A Few Things About Desi Arnaz

One of my first bro-crushes had hit his career peak and was on teevee reruns before I even began kindergarten.  Desi Arnaz captured my attention because he seemed so exotic, yet kind and friendly on the show on which he co-starred with his wife, Lucille Ball.  Both individuals seemed almost like family to me, but the character, Ricky Ricardo resonated with me.  As it turned out, I wasn’t the only person who was fascinated with Desi Arnaz.

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y De Acha (Desiderio Arnaz III) was born on March 2, 1917 in Santiago de Cuba. His mother, Dolores de Acha, was an heir to an executive at the Bacardi Rum company. His father, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz II had been Santiago, Cuba’s youngest mayor and had served a term in the Cuban House of Representatives. The Arnaz family was very well-to-do and owned two mansions, and three ranches.

During the 1933 Cuban Revolution when Fulgencio Batista grabbed power in a coup d’état, Arnaz’s maternal grandfather was arrested and jailed. The family properties were confiscated by the Batista regime. After six months, the grandfather was released and the family fled to Miami, Florida. The sixteen-year-old Desi was sent for his education at St. Patrick Catholic High School.

Following graduation, the young Arnaz worked briefly as a guitar player for Xavier Cugat’s swing band in New York City.  He returned to Miami to head up his own combo. Arnaz became a musical hit maker and had started on his own road to fame.

After he moved back to New York, he was offered a starring role was in the Broadway musical, “Too Many Girls”, in 1939.  The following year he was chosen to appear in RKO’s film version of the show. The female lead in the movie was Lucille Ball. The two stars married in November of that year.

After being drafted into the military, Arnaz injured his knee and was called up for limited service during the second World War. He became director of the USO program at the military hospital near Los Angeles.

By the late 1940s, Lucille and Desi had their own radio series. Lucy starred in the CBS Radio Network’s “My Favorite Husband”. Desi hosted his own musical show, also on CBS Radio.  Arnaz also served as orchestra leader for Bob Hope’s radio program in 1946 and 1947.

The new medium of television was tempting to Desi and Lucille, so they proposed an outline of the show to CBS executives. The budding television network at first wanted the program broadcast live from New York City. Also, some of the executives believed that the couple wouldn’t seem credible to the public, due to Arnaz’s latino accent. There was the worry that the couple would break a taboo about bicultural couples.

To prove that the show would do well, Lucy and Desi went on tour, in early 1951, performing comedy skits as a husband-wife team in front of live audiences. During the summer of that year, the two produced a film pilot for their series and paid for it with $5,000 of their own funds.

The network was sold on the program and signed the couple and left production rights as the responsibility of the Arnazes.  The half-hour show aired during prime time on Monday nights at 9:00 Eastern Time/8:00 Central Time. “I Love Lucy” was an immediate and continuing audience success. During its six-year run, it became the most successful television program in history. The couple decided their program would abide by “basic good taste” by avoiding humor based on physical and mental disabilities. They also avoided ethnic humor except for the times when they poked fun at themselves.

Two groundbreaking developments were instigated by Arnaz. 1. He insisted that “I Love Lucy” be recorded on film, not poor quality kinescope. 2. He contracted with CBS that the couple’s company, Desilu Productions, retain full ownership of the program.

The “I Love Lucy” live run ended in 1957. Desi made his mark, mostly behind the scenes in other television work. His marriage to Lucille Ball ended with their divorce in 1960, but the two remained good friends. In 1963 Arnaz sold his share of Desilu to Ball.

That same year, Arnaz married Edith Hirsch.  He purposely cut back his television activities but was executive producer of “The Mothers-In-Law”. He also guest starred on an NBC “Kraft Music Hall” episode. Arnaz had a noteworthy appearance on “Saturday Night Live” with his son, Desi, Junior. Desi and Edith lived in semi-retirement at Del Mar, California. Arnaz taught courses in studio production and television acting at San Diego State University.

Gossip of serious illness had been circulating in the rumor mills since Desi’s diverticulitis hospitalization in 1981. He was an habitual smoker most of his life and was seen with lit cigarettes on the set of his television shows. He remained a smoker of Cuban cigars into his older years. Arnaz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986. He died later that year, on December 2nd, at the age of 69.

Adios
The Blue Jay of Happiness enjoys this biographical tidbit: The youthful Desi Arnaz was a close friend of Al (Sonny) Capone, the son of the gangster Al Capone. Desi and Sonny were classmates at St. Patrick High School.

Universal Human Beings Week

Sometimes I ponder and wonder about the big picture of humankind.  At first glance, this seems like a gigantic situation because our species numbers in the billions of individuals. I take a second look and imagine the “pale blue dot”, the ultimate “selfie” taken of Earth from the distance of the Planet Saturn. It takes a trained astronomer to point out where we are in the photo of the vastness of the Solar System.

At present, we are the dominant species on this small planet, that orbits a medium sized star located in an average Galaxy among billions of other Galaxies. The numbers are great, and the distances between places are vast.  For the perceptual future, this pale blue dot is the only home we’ll have. We need to share it or perish.

There are great calls to “Save the Earth”, this is an admirable goal, of which I agree.  The slogan is somewhat misleading, though.  The Earth has been in existence for billions of years, and it will probably exist another several billion as an intact planet, regardless of how we abuse it.  The implied meaning of “Save the Earth” asks us to save the human environment.  Our environment includes the touchy balance of conditions in the atmosphere, the seas, the land, and the living things.  Naturally, we are an integral part of the human environment.

It often seems like our species, as a whole, is a very dangerous one, and a self-destructive one, as well. We claim to be far more intelligent than the other species of animals, but some doubt about this state of being is now surfacing.  While we can emote love, caring, and compassion, our species seems to favor prejudice, hatred, jealousy, anger, and annihilation.

At this critical time in our history, we still have not overcome our destructive impulses. We fight each other over mere mental concepts like religion and politics. We battle one another over nationality and international borders, resources, and power.  Greed seems to be the fashionable vice these days, as the very few continue to hoard what we all need for survival.

We’re a very contrarian species. We desperately need to make peace, yet our efforts are towards more competition in ever escalating conflicts and war with each other. We claim to be peacemakers, but our actions tell the opposite truth.

This week is Universal Human Beings Week. Sadly, this commemoration will receive little, if any, press coverage. There is more hype and lead-up to America’s Superbowl than is given to much more worthy events.  It seems easier to escape into entertainments than it is to face our problems collectively, head-on.  Each and every one of us is a human being. Can we spend at least one week contemplating and celebrating the full implications of who we are?

In my view, this week should receive just as much publicity and hype as the December holidays. In fact, given our present states of crises, I think it should be given more publicity than all the winter holidays, combined.

This is the perfect opportunity for all of us to exercise our positive skepticism and seriously question what we’ve been told in the past.  What are we told? Who tells us these things? Why are we told this stuff? Most importantly, why do we choose to believe this so-called, accepted wisdom?

What do these questions have to do with humankind and our well-being as an individual human being? I cannot give you a definitive, one size fits all answer to these questions. I can only outline what some of my answers are at the time of the writing of this humble blog post.  Better answers are probably found within each of us. If we dare to let go of conventional thinking for awhile, we can ponder these questions with our most compassionate inner natures.

You may wish to jot the questions onto a Post It Note or a white board and place them where you’ll see them every day. 1. What am I being told? 2. Who tells me these things? 3. Why am I being told these things? 4. Why do I choose to accept what I’m being told?

As you think about your personal answers to these questions, from time to time, you’ll notice that your responses vary slightly each time.  At first you may feel some anger or a sense of rebellion. Eventually, you’ll come to understand the questions at a deep level. Soon, you may begin to know yourself better.

You might investigate your fears and attachment to opinions and beliefs and how they influence your thoughts and actions.  In turn, you can begin to understand how other people’s opinions and beliefs influence how they think and act. As we continue to ponder the questions, we end up seeking a better balance between the overtly material aspects of our lives with the deep, inner virtue that resides at our cores. We begin to be more friendly and compassionate with ourselves. Our inner understanding, compassion, and empathy begin to “flow” to the people around us.

In my opinion, this is why we must be true to the best universal aspects within. This is also why we must regularly and carefully examine our personal beliefs.  This is why I have my Post It Note of the questions on my refrigerator door, to see, each day.

Some of the best things about regularly answering these questions is that I understand that I belong to the human race. I am automatically integrated into the whole. The human condition can be enhanced by my presence. Other people enhance my being by their presence.  Understanding our mutual interdependence, contributes to our individual integrity.

Fatima Fagbure in West Africa has just as much potential and importance as Boris Kasyanov in Russia, Yukio Morimoto in Japan, Yvonne LaSalle in France and James Miller here in Nebraska.

Universal Human Beings Week is dedicated to the advancement of better human relations, friendship, good will, peace, and international cooperation. This is a great time to reach out to others who seem different than ourselves. In doing so, we can find our common humanity.  This is a good way of being human, and one of the best ways of human being.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness has something relevant from Albert Camus. “Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.”

This Is Floral Design Day

Naturally, I want to use the last post of February to salute an activity that I find very rewarding and enjoyable. Floral Design Day is a commemoration that I always celebrate in a real, physical sense. In this instance, I can have a “Floral Saturday” in addition to yesterday’s Floral Friday.

Images are clickable.

I might arrange a bouquet with silk or dried flowers. Perhaps I’ll purchase live cuttings.  Regardless of the floral medium, the feelings of luxury and engagement come forth.  Today is a day that anybody can celebrate or even participate in.  While Floral Design Day can be enjoyed anywhere in the nation and the world, it is official in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Floral Design Day coincides with the birthday of Carl Rittner, the founder of Rittner’s School of Floral Design located in Boston, Massachusetts. The celebration recognizes that the floral industry is a major part of commerce in the nation. It is closely integrated with such holidays as Valentines’ Day, and Christmas. Floral arrangements are sent to commemorate weddings, birthdays, and funerals. Florists are major contributors to the local and national economy.

The most simple way to celebrate Floral Design Day is to visit a few florist shops to compare the styles and choices of materials.

You might check out a local art museum or look online at paintings and photographs that feature flowers. You might wish to visit the library or a book store so you can bring home a book about flowers.

You may want to create an arrangement of your own. The project can be simple or complicated, depending on your level of expertise.  Some people prefer to purchase something already made up.

I decided to create a few projects to commemorate Floral Design Day in my own way.  My theme is simple and basic. I was in the mood to include the color, purple, in all of them.

A handmade vase with an earthy glaze became the base for an array of small purple tulips. They are nestled in leaves and other greenery for a richer effect.

Even though the medium-size California Pottery planter is blue, I carried the purple theme into the planting with purple accents. I used a similar greenery border as with the tulip grouping.

A fancy silver and brass goblet houses a very sparse solitary arrangement. The result is a statement of simplicity, and elegant grace.

Have a beautiful and creative Floral Design Day.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness likes this gem from Claude Monet: “I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”

Variété de Février …Floral Friday

Images are clickable.

The short month of February is nearly through so I haven’t had quite the same amount of time to develop a singular theme, as in other months.  There has just been so many events and commemorations to consolidate them into one. This is reflected in the variety of February projects for the last Floral Friday of the month.

A new friend gifted me with a tall vase of Japanese origin recently. I decided to build on it, upwards, to enhance both the height and detail coloring of the container.  The final touch of the peacock feather brings the total height to nearly one-metre.

By lucky timing, I came across a quaint, planter with a rustic theme.  The girl and dog on a fence appears to be a Shawnee planter, but I could not positively identify it as such.  Regardless of origin, it displays well.  I used a variety of fill flowers to enhance the piece.

The 1950s vintage teevee lamp is close to my desk, so I see it a lot.  That means I want to update it frequently.  This time, I used a colorful variety of small blooms, loosely spaced to allow the light to shine through.  Then I pulled the lamp forward, on the shelf,  so I could park the Tuppercraft with onion grass project behind the arrangement to add depth and height. The Tuppercraft project can be seen on the post for this past Friday the 13th.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness has a quote from Felix Mendelssohn for you. “The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.”

Something About Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill Cody remains a legendary figure in the American past.  His legacy is a reflection of changing mores and a projection of contemporary celebrity.  There are towns with his name and even the NFL team, “The Buffalo Bills” of New York State. Some US states like to claim him as their own native son.

William Frederick Cody was born near LeClaire, Iowa, on February 26, 1846. The following year, the young family moved back to Cody’s father, Isaac’s native area near Toronto in present day Ontario. In 1853, The family moved to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas Territory. One day, Isaac, who followed an anti-slavery Quaker belief, was invited to speak at a trading post about his anti-slavery views.  His speech so angered the crowd that one man stabbed Isaac. The injury plagued Isaac Cody until his death in 1857.

To help ease the financial difficulties of his family, the eleven-year-old Bill worked as a “boy extra” for wagon train freight carriers. His next youthful job was as an unofficial scout to help guide the US Army to Utah to control a rumored rebellion in Salt Lake City. In 1860, Bill was recruited into the Pony Express. He was a rider until being called home to his mother’s sick-bed.

Bill Cody then served as a Union scout against the campaigns against the Kiowa and Comanche people during the American Civil War. He then enlisted, in 1863, with the Seventh Kansas Cavalry. He fought in Missouri and Tennessee. Shortly after the war, he married Louisa Frederick and continued army work as a dispatch carrier and scout.

In 1867, Cody turned to bison hunting to help feed the construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad.  By his own estimates, Cody supposedly wiped out some 4,280 head of buffalo in 17 months. Legends claim that Bill Cody engaged in an eight-hour shooting match with a hunter named Bill Comstock, apparently to determine which of the two “Buffalo Bills” would earn the actual title.

Starting in 1868, Cody again contracted to scout for the US Army. He worked as chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry, which took part in 16 battles, including the subjugation of the Cheyenne at Summit Springs, Colorado in 1869.

Concurrently, in the late 1860s, writer Ned Buntline, aka E.Z.C. Judson, started selling Buffalo Bill dime novels.  Buntline loosely based his character around the true and fictional exploits of Bill Cody. The book version of Buffalo Bill took on the charisma of a combination of Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, and Daniel Boone. The character was a blend of true, heroic feats and romanticized fictions.

Buntline convinced Cody to personify his fictional character in 1872, on stage, as the star of the play, “The Scouts of the Plains”. Even though Cody’s acting skills were amaturish, his personal magnetism won him accolaids for eleven seasons.

Between theatre seasons, Cody guided wealthy Easterners and Europeans on Western buffalo hunts.  After a falling out from Buntline, Cody wrote his first autobiography in 1879 and published a few of his own “Buffalo Bill” dime novels.

In 1876, Cody returned to scouting for the Army to serve in the military campaign following the defeat of Custer at Little Bighorn. It was this time Cody began bragging up a supposed duel with chief “Yellow Hair” of the Cheyennes. Cody claimed that he shot “Yellow Hair” with his rifle, then stabbed him in the heart, and scalped the chief in about five seconds. His personal tale was disputed by other witnesses, but Cody’s version stuck.  The scout embroidered his story into a melodramatic play for the next theatre season, “Buffalo Bill’s First Scalp for Custer”.

Bill Cody’s most famous chapter unfolded in 1883, near North Platte, Nebraska. Here he organized “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West”. The shows were basically large scale, outdoor circus extravaganzas. The Wild West shows dramatized the most colorful aspects of the American frontier. The shows usually included such events as bison hunts with real critters, a Pony Express ride, some sort of Indian battle with real Indians. As a finishing touch, Cody presented his version of Custer’s Last Stand. A few of the actors were some of the Lakota warriors who actually fought the battle.

“Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” was a huge national and international hit for nearly 30 years. Throughout the years, Cody hired such luminaries as Buck Taylor–the first King of the Cowboys, Annie Oakley the sharpshooter, and, for one season, he even featured Chief Sitting Bull as “the slayer of General Custer”. As the shows evolved, Cody added new features to the playbill. Audiences could watch Old Western cowboys and Indians, Russian Cossaks, and other Old World figures, all together, as a “Congress of Rough Riders of the World”.

During a period of “intermission”, Cody was again called into service by the US Army. This time they were concerned about uprisings associated with Ghost Dances by native Americans. Cody travelled with several of his Indian actors who helped in negotiations. Cody also helped restore order in the aftermath of the tragic Wounded Knee massacre.

Cody slowly lost his great wealth from show business due to mismanagement and his weakness for get rich quick schemes.  Finally, his beloved Wild West Show was grabbed by creditors.

On January 10, 1917 Cody died of kidney failure at his sister’s home in Denver, Colorado. He received a full Masonic funeral at the Elks Lodge Hall in Denver. Accolaids were sent by such leaders as President Woodrow Wilson, King George V, and Kaiser Wilhelm II. His remains were interred at Lookout Mountain near Golden, Colorado.

Among Bill Cody’s honors are towns and geographical sites named after him.  They include the city he was instrumental in founding–Cody, the county seat of Park County, Wyoming; Cody in Cherry County, Nebraska; Fort Cody Trading Post in North Platte, Nebraska; Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead in Scott County, Iowa; Cody Park in Colorado; and the town of Cody in South Dakota.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness credits the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska,  Lincoln for some of the material in this post.

Affronted Or Fascinated

Two of the reasons Jorge and I are such good pals are our parallel personal histories.  Even though we grew up in different cities and vastly different ethnic backgrounds, our drives to satisfy our curiosity helped to define us.

Both of us were outsiders during our youths.  Despite our best efforts to fit in with our classmates, it was impossible to conform.  Because our families moved to various towns and neighborhoods, we often found ourselves going through the process of acclimating ourselves to new social environments.

In Jorge’s case, his family lived in various parts of Los Angeles.  My family lived in a couple of places in Nebraska, our moves inhibited my siblings and my long-term bonding outside of our neighborhoods.

During our high school years, Jorge and I independently concluded that any further efforts towards group conformity were pointless.  It was also at around that same time period we discovered that close friends were to be found in unexpected places with unexpected people.

Unlike our classmates, who generally disliked people who were from different social classes, races, and nationalities, Jorge and I were attracted to them.  In Jorge’s case, it was his exposure to people in different areas of L.A. that opened his eyes. It also helped that both of his mentors came from mixed nationalitis and were of non-heterosexual orientation.

I can point to two eye-openers in my life.  My junior high level best friend was Nasir, an immigrant from Morocco, we were as close as peas in a pod.  One year, during high school, our family hosted a foreign exchange student from Mexico City. Carlos became the older brother I had always wanted and I was the younger brother he had wished for because his native siblings were all female. Both of these people added depth and humor to my life at just the times they were needed.

Jorge put it best when he once told me that we are friends with each other because of our similar instinct not to be affronted by differences but fascinated by them. Both of us like people who are not like us.  Even though we didn’t realize it at the time, befriending people who were nothing like us opened ourselves and our new friends to growth and community.

The world is going through a time of social changes. To some of us, this shift is uncomfortable and scary. They are greatly insulted and affronted by different types of people.  Others of us are very curious and want to know more about various types of people. We feel happy and blessed to know them.  I don’t think these attitudes form because we are either accepted nor rejected by our childhood peers. Perhaps our inborn need to socialize helps us seek out different types of people.

Neither Jorge nor I had to force ourselves to accept and to embrace people from other backgrounds, the attitudes just happened. Jorge believes that even people who are affronted by differences can learn to grow and accept people who are different than themselves.  Once they are given a personal example about the joy and freedom possible when prejudices and fears drop away, the affronted people can become fascinated and fascinating people.

I heartily agree that differences are not to be discouraged.  Differences are to be sought out, studied, treasured, and embraced.  Certainly, we are all human beings, first of all. It is also true that our differences make our global society strong and beautiful.  Of course, we don’t want to mistake stereotypes for differences in culture, that is counterproductive.

There are very dark forces who wish to turn back the clock to days of racial segregation. They want a return to jingoism and ultra nationalism. Those forces seek to oppress non-heterosexual people.  The dark forces preach a mean-spirited gospel of resentment, fear, and oppression.

Jorge says we need to live our lives filled to the brim with acceptance and love for everybody.  Forgiveness and kindness must be the attitudes that bring us together.  I add that I am grateful to know people who are different than me. My life is happier and richer because of them.

Nobody is born with racism, misogyny, homophobia, and jingoism in their hearts.  These twisted attitudes are taught to us.  Many people learn these negative lessons and quickly adopt them as their own.  There are also those of us who failed to learn and adopt the lessons of fear and hatred.

The tide of fear and violence that is sweeping over our cities and nations can be lessened.  Instead of being affronted by differences, we can be fascinated by them. Our lives and our world will be healthier and happier when we open ourselves to fascination.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness adds that not only is fascination a vital, positive personal quality, so are passion and love.

Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month

I spotted the name of the special observance on my events calendar and was immediately puzzled.  The phrase seemed a bit discordant and clumsy.  I wondered if its origin was British.   I don’t know anybody who has their sofa attached to a wall, I certainly don’t.  If I had gone to all the bother of bolting a couch onto a wall, I doubt if I’d want to just pull it off the wall.  I was put off a little by the name of the event.

I looked up the origin of Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month and found out that it began as a commercial promotion for an interior decorating retail outlet in the Baltimore, Maryland area, AFP. Aha, if AFP could get people to focus on their sofa, perhaps the company might induce folks to purchase a new settee or even a whole new suite of furniture.

As observance of Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month moved westward, the meaning expanded into a more generalized, less expensive one.  I do wish that somebody had thought to clean up the clumsy name in the process.  The rest of the country doesn’t write nor speak the way that Marylanders write or speak, if this is a true example of their language skills.  At least we don’t pull our sofas off of our walls. The rest of humanity pulls them away from our walls or moves them away from our walls.  The operative and missing words in the Baltimore company’s instance are “away from”.

February is a good time to temporarily scoot our davenports away from our walls.  Who knows what lies in wait?  I’m guessing that more than dust-bunnies will be discovered behind the sofas in American homes.  If you’re one of the people with a large enough room to have your sofa already parked well away from a wall, then the question becomes, what is underneath the couch?

The point of this commemoration is that it’s meant to inspire us to re-organize our living room and maybe another room or two.  Since the sofa is the largest piece of upholstered furniture in the room, that is where we’re supposed to start.

Once the sofa has found a new place, the rest of the chairs and occasional tables, cabinets, and pictures will have to fall in line, kind of like the satellite moons around Jupiter.

The more I look at my living room sofa, the more I understand why an entire month has been devoted to pulling sofas away from walls.  It’s beginning to look more like an entire redecorating project. Kudos to the AFP sales manager on this one. It will take longer than a month to figure out not only where I might re-park the sofa, but to declutter the room.  For a packrat like me, February could have turned out to be a very painful month.

I have two sofas in my dinky, little house.  One in the living room and one in my music room.  Rearranging both of them in their respective rooms seems like an impossibility. Even if I get rid of everything else in the living room, there is no other place for the sofa. I know, because I’ve used graph paper to map out my little house’s layout and placed cutout representations of furniture in various places around the rooms.  The north wall is unsuitable because that is where the front door opens into the world.  The south wall is defined by the back wall of my bedroom’s closet and notches further south to two interior entryways.  The sofa would entirly block traffic if placed against either of those walls.

If I move the sofa to the east wall, it would block the forced air heating vent.  It would also be adjacent to the front door and would inconveniently alter foot traffic.  That leaves me with its present location, against the west wall.  If I want a clever room arrangement, the sofa will have to go away.  I like the sofa, so it stays.

I have a similar conundrum in the music room, but the complications with room configuration are more complicated.  Not only that, but this sofa has sentimental value, so the music room sofa must remain against the east wall.

The more I look at the two sofas, and the rooms they’re in, the more I think that Pull The Sofa Off The Wall Month, should be “pull the sofas and everything else out of the house entirely month”.

I think I’ll postpone the rest of Pull The Sofa Off The Wall Month, because, if I do pull the sofas away from the walls, I might have to start rearranging my lifestyle.  The last thing I need right now is another existential crisis. The sofas are perfectly fine just the way they are and just the way they’re placed. I’ll just stick to looking for loose change beneath the cushions.

Ciao
The Blue Jay of Happiness quotes the late, great Robin Williams. “We had gay burglars the other night. They broke in and rearranged the furniture.”