We have to start from somewhere!
Where do we all start, yes at the beginning!
As Desi said "I have to start somewhere!"
Born Desidario Arnaz III, in San Diago De Couba, he was an only child to a wealthy family, you know with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father the Mayor of the town, his uncle the chief of police, his grandfather the owner of a big Rum company, even his lazy uncle has a soap factory as he describes it in his book.
As the only legitimate grandson of his grandparents, he was expected to have a great position and at the moment the prince of the town. Good looking and well behaved and gentlemanly, he was a real prince. And he was supposed to go to law or medical school like his father and grandfather. He owned a boat at the age of mere sixteen, with three houses and three farms and a lot of sea around the land, he had all his dreams come true before even dreaming them!
Desi was raised as a prince, nothing is unreachable, nothing is the limit till the stars above. He loved his life but he had different interests from his family, he was raised in a black and white culture, while his family only allowed the white to prevail, the black culture and specially music affected him deeply. He loved to attend the Afro-Cuban parades and their carnavals, with their sensual and rhythmic music, and he liked to entangle with Afrocuban musicians and lyricists, which his status as a cuban aristocrat and mayor's only son allowed him to, in addition to his long time friendship with Marco Rizo, who was a family and neighborly acquaintance and shared his love of music. In fact Marco chose music as his life long career, studying piano from a young age and graduated from Julliard later on, he was the genius behind the genius! Their collaboration since childhood proved to be useful and beneficial to both of them! Although Desi got the screen credit for ILL yet he never forgot his friend, it seemed that this was not an act of vanity from his part, but a kind of protection, as later on Marco's brother was imprisoned for two years, for being suspected as spy to the united states in consequence to his brother long-term relation to Desi!
One the other hand, this prince was suddenly denied any possessions to have, he fled his home and later his country without a cent! And he became homeless, this roughened him and the pampered child was nomore. His character always looked by instinct for improvement, self-learning and a way out of any brick walled obstacle in his way! and that was his life's journey, improving oneself and being hard on oneself for not ever reaching the level of refinement he thinks should be reached!
As this could help the person to achieve success, it never allows him to savor it that is how he created Desilu and later called it the monster that ate his life away! He exceeded everyone’s expectations and yet never reached his!
From rages to riches never meant anything to Desi, he just wanted to prove himself as capable in a country that looked at his country as second or even third-rate chaotic place out there! He was always rich in his soul, he was the prince that knew that material things come and go, and isn’t that true to him, he lost everything in a glimpse of an eye!
Lucille Ball was a rough person, she suffered a lot in her life, she lost what little she had when her grandpa Fred lost his home in a lawsuit after the firing that occurred in his farm. She was tough always mingling with tough characters either romantically or friendly, that is why she was frowned upon in Hollywood, in addition she had no musical or dancing talents, simply put she can't dance or sing! also she cant act romantic roles due to her roughness and somehow crudeness! of course all these traits later proved immensely beneficial in her comedic acting career, especially ILL! But she was always in fear of losing everything, that is why she never knew when to quit or when to stop, she tries as hard as she can but she had no brakes when simply something is not working out! That was her main problem with Desi, and that was the demise of their marriage! He knew when to stop and rewind, because he knew he could always start from scratch and achieve his goals, she on the other hand is not a quitter, even when quitting is mandatory, she has to go on even if all the walls crumbles around her because if she stopped she might loose everything! They had a great fortune and family, and could slow down, but she wanted more, out of fear out of greed, it is not important, her ambition had no limits as long as she had a breath in her lungs! She couldn’t quit anything in her life, RKO dragged her out of the company and she was content in her little B's, Desi asked for divorce and she was content in her crumbling marriage, Desilu was not profiting and she continued till they had to sell according to the board, she continued acting her slapstick comedy TV even when she was in her seventies with Here is Lucy, which was painful to watch and they had to fire her to stop! "Never a quitter" was her motto, but that is not always useful, sometimes you just have to "Let it go" as Idina Menzel's song in "Frozen"
Both were ambitious but in their own way, and when they clashed it was just the end!
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