November 26, 2025 • 24 mins
A nuts-and-bolts look at how shows actually get made, this episode traces the gauntlet from “idea” to “greenlight.” Wilmer relives the high-stakes call that landed him the That ’70s Show pilot while Desi and Lucy face an even steeper climb: convincing CBS—and America—that a Cuban bandleader and a redheaded star could be a married couple on TV. Shut out by execs, they take their case to the only jury that matters: live audiences. A throwback vaudeville act (with help from Pepito the Clown) becomes their proof of concept—an early masterclass in IP, audience testing, and momentum—until William S. Paley finally says yes. Next up: they’ll rewrite the rulebook with multi-camera filming, live-audience comedy, and—most radical of all—ownership.
Featuring: Wilmer Valderrama (That ’70s Show, NCIS, Encanto)
Topics: TV development & pilots, proof-of-concept/IP, vaudeville roots of sitcoms, Lucy & Desi’s road act, network bias and representation, William S. Paley/CBS, the road to I Love Lucy.
Starring: Desi Arnaz and Wilmer Valderrama is produced by WV Sound in partnership with iHeart’s My Cultura Podcast Network.
Starring: Desi Arnaz and Wilmer Valderrama is written by Erick Galindo and narrated by Wilmer Valderrama. It is produced by Sophie Spencer-Zavos and Leo Klemm, with special help from Angel Lopez Galindo.
Executive producers are Wilmer Valderrama and Erick Galindo.
This episode was edited and engineered by Sean Tracy and features original music by Halo Boy and Madison Davenport. Cover art illustration by Lindsey Mound.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
If you ever wondered how TV show goes from an
idea to something you can actually watch. I have some
bad news AND's some good news. The bad news it
involves a lot of red tape. But the good news
is that to make it sound way more fun, we
wrote it into a song schoolhouse rock style.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You see me standing here.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm just a pitch, an idea in your head for
the wild little itch.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
You scribbled me down on.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
Your notes up last night.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Now you're praying to the heavens that I just might
become a hit.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh yeah, a big TV hit.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
It's a long, long climb to the.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Streaming crime ood look and good timing will be fun.
So that song was awesome. Back to the episode. When
I first auditioned for the role of Fat and the
pilot for that seventies show, I didn't realize how TV
shows got made. The physical production wasn't new to me,
(01:10):
because well, I've done a few commercials here and there,
so I knew enough. But how does a TV show
go from an idea to being shot in front of
a studio audience. Let me break it down for you.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What in the name of Thomas Chippendale is that nerve
and come right through the front door.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So much.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Don't talk talking.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Let's not talk about not talking.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
On lovely dear, one neat from your your head down
to your feet.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
There is nothing hanging.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Beautiful that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Like here's an idea for a show that you TV
executives should buy. Most pitches, even the ones that Hollywood
execus like or love, never see the light of day
from those five hundred maybe fifty pilot scripts or order
each year. But most of those scripts also won't see
the light of day. Maybe a few dozen will get
(02:19):
their pilot produced, and from those maybe eight or nine
will be picked up as new shows. Even then, few
shows will finish out the first season without getting canceled early.
It's a business of gambling. You have to audition a lot,
pitch a lot, try a lot, I mean, throw those
dice a lot. Executives and actors have made a ton
(02:42):
of pilots that goes straight into the trash with a
hope that one in five hundred, maybe more like one
in five thousand, will ever become a hit.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Oh thank you, Caroline, be mine. Okay, sweetheart, it really
is kiss me well, I'm not about to argue with candy.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Says, is there woman that says get up room?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
No, But here's one that says, kiss my brown ass.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
By the time I got the role in the pilot
of that seventy show, I more or less understood that
the chances of a pilot becoming a full blown TV
show were slim, like getting a bill passed by Congress
level slim. But when you're young and hungry, you don't
think about the odds, right, I mean, you think about
the dream. The dream for me was huge, not just
(03:51):
for myself but for my family. The phone call that
I got was a moment of pure chaos in our home. Hello,
this is Wilmer. The second I hung up, I yelled,
I got the part. My mom and my dad were
all hogging each other, and my sister was cheering. My
(04:13):
little sister step and he was crying. It was like
Pandemoni and crying, shouting, cheering all at once. For us,
this was the American dream. It was real, tangible, achievable.
I took a moment to step outside and looked up
at the Los Angeles guy across the street. My neighbor's
(04:35):
American flag was blown in the wind, and that split
second The symbolism hit me hard. Everything was possible in
this country. My family had sacrificed so much to get here,
and now I had this one shot to lift us up.
But I knew one thing for sure, I couldn't blow it.
(05:00):
I walked into the tiny room I shared with my sisters,
stare in the mirror. I made a vowt every performance
I give will be the best thing I've ever done.
I wasn't just doing this for me. I was doing
this for my family. It wasn't just about the fifteen
(05:22):
thousand dollars I was going to make for the pilot.
I mean, though, I will tell you this was huge.
I mean, if the show went, it could be a
rent for the year. Right, it could be a chance
to dream bigger, new car, new house, real groceries, not
just ninety nine says store anymore. We can go to
an actual grocery store again. The same night, I took
(05:45):
my mom to a regular grocery store, not the discount one.
She had to buy all the brand names you wanted.
That was my start. But in Hollywood, that start isn't
guaranteed to go anywhere. The pilot might bomb, the show
might get canceled. You might pour your heart into something,
and he goes.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Nowhere, Senora, what are you doing here? This is a
professional performist.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Desier Ess understood that better than anyone when Lucy came
to him with the idea of doing a TV sitcom
as husband and wife. Desi was finally making a great
living as a bandleader, and she was doing well making
radio shows and doing bit parts in movies. Risking that
on this new medium called TV for a sitcom no
(06:35):
one believed in was well, just crazy. But Lucy was
right that the show could be a way for them
to finally spend more time together and stabilize their marriage.
So when the executives at CBS told him a show
about him and Lucy being a married couple wouldn't work,
they decided to prove them wrong. I'm Wilmer Valderama and
(06:57):
you're listening to starring Desier and Ess and Wilmer Drama
the real life story of the Latin immigrant who basically
invented a modern day Hollywood system. But first he had
to convince Hollywood executives that America was ready for an
interracial couple.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
They said, I couldn't be her husband on a screen
that no one would.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Be sure a Cuban and a redhead together. Who believed that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Desey and Lucy talked about this in many interviews the
hip hoc of Hollywood executives, saying no one would believe
that they were a real couple, even though they were
in fact a real American couple. But TV exacs had
their reasons to doubt that Lucy and Dessi's real life
love story would be accepted by American TV audiences. Even
(08:20):
though Lucy's film career wasn't exactly what she had hoped for,
she stayed busy. Not only was she doing her head
radio sitcom My Favorite Husband, but she was also trying
to get a part in Cecil b the Mills upcoming epic,
The Greatest Show. Dessi, meanwhile, was back to touring every
(08:43):
few days. Their schedules barely overlapped, and when they did,
it was at odd hours, rush moments at the top
of a coldwater canyon, or stolen afternoons at Zero's nightclub.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
As hard as we tried to make it work, we
were still living our separate lives and the entertainment business.
You know, he can take you on many different paths
and at this path. It was tearing us apart as
a couple. The phone calls, the jealous arguments, the loneliness,
it all started adding up.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
But then something happened.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Hollywood's but Love at Redhead Lucille Ball and her Latin love,
her husband Desi Arnaz, are expecting a child.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
This was it for Dessi. He was ready to settle
down in Los Angeles and be a father, even if
it meant taking a pay cut.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
I had a job offered to be the studio band
for some variety show in town, and I decided I'd
better take it. I could be home more often, you know.
More importantly, the contract allowed me to build in addition
to Dessi Lou for the new baby.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Dessi Lou was what Dessi and Lucy called their ranch
and the outskirts of Los Angeles. He was her family home,
a place where Dessie's mom could live and Losey's parents, brothers,
and uncles. It was a very special place to them,
a place they hardly got to spend any time together
thanks to their careers.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
CBS presents My Favorite Husband on the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
When CBS approached Lucy about turning her radio sitcom My
Favorite Husband into a TV show. Well, she signed Opportunity
to save her marriage, but CBS wasn't buying it because
until that point, having an interracial couple on TV, radio,
or even in the movies was pretty much unheard of.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
How would you like to live in Washington?
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Perhaps a change of plan is just what I need?
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Does that mean you're asking me to madter you?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
That's a clip from Daughter of Shanghai, featuring the great
Chinese American star Anime Wong, who sometimes appeared in films
with wye romantic interests, but street Hollywood cos often limited
what was shown on screen and prevented full romantic storylines.
In fact, up until nineteen fifty, when Lucy was pitching
(11:10):
her marriage to Desi as a sitcom, examples of interracial
couples in mass media were very scarce, especially in the
United States due to the racial segregation of the era.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
Latinos, Black, and Asian Americans had all fought in the
war to much distinction.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
They said that World War II had been a watershed
moment in the evolution of Rays and the US.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
During the famous Battle of the Bulge, black and brown
soldiers fought alongside white soldiers out of necessity, marking rare
moments of integration during combat.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
In nineteen forty eight, President Harry S. Truman signed an
executive order finally ending segregation in the US armed forces.
This order establish equality in the military of treatment and
opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
People who had been primarily on the margins were being
seen for the first time, and when the veterans from
these segregated groups returned from the war, they were unwilling
to accept second class citizenship, fueling the civil rights movement.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Even though Dessi had seen a lot of this firsthand
while serving as a sergeant, his approach to pushing back
against the CBS executives was much more practical.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
In all honesty, I did consider that these executives could
be right about us working as a team on screen,
mostly because the press and well they always made a
big deal about Lucy and I as a couple. In
real life. You see, no one thought we should be together,
and no one thought it would last longer than a
few months when we first got married.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
But Dessi also remembered something from all his experiences in entertainment,
man up to that point.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
All those years doing vaudeville, I had learned this very
important lesson the audience. They will tell you what is working.
You know, you may have some idea of what is
good and what is bad, but it's just an idea.
Practically speaking. You put it on stage in front of
the audience, and your idea may not be worth anything.
Then again, it could be a hit.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
In his memoir DESI paraphrases a quote from Broadway legend
George M. Cohen.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Each individual in an audience more probably doesn't have the
savvy to know why they like something or why they don't,
but as a group they are geniuses. In other words,
if you present something somewhere and that particular audience likes it,
there's a ninety nine percent chance another audience is going
to react the same way.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Essentially as he was talking about something that is more
common today. IP or intellectual property, is a term thrown
around a lot in the media, but it all really
means a proof of concept. For example, you can write
a novel like Bridger ten and if it does well
as a novel, it has a good chance of being
(14:09):
a hit on TV.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I told Lucy, you know, let's try it. Why not
let's get an act together, you and me on the
road this summer. We'll hit all the big theaters across
this country, and let's see what the American audiences really
think about us being a couple.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's after the break in the spring of nineteen fifty,
(14:59):
that's seeing Lou she began preparing for a Vaudeville style
musical show. Before we get into that and what it
really meant, I've asked Eric Galindo, one of the producers
of our show, to give us a little background on
what a vaudeville act is.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Thanks Wilmer. Yeah. So, Vaudeville was basically the original variety show,
a mix of comedy, music, dance, and sometimes even magic
or novelty acts that dominated a big part of the
entertainment landscape for a time. It was hugely popular in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was kind
of like a live concert version of what we see
now with SNW or when we watch old reruns of
(15:41):
Saba Lookigant or Ed Sullivan. It was a highly produced
traveling showcase of talent, where performers would tour theaters across
the country to entertain audiences with short, fast paced acts
of all kinds. It really had everything. You can go
to a show and see us slaps become the sketch,
followed by a singer, then maybe a juggler or a
(16:02):
dog act. I had something for everyone. It was also
where a lot of early stars like Charlie Chaplin and
May West got their start. Lucille Bough famously got into
entertainment with the dream of being a vaudeville star, but
by the nineteen thirties when she went looking for a
vaudeville act to join, radio and film had largely taken
Vaudeville's place in the entertainment world.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
I started from a small, yanky town back in Jamestown,
New York. Got into everything I could in high school
and church and Sunday school and the Elks convention and
dancing and singing and you know, doing all the things
that I can do in my hometown. But I'd never
dawned on men being pictures. I always wanted to be invaigle.
I didn't know it was dead.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So Lucy pivoted to the movies, then to radio, and
now to this rising medium called television, where ironically she'd
have to rely on some old Vaudeville tricks to get
her way okay, back to you, Wilmer.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
By the nineteen fifties, vaudeville was fully on its way
out because of TV. Variety shows were almost all non
news related TV shows, but the format was still influential.
Dessie and Lucy decided to build an act that was
a throwback to this style, but it was also a
strategic move. They were using it like ip Vaudeville was
(17:29):
hopefully going to prove they could work as a team
and more importantly, that Dessi could play Lucy's husband and
win over live audiences.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
I knew we had to make them laugh, and we
had to make them believe. That's why I called my
friend Pepito the Clown.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Pepito was a famous Spanish clown and a master of
physical comedy. Dessi asked him to help Lucy hone her
comedic time in and slapstick skills, even giving her some
sicknas at your bids to work into their act. Together,
the three of them build an act around Lucy's natural
comedy skills, sharpening them until she transformed into a slapstick dynamo.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Lucy. She had that natural spark. But Pepito taught her
to really sell the gags, you know, to commit physically
and emotionally, no matter how ridiculous the setup. And she
took what he taught her very seriously, and she worked
hard on it. It was like she was leaving her
vaudeville dream job. By the time we were ready to
(18:33):
hit the stage, she was unstoppable.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Finally the night came, Dessi and Lucy debuted their act
in front of a live audience. Okay, it wasn't recorded
at the time, but maybe you'll recognize some of it.
We put together our own version based on our research.
It went a little something like this. It started, like
most of Dessie's musical performances, a big, virant number with
(19:00):
his orchestra setting a tone. But then something unusual started
happening in the audience.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Excuse me, excuse me, viska band leader, Senora, what are
you doing here?
Speaker 5 (19:13):
This is a professional performance.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I needed a taxi
though to sit in the audience. I just had a
teen sea.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Request, a request from my orchestra.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
No for you, can you show me how to play
that big drum?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Thingy.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
Na, he's a conga drum, Senora, and it's not for amateurs.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Nah, come on, Oops, did I break it? Lucy? That's you, Lucy.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Lucy's chaotic interruption was the setup for a series of
escalating gangs. She tried to join Desi's orchestra, failing miserably
at every instrument or Her failures were so outrageous and
Desi's reactions so exaggerated that the audience couldn't stop laughing.
By the time the act ended with Lucy accidentally knocking
(20:19):
over half the orchestra, the audience was in stitches. They
loved her, they loved them.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
And that first night we knew we had something especial.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Tessie and Lucy's vaudeville style act was their proof of concept.
Night after night, live audiences saw them together and fell
in love with their chemistry. It was undeniable.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
The exects always said, no one would believe a Cuban
man could be married to an all American redhead, but
the people in the audience they believed it.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
It was so successful that the act would essentially become
the pilot episode to our Lucy. Like I said that
throwback vaudeville act wasn't just entertainment. It was a pitch
to the world, and more specifically, to the TV executives
who didn't think audiences would accept an interracial couple on screen.
This is how Dessi recalls the aftermath in his memoir.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
William S. Paley, the head of the CBS, agreed to
do our television pilot, a show. He told his people, Hey,
I think the viewers might believe those two could be married.
You know, the audiences throughout the country really liked them
working as a team on that theater tour they did,
and besides, they have been married for ten years.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
It's a story Dessi has told many times in interviews,
but the truth is the tour did so well that
Dessi and Lucy started receiving offers from all their TV networks.
The bus thatc created on the road proved that their
chemistry wasn't just ahead with live audiences, it was something
networks new could translate to the screen. Here's Eric again.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Desi and Lucy's vaudeville style theater tour got a ton
of attention and proved their chemistry to the audiences, but
also to industry. Insiders. It was basically one of the
first uses of IP or intellectual property. That's when you
take something that works in one medium, like a vaudeville
act and make a new version for TV or film.
(22:23):
And Desie and Lucy's case, their successful tour demonstrated that
the concept of I Love Lucy worked and this attracted
interest from other networks.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
But like it is today, CBS was one of the
premier broadcast networks, so when they ultimately decided to greenlight
the I Love Lucy Show, Dessie and Lucy were eager
to do it with them. Plus, Dessi was able to
get the best deal from them in terms of creative freedom, ownership,
and other concessions, a deal that would change television in
(23:02):
Hollywood forever, because while Dessie and Lucy had sold their show,
but they really negotiated was control, ownership, the right to
call the shots. They had no idea how they were
going to invent the multi camera sitcom, but they did,
and in the process, they didn't just make I Love Lucy.
(23:23):
They made a blueprint a new way to shoot, a
new way to syndicate, a new way to own what
you create. And it all start it with one radical idea,
filming like a movie, make him laugh like he's live,
and keep the rights. That's on the next episode of
starring Desier Nancy Wilmer. Valdorama starring Dessie R. Nacy Wilmer
(23:52):
Valderama is produced by WV Sound in partnership with Iheartmichael
Duda Podcast Network, starring Rnass and wilmaval Durama is written
by Eric Galindo and narrated by me Wilma. Valderama. It
is produced by Sophie Spencer Savos and Leo Klem, with
special help from Anhel Lopez Galindo. Our executive producers are
(24:15):
myself and Eric Galindo. This episode was edited and engineered
by Sean Tracy and features original music by Halo Boy
and Madison Devenport. Our cover art illustration is by Lindsey Mount.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
If you ever wondered how TV show goes from an
idea to something you can actually watch. I have some
bad news AND's some good news. The bad news it
involves a lot of red tape. But the good news
is that to make it sound way more fun, we
wrote it into a song schoolhouse rock style.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You see me standing here.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm just a pitch, an idea in your head for
the wild little itch.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
You scribbled me down on.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
Your notes up last night.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Now you're praying to the heavens that I just might
become a hit.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh yeah, a big TV hit.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
It's a long, long climb to the.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Streaming crime ood look and good timing will be fun.
So that song was awesome. Back to the episode. When
I first auditioned for the role of Fat and the
pilot for that seventies show, I didn't realize how TV
shows got made. The physical production wasn't new to me,
(01:10):
because well, I've done a few commercials here and there,
so I knew enough. But how does a TV show
go from an idea to being shot in front of
a studio audience. Let me break it down for you.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What in the name of Thomas Chippendale is that nerve
and come right through the front door.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So much.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Don't talk talking.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Let's not talk about not talking.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
On lovely dear, one neat from your your head down
to your feet.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
There is nothing hanging.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Beautiful that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Like here's an idea for a show that you TV
executives should buy. Most pitches, even the ones that Hollywood
execus like or love, never see the light of day
from those five hundred maybe fifty pilot scripts or order
each year. But most of those scripts also won't see
the light of day. Maybe a few dozen will get
(02:19):
their pilot produced, and from those maybe eight or nine
will be picked up as new shows. Even then, few
shows will finish out the first season without getting canceled early.
It's a business of gambling. You have to audition a lot,
pitch a lot, try a lot, I mean, throw those
dice a lot. Executives and actors have made a ton
(02:42):
of pilots that goes straight into the trash with a
hope that one in five hundred, maybe more like one
in five thousand, will ever become a hit.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Oh thank you, Caroline, be mine. Okay, sweetheart, it really
is kiss me well, I'm not about to argue with candy.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Says, is there woman that says get up room?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
No, But here's one that says, kiss my brown ass.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
By the time I got the role in the pilot
of that seventy show, I more or less understood that
the chances of a pilot becoming a full blown TV
show were slim, like getting a bill passed by Congress
level slim. But when you're young and hungry, you don't
think about the odds, right, I mean, you think about
the dream. The dream for me was huge, not just
(03:51):
for myself but for my family. The phone call that
I got was a moment of pure chaos in our home. Hello,
this is Wilmer. The second I hung up, I yelled,
I got the part. My mom and my dad were
all hogging each other, and my sister was cheering. My
(04:13):
little sister step and he was crying. It was like
Pandemoni and crying, shouting, cheering all at once. For us,
this was the American dream. It was real, tangible, achievable.
I took a moment to step outside and looked up
at the Los Angeles guy across the street. My neighbor's
(04:35):
American flag was blown in the wind, and that split
second The symbolism hit me hard. Everything was possible in
this country. My family had sacrificed so much to get here,
and now I had this one shot to lift us up.
But I knew one thing for sure, I couldn't blow it.
(05:00):
I walked into the tiny room I shared with my sisters,
stare in the mirror. I made a vowt every performance
I give will be the best thing I've ever done.
I wasn't just doing this for me. I was doing
this for my family. It wasn't just about the fifteen
(05:22):
thousand dollars I was going to make for the pilot.
I mean, though, I will tell you this was huge.
I mean, if the show went, it could be a
rent for the year. Right, it could be a chance
to dream bigger, new car, new house, real groceries, not
just ninety nine says store anymore. We can go to
an actual grocery store again. The same night, I took
(05:45):
my mom to a regular grocery store, not the discount one.
She had to buy all the brand names you wanted.
That was my start. But in Hollywood, that start isn't
guaranteed to go anywhere. The pilot might bomb, the show
might get canceled. You might pour your heart into something,
and he goes.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
Nowhere, Senora, what are you doing here? This is a
professional performist.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Desier Ess understood that better than anyone when Lucy came
to him with the idea of doing a TV sitcom
as husband and wife. Desi was finally making a great
living as a bandleader, and she was doing well making
radio shows and doing bit parts in movies. Risking that
on this new medium called TV for a sitcom no
(06:35):
one believed in was well, just crazy. But Lucy was
right that the show could be a way for them
to finally spend more time together and stabilize their marriage.
So when the executives at CBS told him a show
about him and Lucy being a married couple wouldn't work,
they decided to prove them wrong. I'm Wilmer Valderama and
(06:57):
you're listening to starring Desier and Ess and Wilmer Drama
the real life story of the Latin immigrant who basically
invented a modern day Hollywood system. But first he had
to convince Hollywood executives that America was ready for an
interracial couple.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
They said, I couldn't be her husband on a screen
that no one would.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Be sure a Cuban and a redhead together. Who believed that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Desey and Lucy talked about this in many interviews the
hip hoc of Hollywood executives, saying no one would believe
that they were a real couple, even though they were
in fact a real American couple. But TV exacs had
their reasons to doubt that Lucy and Dessi's real life
love story would be accepted by American TV audiences. Even
(08:20):
though Lucy's film career wasn't exactly what she had hoped for,
she stayed busy. Not only was she doing her head
radio sitcom My Favorite Husband, but she was also trying
to get a part in Cecil b the Mills upcoming epic,
The Greatest Show. Dessi, meanwhile, was back to touring every
(08:43):
few days. Their schedules barely overlapped, and when they did,
it was at odd hours, rush moments at the top
of a coldwater canyon, or stolen afternoons at Zero's nightclub.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
As hard as we tried to make it work, we
were still living our separate lives and the entertainment business.
You know, he can take you on many different paths
and at this path. It was tearing us apart as
a couple. The phone calls, the jealous arguments, the loneliness,
it all started adding up.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
But then something happened.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Hollywood's but Love at Redhead Lucille Ball and her Latin love,
her husband Desi Arnaz, are expecting a child.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
This was it for Dessi. He was ready to settle
down in Los Angeles and be a father, even if
it meant taking a pay cut.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
I had a job offered to be the studio band
for some variety show in town, and I decided I'd
better take it. I could be home more often, you know.
More importantly, the contract allowed me to build in addition
to Dessi Lou for the new baby.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Dessi Lou was what Dessi and Lucy called their ranch
and the outskirts of Los Angeles. He was her family home,
a place where Dessie's mom could live and Losey's parents, brothers,
and uncles. It was a very special place to them,
a place they hardly got to spend any time together
thanks to their careers.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
CBS presents My Favorite Husband on the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
When CBS approached Lucy about turning her radio sitcom My
Favorite Husband into a TV show. Well, she signed Opportunity
to save her marriage, but CBS wasn't buying it because
until that point, having an interracial couple on TV, radio,
or even in the movies was pretty much unheard of.
Speaker 6 (10:36):
How would you like to live in Washington?
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Perhaps a change of plan is just what I need?
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Does that mean you're asking me to madter you?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
That's a clip from Daughter of Shanghai, featuring the great
Chinese American star Anime Wong, who sometimes appeared in films
with wye romantic interests, but street Hollywood cos often limited
what was shown on screen and prevented full romantic storylines.
In fact, up until nineteen fifty, when Lucy was pitching
(11:10):
her marriage to Desi as a sitcom, examples of interracial
couples in mass media were very scarce, especially in the
United States due to the racial segregation of the era.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
Latinos, Black, and Asian Americans had all fought in the
war to much distinction.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
They said that World War II had been a watershed
moment in the evolution of Rays and the US.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
During the famous Battle of the Bulge, black and brown
soldiers fought alongside white soldiers out of necessity, marking rare
moments of integration during combat.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
In nineteen forty eight, President Harry S. Truman signed an
executive order finally ending segregation in the US armed forces.
This order establish equality in the military of treatment and
opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
People who had been primarily on the margins were being
seen for the first time, and when the veterans from
these segregated groups returned from the war, they were unwilling
to accept second class citizenship, fueling the civil rights movement.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Even though Dessi had seen a lot of this firsthand
while serving as a sergeant, his approach to pushing back
against the CBS executives was much more practical.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
In all honesty, I did consider that these executives could
be right about us working as a team on screen,
mostly because the press and well they always made a
big deal about Lucy and I as a couple. In
real life. You see, no one thought we should be together,
and no one thought it would last longer than a
few months when we first got married.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
But Dessi also remembered something from all his experiences in entertainment,
man up to that point.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
All those years doing vaudeville, I had learned this very
important lesson the audience. They will tell you what is working.
You know, you may have some idea of what is
good and what is bad, but it's just an idea.
Practically speaking. You put it on stage in front of
the audience, and your idea may not be worth anything.
Then again, it could be a hit.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
In his memoir DESI paraphrases a quote from Broadway legend
George M. Cohen.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Each individual in an audience more probably doesn't have the
savvy to know why they like something or why they don't,
but as a group they are geniuses. In other words,
if you present something somewhere and that particular audience likes it,
there's a ninety nine percent chance another audience is going
to react the same way.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Essentially as he was talking about something that is more
common today. IP or intellectual property, is a term thrown
around a lot in the media, but it all really
means a proof of concept. For example, you can write
a novel like Bridger ten and if it does well
as a novel, it has a good chance of being
(14:09):
a hit on TV.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
I told Lucy, you know, let's try it. Why not
let's get an act together, you and me on the
road this summer. We'll hit all the big theaters across
this country, and let's see what the American audiences really
think about us being a couple.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's after the break in the spring of nineteen fifty,
(14:59):
that's seeing Lou she began preparing for a Vaudeville style
musical show. Before we get into that and what it
really meant, I've asked Eric Galindo, one of the producers
of our show, to give us a little background on
what a vaudeville act is.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Thanks Wilmer. Yeah. So, Vaudeville was basically the original variety show,
a mix of comedy, music, dance, and sometimes even magic
or novelty acts that dominated a big part of the
entertainment landscape for a time. It was hugely popular in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was kind
of like a live concert version of what we see
now with SNW or when we watch old reruns of
(15:41):
Saba Lookigant or Ed Sullivan. It was a highly produced
traveling showcase of talent, where performers would tour theaters across
the country to entertain audiences with short, fast paced acts
of all kinds. It really had everything. You can go
to a show and see us slaps become the sketch,
followed by a singer, then maybe a juggler or a
(16:02):
dog act. I had something for everyone. It was also
where a lot of early stars like Charlie Chaplin and
May West got their start. Lucille Bough famously got into
entertainment with the dream of being a vaudeville star, but
by the nineteen thirties when she went looking for a
vaudeville act to join, radio and film had largely taken
Vaudeville's place in the entertainment world.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
I started from a small, yanky town back in Jamestown,
New York. Got into everything I could in high school
and church and Sunday school and the Elks convention and
dancing and singing and you know, doing all the things
that I can do in my hometown. But I'd never
dawned on men being pictures. I always wanted to be invaigle.
I didn't know it was dead.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So Lucy pivoted to the movies, then to radio, and
now to this rising medium called television, where ironically she'd
have to rely on some old Vaudeville tricks to get
her way okay, back to you, Wilmer.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
By the nineteen fifties, vaudeville was fully on its way
out because of TV. Variety shows were almost all non
news related TV shows, but the format was still influential.
Dessie and Lucy decided to build an act that was
a throwback to this style, but it was also a
strategic move. They were using it like ip Vaudeville was
(17:29):
hopefully going to prove they could work as a team
and more importantly, that Dessi could play Lucy's husband and
win over live audiences.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
I knew we had to make them laugh, and we
had to make them believe. That's why I called my
friend Pepito the Clown.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Pepito was a famous Spanish clown and a master of
physical comedy. Dessi asked him to help Lucy hone her
comedic time in and slapstick skills, even giving her some
sicknas at your bids to work into their act. Together,
the three of them build an act around Lucy's natural
comedy skills, sharpening them until she transformed into a slapstick dynamo.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Lucy. She had that natural spark. But Pepito taught her
to really sell the gags, you know, to commit physically
and emotionally, no matter how ridiculous the setup. And she
took what he taught her very seriously, and she worked
hard on it. It was like she was leaving her
vaudeville dream job. By the time we were ready to
(18:33):
hit the stage, she was unstoppable.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Finally the night came, Dessi and Lucy debuted their act
in front of a live audience. Okay, it wasn't recorded
at the time, but maybe you'll recognize some of it.
We put together our own version based on our research.
It went a little something like this. It started, like
most of Dessie's musical performances, a big, virant number with
(19:00):
his orchestra setting a tone. But then something unusual started
happening in the audience.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Excuse me, excuse me, viska band leader, Senora, what are
you doing here?
Speaker 5 (19:13):
This is a professional performance.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I needed a taxi
though to sit in the audience. I just had a
teen sea.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Request, a request from my orchestra.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
No for you, can you show me how to play
that big drum?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Thingy.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
Na, he's a conga drum, Senora, and it's not for amateurs.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Nah, come on, Oops, did I break it? Lucy? That's you, Lucy.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Lucy's chaotic interruption was the setup for a series of
escalating gangs. She tried to join Desi's orchestra, failing miserably
at every instrument or Her failures were so outrageous and
Desi's reactions so exaggerated that the audience couldn't stop laughing.
By the time the act ended with Lucy accidentally knocking
(20:19):
over half the orchestra, the audience was in stitches. They
loved her, they loved them.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
And that first night we knew we had something especial.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Tessie and Lucy's vaudeville style act was their proof of concept.
Night after night, live audiences saw them together and fell
in love with their chemistry. It was undeniable.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
The exects always said, no one would believe a Cuban
man could be married to an all American redhead, but
the people in the audience they believed it.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
It was so successful that the act would essentially become
the pilot episode to our Lucy. Like I said that
throwback vaudeville act wasn't just entertainment. It was a pitch
to the world, and more specifically, to the TV executives
who didn't think audiences would accept an interracial couple on screen.
This is how Dessi recalls the aftermath in his memoir.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
William S. Paley, the head of the CBS, agreed to
do our television pilot, a show. He told his people, Hey,
I think the viewers might believe those two could be married.
You know, the audiences throughout the country really liked them
working as a team on that theater tour they did,
and besides, they have been married for ten years.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
It's a story Dessi has told many times in interviews,
but the truth is the tour did so well that
Dessi and Lucy started receiving offers from all their TV networks.
The bus thatc created on the road proved that their
chemistry wasn't just ahead with live audiences, it was something
networks new could translate to the screen. Here's Eric again.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Desi and Lucy's vaudeville style theater tour got a ton
of attention and proved their chemistry to the audiences, but
also to industry. Insiders. It was basically one of the
first uses of IP or intellectual property. That's when you
take something that works in one medium, like a vaudeville
act and make a new version for TV or film.
(22:23):
And Desie and Lucy's case, their successful tour demonstrated that
the concept of I Love Lucy worked and this attracted
interest from other networks.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
But like it is today, CBS was one of the
premier broadcast networks, so when they ultimately decided to greenlight
the I Love Lucy Show, Dessie and Lucy were eager
to do it with them. Plus, Dessi was able to
get the best deal from them in terms of creative freedom, ownership,
and other concessions, a deal that would change television in
(23:02):
Hollywood forever, because while Dessie and Lucy had sold their show,
but they really negotiated was control, ownership, the right to
call the shots. They had no idea how they were
going to invent the multi camera sitcom, but they did,
and in the process, they didn't just make I Love Lucy.
(23:23):
They made a blueprint a new way to shoot, a
new way to syndicate, a new way to own what
you create. And it all start it with one radical idea,
filming like a movie, make him laugh like he's live,
and keep the rights. That's on the next episode of
starring Desier Nancy Wilmer. Valdorama starring Dessie R. Nacy Wilmer
(23:52):
Valderama is produced by WV Sound in partnership with Iheartmichael
Duda Podcast Network, starring Rnass and wilmaval Durama is written
by Eric Galindo and narrated by me Wilma. Valderama. It
is produced by Sophie Spencer Savos and Leo Klem, with
special help from Anhel Lopez Galindo. Our executive producers are
(24:15):
myself and Eric Galindo. This episode was edited and engineered
by Sean Tracy and features original music by Halo Boy
and Madison Devenport. Our cover art illustration is by Lindsey Mount.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.