HE STILL LOVES LUCY

February 12, 1956

This year Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are celebrating their 16th Valentine’s Day as husband and wife. Although their marriage has had its ups and downs, they are considered one of Hollywood’s happiest couples, on screen and off. When I asked Lucille to explain this happy state of affairs, she said. “That’s easy. Desi is the boss, at work and at home." 

She offered proof, too. When she had wanted them to live at their Chatsworth ranch, Desi preferred to buy a house in Beverly Hills so they’re now living in Beverly Hills! He also keeps her on a strict allowance, in spite of their substantial income. And meals are prepared with Desi’s taste in mind, and vacations taken when he can get away. 

To keep the record straight, I also asked Desi what he thought was responsible for all those happy Valentine’s Days. He considered a sense of humor highly important. To illustrate, he told me that Lucille can’t go to sleep at night unless the windows are wide open, even though he complains he "freezes to death.”

“Lucy lets me close the windows and I go to sleep,” he said, “but no sooner do I doze off than she opens them again. And then I freeze the rest of the night. To take this for 15 years, you have to have a sense of humor!" 

Considering how their backgrounds differ, it’s amazing how well they have adjusted to one another. Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III is the son of a former mayor of Santiago, Cuba, the grandson of one of his country’s heroes who rode with Teddy Roosevelt, and a descendant of one of Cuba’s oldest families. Lucille’s father was a mining engineer and her mother a hat buyer for a New York department store. (**)

While Desi divided his time between three ranches totaling 100,000 acres, a palatial home in the city, a cruiser, and a racing stable, Lucille worked as a soda jerk, a model for a wholesale dress company, and a chorus girl in Ziegfeld’s "Rio Rita." 

They met in Hollywood in 1940 where they co-starred in RKO’s "Too Many Girls.” Lucille had established herself as a first-rate comedienne while Desi, after fleeing Cuba during the 1933 revolution, had made a name for himself as a band leader. They soon realized they had more in common than either had expected.

Lucille’s Irish temper was a perfect match for Desi’s fiery Latin disposition. Each was stubborn enough to like to see things through, and both shared a common interest in show business and show people. They were married Nov. 30, 1940, in Greenwich, Conn. 

Skeptics said their marriage wouldn’t last, that “I Love Lucy” would never be a success, and that their own film productions would never make money. But the marriage has been one of Hollywood’s brightest, “I Love Lucy” is among television’s Top Ten, and MGM has just released their new independent film, “Forever, Darling,” in which they co-star with James Mason. 

All in all, there seem to be many more happy Valentine’s Days ahead for Mr. and Mrs. Desi Arnaz.

(**) = It appears that Lucille was still embroidering her family history for the press. Early in her career she said that her father was a mining company executive and that she was born in Butte, Montana. In reality, her father Henry Ball worked for Bell Telephone as an itinerant lineman and she was born in Jamestown, New York.  Her mother, Dede, was a housewife and sometimes was described as a concert pianist, but there is no evidence that she was a hat buyer for a New York department store.