Desi's Musical Numbers
As time goes on, I'm finding myself more and more impressed with the musical numbers
Desi performed as Ricky. When I was a kid, and watched the show on regular broadcast
TV, they often cut his numbers out to fit in more commercials. Also, I didn't really pay
attention to how good he was/wasn't.
Since owning the DVDS, with the shows nicely cleaned up and uncut, I realize now what
a great performer Arnaz was. No, he didn't possess a technically great voice, but he did
sing/entertain beautifully, especially in those early years at the club.
In the first year, Ricky would sometimes start a beautiful ballad, and then Lucy would
come on, and the scene would seamlessly melt into the comedy. Pretty effective.
Two of the numbers that come to mind are "Martha' and "Jezebel." Both are hauntingly
performed, the latter sort of turning into a bossa nova with the show girls walking right
into the camera. Then Lucy suddenly appears in that horrid black wig, scratching herself
while trying to screw up Rosemary's routine (and does she fight back - yanking Lucy off
of that platform twice!).
I remember an episode of "The Golden Girls" where Blanche and Rose watch a marathon
of the show. Sophia has the line, "I never cared for that show". She then laments
that "His act stank!" I realize it's just a show, and the writers weren't easy on a lot of
famous people, but I never liked that piece of dialogue, as I found it so disrespectful to
the most influential TV comedy of all time.