TIME PEOPLE: LUCY & DESI

March 14, 1960

PEOPLE 

When TV’s foremost up-from-the-ranks production tycoons, Cinemactress Lucille Ball and Bandleader Desi Arnaz, were married in 1940, acquaintances of the volatile lovebirds gave their union six months at most before an inevitable explosion would send them on separate ways. Lucy herself doubted that the match was good for six weeks. Last week, after more than 19 years of sometimes hectic marriage, and two children (Lucy, 8; Desi IV, 7), Lucy and Desi, co-bosses of Desilu Productions, Inc. (grossing more than $20 million a year) and co-stars of TV’s longtime rating-topper “I Love Lucy”, called quits to the marriage but announced that Desilu Productions would still link them. Both feature players at RKO studios when they first met, Lucy, 48, and Arnaz, 43, seemed to pose a very American example of a romantic partnership that could not stand financial success. Filing for divorce in Santa Monica, Calif., Lucy, whose home-loving inclinations have not jibed with Arnaz’ night-prowling habits for several years, sadly allowed: “I’ve tried so hard to be fair and solve our problems, but find it impossible to go on.”

A similar item also appeared in Newsweek Magazine on this same date.