{"product_id":"lucille-ball-and-desi-arnaz-they-werent-lucy-and-ricky-ricardo-volume-one-1911-1960-of-a-two-part-biography-paperback","title":"Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz: They Weren't Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Volume One (1911-1960) of a Two-Part Biography - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDarwin Porter\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eDanforth Prince\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e From 1951 through 1956, \u003cem\u003eI Love Lucy \u003c\/em\u003ewas the most-watched show in television. Its launch was as rocky as the marriage of the real-life show-biz pros who crafted it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e After their divorce in 1960, \u003cstrong\u003eLucille Ball\u003c\/strong\u003e appraised\u003cstrong\u003e Desi Arnaz\u003c\/strong\u003e, her former husband: \"He's like Jekyll and Hyde. He drinks and gambles, he's awash in broads and booze, and that gay actor, Cesar Romero, is his devoted slave. Love?\" she asked. \"I was always falling in love with the wrong man. Including Desi.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Arnaz summed up his marriage to Lucille: \"We were anything but Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. They had nothing to do with us. We dreamed of success, fame, and fortune. And guess what? It all led to hell.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Their early struggles were epic. As a girl, Lucy at times was literally chained to her backyard in Jamestown, New York. As a teenager, she broke away and earned a reputation as \"The Jamestown Hussy,\" riding around with Johnny DaVita, a local hoodlum.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Later, she broke into show business, hustling \"sugar daddies\" and stage-door Johnnies who gave her money and gifts. When she was desperate, she worked as a nude model.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In the 1930s, she migrated to Hollywood and made films for RKO. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Desi, however, was born to wealth and privilege in Cuba. At the age of twelve, as an incentive to helping him lose his virginity, he was escorted to a local bordello by his father.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Having lost most of their assets in the Cuban Revolution, his family fled. In Miami, Desi got a job as a janitor cleaning out canary cages. Later, in Manhattan, he accepted whatever gigs he could get. He became the \"kept boy\" of the gay composer Lorenz Hart, sustaining an affair with superstar Ginger Rogers on the side. That included the task of escorting her into Canada for an abortion. He was eventually hired by bandleader Xavier Cugat to \"beat hell out of those Afro-Cuban drums.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e After drifting to Hollywood, he spotted Lucy on a sound stage \"dressed like a two-dollar whore who had been badly beaten by her pimp.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003e[That was, indeed, the character she developed for her role in \u003c\/em\u003eDance Girl Dance\u003cem\u003e (1940). During its filming, she \"more or less politely\" resisted the lesbian advances of her director, Dorothy Arzner. Desi succeeded where Arzner failed, marrying Lucy that same year.] \u003c\/em\u003eCharacterized by violent fights and long separations, their stormy marriage staggered along for two traumatic decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Desi's obsession with sex became legendary. He seduced every prostitute in Polly Adler's infamous NYC whorehouse. In Hollywood, Lana Turner and Betty Grable came and went from his life, along with countless showgirls and hometown gals attending his on-the-road band shows.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Meanwhile, Lucy waited for his return, occupying her nights with the son (Elliott Roosevelt) of the U.S. president; actor\/mobster George (\"Black Snake\") Raft; and George Sanders, Zsa Zsa Gabor's suicidal husband. Coming and going from her boudoir were-among many others-William Holden, Milton Berle, Henry Fonda, Orson Welles, and Robert Mitchum.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e By the early 1950s, the careers of both Lucy and Desi had run out of gas. TV executives objected to his Cuban accent. But \u003cem\u003eI Love Lucy \u003c\/em\u003ewas launched nevertheless and shot up in the ratings, morphing into the most successful sitcom in TV history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"With gold arriving in wheelbarrows\" (Desi's words), Lucy and Desi bought RKO Studios and launched Desilu Productions. It became the largest motion picture and television studio in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This first-of-a-kind biography of TV's wackiest and most eccentric couple is generously stuffed with ironic facts and blunt assessments from their frenemies. It radically changes the premises of the American Dream that helped fuel its success. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFilm historian Darwin Porter is the most prolific author of show-biz biographies in the world. A former entertainment columnist for The Miami Herald, he was assisted in the production of this book by Danforth Prince. Formerly employed by the Paris Bureau of The New York Times, Prince is the award-winning innkeeper of a historic and \"media-centric\" AirBnb in New York City, MagnoliaHouseSaintGeorge.com\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 576\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.17 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 07, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44643903963238,"sku":"9781936003716","price":48.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/Y1hMSDRVL1A0NjZCbExTUkdBNWdLQT09.webp?v=1770929469","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/lucille-ball-and-desi-arnaz-they-werent-lucy-and-ricky-ricardo-volume-one-1911-1960-of-a-two-part-biography-paperback","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}