Ricky Ricardo a sellout??

[Loppfessor]

Well maybe not sell out but I was watching I Love Lucy the other night and started thinkin....alright so he's this Cuban musician leader of the band etc. He winds up marrying some crazy white lady but that's all good it's NYC and Lucy is pretty fine....BUT what the hell is the deal with them spending all their time with a middle aged white couple?? Fred is like his best friend...shouldn't Ricky have been out with his band mates doin pimp shit?

[Rock]

Well maybe not sell out but I was watching I Love Lucy the other night and started thinkin....alright so he's this Cuban musician leader of the band etc. He winds up marrying some crazy white lady but that's all good it's NYC and Lucy is pretty fine....BUT what the hell is the deal with them spending all their time with a middle aged white couple?? Fred is like his best friend...shouldn't Ricky have been out with his band mates doin pimp shit?

How is he a sellout?

I don't get it.

[Jitters]

Cuz he was hanging with whitey a little too much.

[Loppfessor]

Umm that was just a clever title to get your attention...had you read the whole thing you would see the first line says..."Well maybe not a sellout but..." I'm just trying to figure out what swingin young stud like Ricky was doing hangin with Fred and Ethel all the time

[abcdefz]

Neighbors were much more neighborly back then.

[cookiepuss]

because Lucy is friends with Ethel. So Ricky has to hang out with Fred by default. Husbands have to make an effort to be friends with the husbands of their wives friends.

Second of all, Ricky doesn't want Lucy coming to his club...every noticed that? The more time he spends at the club the more likely Lucy will come up with a hair-brained scheme to go to the club and check up on him. So it's just easier and less embarasing to hang out with Fred.

[taquitos]

i always thought fred and ethel looked about 800 years old

[abcdefz]

Supposedly the guy playing Fred had his hands in his pockets almost all the time because he had the DT's so bad, they were constantly shaking.

[hpdrifter]

What's the DTs?

[abcdefz]

Delerium tremens -- something like that. Alcoholics get it during withdrawal. So if you're continuing to drink, you can wake up with them
-- a few hours of not drinking is enough for the body to start experiencing withdrawal symptoms. That's why a lot of alcoholics drink
"to steady their nerves," and might drink first thing in the morning, keep a bottle at work, etc.

[Loppfessor]

^ All the more reason Ricky shoulda ditched that chump

[MC Moot]

My Grandfather loved him...just because he was probably the first "latin" "celebrity" on television even if he was Cuban there was the tie to Espana...yep ricky and Senor Wences used to make him howl...but he alway's used to talk about how homely Lucy was and I agree...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPGZZdN0F9E&feature=related


:D

[mickill]

The fact that the network allowed an actual Cuban American to play the character, and not just some dude with a fake accent was already kind of a big deal. What more do you want from the guy?

Desi wasn't just your average Cuban immigrant, though. The man had clout and vision. He and Ball completely revolutionized tv. The fact that his character neglected to hang out with his band and do "pimp shit" is hardly an issue when you consider just how much he pimped the network execs.

From Wiki:

With Ball, he founded Desilu Productions. At this time, most television programs were broadcast live and, as the largest markets were in New York, the rest of the country received only kinescope images. Karl Freund, Arnaz' cameraman, developed the multiple-camera setup production style using adjacent sets that became the standard for all subsequent situation comedies to this day. The use of film enabled every station around the country to broadcast high-quality images of the show. Arnaz was told that it would be impossible to allow an audience onto a sound stage, but he worked with the famous cameraman Karl Freund to design a set that would accommodate an audience, allow filming, and also adhere to fire and safety codes.

Network executives considered the use of film an unnecessary extravagance. Arnaz convinced them to allow Desilu to cover all additional costs associated with the filming process, under the stipulation that Desilu owned and controlled all rights to the film. Arnaz' unprecedented arrangement is widely considered to be one of the shrewdest deals in television history. As a result of his foresight, Desilu reaped the profits from all reruns of the series.

Arnaz also pushed the network to allow them to show Lucille Ball while she was pregnant. According to Arnaz, the CBS network told him, "You cannot show a pregnant woman on television." Arnaz consulted a priest, a rabbi, and a minister, all of whom told him that there would be nothing wrong with showing a pregnant Lucy or with using the word pregnant. The network finally relented and let Arnaz and Ball weave the pregnancy into the story line, but remained adamant about eschewing use of pregnant, so Arnaz substituted expecting, pronouncing it 'spectin' in his Cuban accent. Oddly, the official title of the episode announcing the pregnancy was "Lucy Is Enceinte," employing the French word for pregnant.

In addition to I Love Lucy, he produced December Bride, The Mothers-in-Law, The Lucy Show, Those Whiting Girls, Our Miss Brooks, The Danny Thomas Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Untouchables, all Top Ten shows in their time, and the 1956 feature film Forever, Darling, in which he and Ball starred. His foresight in filming and retaining post-broadcast ownership of shows had a huge impact on the future of television syndication (reruns).

[Loppfessor]

^yeah yeah interesting stuff but this thread is about Ricky Ricardo NOT Desi Arnaz

[mickill]

Well, then Ricky Ricardo pimped America. How about that?