage to Arnaz, Ball didn’t know if motherhood was for her. In 1980, she told The Washington Star, ‘I had them late in life. I’d lost two and I thought, my God, I’ll be too old to have children.’ Arnaz’s mother encouraged Ball to turn to religion. Ball said of her mother-in-law, ‘During my ninth year of marriage, my mother-in-law, who was one of the most beautiful South American ladies ever, said to me, ‘You become Catholic. You have baby.’ So I went and had instruction and—*claps hands*—five months later I was pregnant. For me, the birth of a child, it was a miracle. I couldn’t believe it.’

Amid all the chaos that came with her career, Ball said that her happiest moments were the ones she spent with her family. She told The Washington Star, ‘Just having a career, that would be very boring. The best part of my life is having children. They keep you young. They keep you worried longer.’ Motherhood came at a price, however, for Ball. Lucie told of her parents the Television Academy Foundation in 2016, ‘They were very busy. So I think up from birth through 7, they weren’t home a lot, I would say.’ Ball also didn’t have a guideline for being a mom. Her father passed away when she was just 4-years-old, her own mother was away a lot because of it. and she was mostly raised by her grandparents. In the same interview, Lucie recalled of her mother particularly, ‘I think because she was a working mom in the 50s, there probably was a lot of guilt involved in not being home with the kids.’

Memories of the entire family spending time together at home Lucie’s favourite, mostly because there weren’t enough of them. Both because her parents were working and because they spent so much time fighting. As previously mentioned, Desi struggled with alcoholism, gambling, and infidelity, which led to the marriage ending in 1960. In her divorce filing, Ball said, ‘My husband would frequently have temper outbursts in front of the children, and this was very bad.’ The divorce was hard on the young children, but eventually, it became a positive outcome for all of them. At the time of their divorce, Ball said, ‘Now the children get to enjoy their father for long periods and as often as convenient for him. They love his ranch, his horses, his bunk beds, his racing cars, his beach house, his fishing sprees, his racetrack, his golf tourneys. In fact, life with Desi these days is a bowl of cherries. One good time after another.’ Lucie, however, remembered it differently. She told the Television Academy Foundation, ‘When it was at its worst, he’d blow up. If the TV was on too late, and it was bedtime, instead of saying ‘It’s bedtime,’ doors would crash. It was awful. It was terrible. Then he’d be terrifically sorry and feel awful. After I got a little older, I stopped going down there.’

Once she got divorced from Desi, Ball not only had to navigate being a working mother in a world that was against women being independent of their husbands, but she also had to navigate her new life as a single mother. She managed to do it all. She wanted to do it well, but somehow, she didn’t. Lucie spoke highly of that time in their lives. She said Ball displayed unconditional love for her and Desi Jr., as well as the importance of forgiveness in their family. She said that especially because Ball had her and Desi Jr. later in life, especially by the 50’s standards, she wanted to spend as much time with them as possible as she knew she didn’t have much of it. In her lifetime, according to Lucie, that was the one thing she didn’t figure out how to do.

Joan Rivers once called Ball a legend. And that she was; she most certainly was. She became one of Hollywood’s most beloved icons. She was the Queen Of Comedy. Her early life was a pretty tragic one, which might provide insight into why she gravitated towards comedy. But she was more than just a comedic icon. She broke barriers for women and mothers everywhere; ones who were afraid to be seen and heard; ones who wanted to be taken seriously, but were too afraid of society. By the end of her life at the age of 77, she’d done 113 movies, several radio gigs, as well as numerous TV shows, including I Love Lucy of course, and The Lucy Show, another great series. Her most treasured role through it all was being a mother. She did her best to provide to her children everything she didn’t have in her own life. She didn’t accomplish that, but not because she didn’t try…