124-422: Desilu Productions, Inc. ( / ˈ d ɛ s i l uː / ) was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball . The company is best known for shows such as I Love Lucy , The Lucy Show , Mannix , The Untouchables , Mission: Impossible and Star Trek . Until 1962, Desilu was the second-largest independent television production company in
248-480: A 12-year period, including the fast-paced Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In . With the variable quality of Kinescopes, networks looked towards alternative methods to replace them with a higher degree of quality. Programs originally shot with film cameras (as opposed to kinescopes) were also used in television's early years, although they were generally considered inferior to the big-production live programs because of their lower budgets and loss of immediacy. In 1951,
372-476: A backup reference copy of a program. Another occasional use of telerecording into the late 1980s was by documentary makers working in 16 mm film who wished to include a videotape-sourced excerpt in their work, although such use was again rare. In other territories, film telerecordings stopped being produced after the introduction of videotape. In Czechoslovakia, the first videotape recorders (Machtronics MVR-15) were introduced in 1966 but soon were replaced by
496-676: A band, the Siboney Septet, and began making a name for himself in Miami. Xavier Cugat , after seeing Arnaz perform, hired him for his touring orchestra, playing the conga drum and singing. Becoming a star attraction encouraged him to start his own band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. Arnaz and his orchestra became a hit in New York City's club scene, including a club named La Conga, where he is credited with introducing
620-482: A characteristic white glow around black objects (and a corresponding black glow around white objects), which was a defect of the pick-up. Later vidicon and plumbicon video camera tubes produced much cleaner, more accurate pictures. In 1951, singer Bing Crosby ’s company Bing Crosby Enterprises made the first experimental magnetic video recordings ; however, the poor picture quality and very high tape speed meant it would be impractical to use. In 1956, Ampex introduced
744-491: A crowd of 35,000. Arnaz was known to be very loving to his grandchildren. Arnaz and his second wife eventually moved to Del Mar, California where he lived the rest of his life in semi-retirement. He owned a horse-breeding farm in Corona, California and raced Thoroughbreds . The Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar Racetrack is named in his honor. Arnaz was a regular smoker for much of his life and often smoked cigarettes on
868-461: A guest. Arnaz also headlined a Kraft Music Hall special on NBC that featured his two children, with a brief appearance by Vance. Arnaz suffered a severe attack of diverticulitis in 1971, which required an operation and several years of recovery. He worked with Universal Studios for two years working on development deals for two shows that eventually fell through, Dr. Domingo (the character did appear on one episode of Ironside ) and Chairman of
992-472: A handful of episodes , such as with the early television work of comedian Ernie Kovacs , and the original version of Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming . Another purpose of Kinescopes involved satisfying show sponsors. Kinescopes sometimes would be sent to the advertising agency for the sponsor of a show so that the ad agency could determine whether or not the sponsor's ads appeared properly. Due to this practice, some kinescopes have actually been discovered in
1116-464: A high-tech name (and avoiding the word kinescope) to distinguish the process from conventional film photography. Nonetheless, the advances in picture quality were, at the time, a major step ahead. By capturing more than 800 lines of resolution at 25 frame/s, raw tape could be converted to film via kinescope recording with sufficient enhanced resolution to allow big-screen enlargement. The 1960s productions used Marconi image orthicon video cameras, which have
1240-455: A higher quality result. For overseas sales, 16 mm film would be used, as it was cheaper. Although domestic use of telerecording in the UK for repeat broadcasts dropped off sharply after the move to colour in the late 1960s, 16 mm black and white film telerecordings were still being offered for sale by British broadcasters well into the 1970s. Telerecording was still being used internally at
1364-404: A live audience that became the standard for subsequent situation comedies . The use of film enabled every station around the country to broadcast high-quality images of the show. Arnaz was told that it would be impossible to allow an audience onto a sound stage , but he worked with Freund to design a set that would accommodate an audience, allow filming, and adhere to fire and safety codes. Due to
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#17327795491981488-484: A number of Nuremberg Rallies , or official state visits (such as Benito Mussolini 's) were shot directly on 35 mm instead and transmitted over the air as a television signal, with only a two minutes' delay from the original event, by means of the so-called Zwischenfilmverfahren (see intermediate film system ) from an early outside broadcast van on the site. According to a 1949 film produced by RCA , silent films had been made of early experimental telecasts during
1612-467: A production of The Scarlet Pimpernel in this way, only for film director Alexander Korda to order the burning of the negative as he owned the film rights to the book, which he felt had been infringed. While there is no written record of any BBC Television production of The Scarlet Pimpernel during 1936–1939, the incident is dramatized in Jack Rosenthal 's 1986 television play The Fools on
1736-420: A second time until recording methods improved. Eventually, telerecordings would be used to preserve a program for repeat showings. In the UK, telerecordings continued to be made after the introduction of commercial broadcast videotape in 1958 as they possessed several distinct advantages. Firstly, they were easier to transport and more durable than videotape. Secondly, they could be used in any country regardless of
1860-417: A sound stage, but he worked with Freund to design sets that accommodated audiences, allowed filming, and adhered to fire, health, and safety codes. Network executives considered the use of film an unnecessary extravagance. Arnaz persuaded them to allow Desilu to cover all additional costs associated with filming, rather than broadcasting live, under the stipulation that Desilu owned and controlled all rights to
1984-475: A statement. Read by Robert Stack as a posthumous statement, Arnaz wrote, "P.S. I Love Lucy was never just a title." Family home video later aired on television showed Ball and Arnaz playing together with their grandson Simon shortly before Arnaz's death. Arnaz suffered from knee injuries as a young man shortly before and during his military service in World War II. The pain was troublesome enough that he
2108-453: A struggling young orchestra leader and Lucy an ordinary housewife who had show business fantasies but no talent. The character name "Larry Lopez" was dropped because of a real-life bandleader named Vincent Lopez, and was replaced with "Ricky Ricardo". The name was inspired by Henry Richard, a family friend and the brother of P.C. Richard of P.C. Richard & Son . This name translates to Enrique Ricardo. Ricky often appeared at, and later owned,
2232-430: A television broadcast. A telecine is the inverse device, used to show film directly on television. The term originally referred to the cathode-ray tube (CRT) used in television receivers , as named by inventor Vladimir K. Zworykin in 1929. Hence, the recordings were known in full as kinescope films or kinescope recordings . RCA was granted a trademark for the term (for its CRT) in 1932; it voluntarily released
2356-706: A warehouse in Los Angeles. Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions , the producers of such TV game shows as What's My Line? , had a significant portion of their output recorded on both videotape and kinescopes. These programs are rebroadcast on the American cable TV's Game Show Network . All of the NBC Symphony Orchestra telecasts with Arturo Toscanini , from 1948 to 1952, were preserved on kinescopes and later released on VHS and LaserDisc by RCA and on DVD by Testament . The original audio from
2480-458: A weekly variety show that lasted 11 seasons. In truth, Here's Agnes was offered to Burnett by CBS executives who attempted to dissuade her from having a variety show because they felt that men were better suited for them. Burnett and Ball, however, remained close friends, often guest-starring in each other's series. In 1967, Ball agreed to sell her television company to Gulf+Western , which had only recently acquired Paramount Pictures. The company
2604-464: Is Midnight, Dr Schweitzer , The Lady from the Sea and the opening two episodes of The Quatermass Experiment , although in varying degrees of quality. A complete 7-hour set of telerecordings of Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation also exists. In the era before satellite communications, kinescopes were used to distribute live events such as a royal wedding as quickly as possible to other countries of
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#17327795491982728-399: Is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor . The process was pioneered during the 1940s for the preservation, re-broadcasting, and sale of television programs before the introduction of quadruplex videotape , which from 1956 eventually superseded the use of kinescopes for all of these purposes. Kinescopes were
2852-570: Is listed on the National Archives of Australia website as a kinescope, while surviving episodes of the 1978 drama series The Truckies also exist as kinescopes, indicating that the technology was still being used by the ABC at that point. Until the early 1960s, much of the BBC's output, and British television in general, was broadcast live, and entire drama productions were performed live for
2976-399: Is part of CBS Media Ventures (formerly CBS Television Distribution). During Ball's time as sole owner, Desilu developed popular series such as Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967), and Star Trek (1966). It has been falsely rumored that a Desilu loss during this time was Carol Burnett , who declined to star in a sitcom for the studio in favor of The Carol Burnett Show ,
3100-569: The BBC in the 1980s too, to preserve copies for posterity of programs that were not necessarily of the highest importance, but which nonetheless their producers wanted to be preserved. If there were no videotape machines available on a given day, then a telerecording would be made. There is evidence to suggest that the children's magazine program Blue Peter was occasionally telerecorded as late as 1985. After this point, however, cheap domestic videotape formats such as VHS could more easily be used to keep
3224-507: The Cuban House of Representatives . His maternal grandfather was Alberto de Acha, an executive at rum producer Bacardi & Co. A descendant of Cuban nobility , Arnaz was a great-great-great-grandson of José Joaquín, a mayor of Santiago de Cuba. The Cuban Revolution of 1933 forced Arnaz and his family to lose everything and flee Cuba. A mob attacked and destroyed the family's houses, property, and livestock. Arnaz narrowly escaped
3348-646: The I Love Lucy episodes were produced there. In late 1957, the company bought the RKO Pictures production facilities for $ 6 million from General Tire and Rubber , including RKO's main facilities on Gower Street in Hollywood and the RKO-Pathé lot (now Culver Studios ) in Culver City . This purchase included Forty Acres , the backlot where exteriors for Mayberry were filmed. These acquisitions gave
3472-554: The Indian Wells Country Club [ nl ] in Palm Desert, CA. He also taught classes at San Diego State University in studio production and acting for television. Arnaz and Ball decided that I Love Lucy would maintain what Arnaz termed "basic good taste" and were therefore determined to avoid ethnic jokes , as well as humor based on physical handicaps or mental disabilities. Arnaz recalled that
3596-690: The MLB Network shortly afterwards. Early Australian television drama series were recorded as kinescopes, such as Autumn Affair and Emergency , along with variety series like The Lorrae Desmond Show . Kinescopes continued to be made after videotape was introduced to Australia; most existing episodes of the 1965–1967 children's series Magic Circle Club are kinescopes (per listings for episodes on National Film and Sound Archive website) Telerecordings form an important part of British television heritage, preserving what would otherwise have been lost. Nearly every pre-1960s British television program in
3720-522: The Pacific Time Zone . In September 1956, NBC began making color hot kines of some of its color programs using a lenticular film process which, unlike color negative film, could be processed rapidly using standard black-and-white methods. They were called hot kines because the film reels being delivered from the lab were still warm from the developing process. Even after the introduction of quadruplex videotape machines in 1956 removed
3844-633: The United States Army during World War II . He was assigned to direct United Service Organization (USO) programs at the Birmingham General Army Hospital in the San Fernando Valley . It was his responsibility to keep injured soldiers entertained while they recovered in the hospital. Thanks to his Hollywood connections, Arnaz was able to bring celebrities to visit the hospital and boost morale of
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3968-678: The World War II Victory Medal . Arnaz was discharged as a staff sergeant on September 30, 1945. On December 1, 1945, Arnaz formed another orchestra, which was successful in live appearances and recordings. He sang for troops in Birmingham Hospital with John Macchia and hired his childhood friend Marco Rizo to play piano and arrange for the orchestra. For the 1946–47 season, Arnaz was the bandleader, conducting his Desi Arnaz Orchestra, on Bob Hope 's radio show ( The Pepsodent Show ) on NBC . In 1951, Arnaz
4092-457: The vaudeville -style touring act that led to I Love Lucy . At that time, most television programs were broadcast live, and as the largest markets were in New York, the rest of the country received only kinescope images. Karl Freund , Arnaz's cameraman, and even Arnaz himself have been credited with the development of the multiple-camera setup production style using adjacent sets in front of
4216-453: The 1930s. The films were produced by aiming a camera at television monitors – at a speed of eight frames per second, resulting in somewhat jerky reproductions of the images. By the mid-1940s, RCA and NBC were refining the filming process and including sound; the images were less jerky but still somewhat fuzzy. By early 1946, television cameras were being attached to American guided missiles to aid in their remote steering. Films were made of
4340-424: The 30 frame/s image to 24 frame/s, the standard sound speed of film cameras and do so in a way so that the image is clear enough to then re-broadcast by means of a film chain back to 30 frame/s. In kinescoping an NTSC signal, 525 lines are broadcast in one frame. A 35 mm or 16 mm camera exposes one frame of film for every one frame of television (525 lines), and moving a new frame of film into place during
4464-550: The Ampex 2" Quadruplex in 1967. Most of the programs, like TV dramas, were recorded on video, but only a few programs continued to be telerecorded onto 16 mm film. The last known telerecording was produced in 1971 and soon after, all programs were recorded on video only. Kinescopes were intended to be used for immediate rebroadcast, or for an occasional repeat of a program; thus, only a small fraction of kinescope recordings remain today. Many television shows are represented by only
4588-466: The BBC undertook color restoration work on the existing 16 mm monochrome telerecording of Room at the Bottom , a 1969 episode of the sitcom Dad's Army . Although this episode was originally produced and broadcast in color, the black and white film was the only surviving copy of the episode following the wiping of the original videotape. However, the telerecording process left color information in
4712-494: The Ball-Arnaz TV empire a total of 33 sound stages — four more than Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and eleven more than Twentieth Century-Fox had in 1957. The studio's initial attempt to become involved in film production was the film Forever, Darling (1956), Arnaz and Ball's followup to their highly successful MGM release The Long, Long Trailer (1954), but it was a box-office failure. It was produced at Desilu, but under
4836-479: The Board starring Elke Sommer . Arnaz moved on to work on his autobiography for two years. To promote his autobiography, A Book , on February 21, 1976, Arnaz served as a guest host on Saturday Night Live , with his son, Desi, Jr., also appearing. The program contained spoofs of I Love Lucy and The Untouchables . The spoofs of I Love Lucy were supposed to be earlier concepts of the show that never made it on
4960-589: The CBS library. In November 2019 CBS Studios registered the DESILU trademark again to protect its previous Common Law trademark usage. Syndication rights for Here's Lucy were sold by Ball to Telepictures , which later merged with Lorimar Television and ultimately was folded into Warner Bros. Television . Warner Bros. Television is the show's current distributor, although MPI now holds home video rights under license from Lucille Ball Productions and Desilu Too. Desilu began
5084-502: The Commonwealth that had started a television service. A Royal Air Force aircraft would fly the telerecording from the UK to Canada, where it would be broadcast over the whole North American network. Prior to the introduction of videotape in 1956, kinescopes were the only way to record television broadcasts, or to distribute network television programs that were broadcast live from originating cities to stations not connected to
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5208-548: The Hill . Some of the surviving live transmissions of the Nazi German television station Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow , dating as far back as the 1930s, were recorded by pointing a 35 mm camera to a receiver's screen, although most surviving Nazi live television programs such as the 1936 Summer Olympics (not to be confused with the cinematic footage made during the same event by Leni Riefenstahl for her film Olympia ),
5332-604: The Hispanic community, encouraging them to take the 1980 census to increase federal funding for their communities. Arnaz and Lucille Ball were married on November 30, 1940. Their marriage was always turbulent. Convinced that Arnaz was being unfaithful to her, along with him coming home drunk several times, Ball filed for divorce in September 1944. The interlocutory decree became final in October 1944, but because they had spent
5456-527: The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ). Arnaz attempted to sell other television pilots, including a comedy with Carol Channing and an adventure series with Rory Calhoun . Neither series sold. Arnaz also tried to create a law drama called Without Consent , with Spencer Tracy as a defense attorney, but after several attempts at developing a suitable script failed and because of insurance concerns regarding Tracy's heavy drinking,
5580-567: The Pacific Time Zone. But as an article in American Cinematographer explained, In the beginning there was a very definite reason for the decision of Desilu Productions to put I Love Lucy on film instead of doing it live and having kinescope recordings carry it to affiliate outlets of the network. The company was not satisfied with the quality of kinescopes. It saw that film, produced especially for television,
5704-1016: The Television Academy's Hall of Fame. The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center museum is in Jamestown, New York , and the Desi Arnaz Bandshell in the Lucille Ball Memorial Park is in Celoron, New York . Desi Arnaz appears as a character in Oscar Hijuelos 's 1989 novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and is portrayed by his son, Desi Arnaz Jr., in the 1992 film adaptation, The Mambo Kings . Kinescope Kinescope / ˈ k ɪ n ɪ s k oʊ p / , shortened to kine / ˈ k ɪ n iː / , also known as telerecording in Britain,
5828-569: The Tropicana Club, which under his ownership he renamed Club Babalu. Initially, the idea of having Ball and the distinctly Latin American Arnaz portray a married couple encountered resistance as they were told that Desi's Cuban accent and Latin style would not be agreeable to American viewers. The couple overcame these objections, however, by touring together, during the summer of 1950, in a live vaudeville act they developed with
5952-502: The United States with no money and Desi had to live with his father in a garage that was infested with rats and roaches. In the summer of 1934, he attended Saint Leo Prep (near Tampa ) to improve his English. His first jobs included working at Woolworth's and cleaning canary cages in Miami. He then went into the tile business with his father before turning to show business full time. After finishing high school, Arnaz joined
6076-805: The United States, and by 1955 that number had increased to 2,500 per week for CBS. By 1954 the television industry's film consumption surpassed that of all of the Hollywood studios combined. After the network of coaxial cable and microwave relays carrying programs to the West Coast was completed in September 1951, CBS and NBC instituted a hot kinescope process in 1952, where shows being performed in New York were transmitted west, filmed on two kinescope machines in 35 mm negative and 16 mm reversal film (the latter for backup protection) in Los Angeles, rushed to film processing, and then transmitted from Los Angeles three hours later for broadcast in
6200-456: The United States, behind MCA 's Revue Studios , until MCA bought Universal Pictures and Desilu became and remained the number-one independent production company, until Ball sold it to Gulf and Western Industries (then the parent company of Paramount Pictures ) in 1968. Ball and Arnaz jointly owned the majority stake in Desilu from its inception until 1962, when Ball bought out Arnaz and ran
6324-450: The air, such as "I Love Louie", where Desi lived with Louis Armstrong . He read Lewis Carroll 's poem " Jabberwocky " in a heavy Cuban accent (he pronounced it "Habberwocky"). Desi Jr., played the drums and, supported by the SNL band, Desi sang both " Babalú " and another favorite from his dance band days, " Cuban Pete "; the arrangements were similar to the ones used on I Love Lucy . He ended
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#17327795491986448-411: The archives is in the form of a telerecording, along with the vast majority of existing 1960s output. Videotape was expensive and could be wiped and re-used; film was cheaper, smaller, and in practice more durable. Only a very small proportion of British television from the black-and-white era survives at all. As the BBC has taken stock of the large gaps in its archive and sought to recover as much of
6572-410: The attack because he was able to hop in a car driving away. His father, Alberto Arnaz, was jailed and all of his property was confiscated. He was released after six months when his father-in-law, Alberto de Acha, intervened on his behalf. The family then fled to Miami, where Desi attended high school (his classmates included Albert 'Sonny' Capone, only child of Chicago mobster Al Capone ). They came to
6696-513: The banner of Zanra Productions (Arnaz spelled backward). Most subsequent attempts to bring projects to the big screen were aborted until Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) with Ball and Henry Fonda . This film was a critical and financial success. In 1960, Desi Arnaz sold the pre-1960s shows to CBS. Desilu Productions retained ownership of those shows that premiered after 1960, and were still in production. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. In November 1962, Arnaz resigned as president when his holdings in
6820-456: The broadcast by leading the entire cast in a conga line through the SNL studio. In 1976, CBS paid tribute to Lucille Ball with the two-hour special CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years. Both Ball and Arnaz appeared on the screen for the special, which is the first time they appeared together in 16 years since their divorce. When asked about returning to television in a 1976 newspaper article, Arnaz said, "People ask me to go back on TV but
6944-403: The cameraman on I Love Lucy , and Arnaz himself have been credited with the development of the linked multifilm camera setup using adjacent sets in front of a live audience that became the standard production method for situation comedy . The use of film enabled every station around the country to broadcast high-quality images of the show. Arnaz was told it was impossible to allow an audience onto
7068-618: The company by herself for several years. Ball had succeeded in making Desilu profitable again by 1968, when she sold her shares of Desilu to Gulf+Western for $ 17 million (valued at $ 155 million in 2023). Gulf+Western then transformed Desilu into the television production arm of Paramount Pictures , rebranding the company as the original Paramount Television . Desilu's entire library is owned by Paramount Global through two of its subsidiaries. The CBS unit owns all Desilu properties that were produced and concluded before 1960, which were sold to CBS by Desilu itself. Its CBS Studios unit owns
7192-406: The company grew much larger, and he felt compelled to seek outlets to alleviate the stress. Arnaz also suffered from diverticulitis . Ball divorced him on March 2, 1960, which was coincidentally his birthday. When Ball returned to weekly television, she and Arnaz worked out an agreement regarding Desilu, wherein she bought him out. Edith Mack Hirsch (née McSkimming) was Arnaz's second wife. After
7316-445: The company were bought out by Ball, who succeeded him as president. Ball served as president and chief executive officer of Desilu while at the same time starring in her own weekly series. This made her the first woman to head a major studio and one of the most powerful women in Hollywood at the time. Ball founded Desilu Sales, Inc., for syndication which distributed Jay Ward Productions ' Fractured Flickers in 1964. Today, Desilu Sales
7440-402: The concept of conga line dancing to the United States. He came to the attention of Rodgers and Hart who, in 1939, cast him in their Broadway musical Too Many Girls . The show was a hit and RKO Pictures bought the movie rights. Arnaz went to Hollywood the next year to appear in the show's movie version at RKO, which also starred Lucille Ball . Arnaz and Ball fell in love during
7564-455: The costs incurred by the production into the first episode of a season rather than spreading them across the projected number of episodes in the year. As a result, by the end of the season, episodes were nearly entirely paid for, at preposterously low figures. At that time, most television programs were broadcast live, and as the largest markets were in New York, the rest of the country received only images derived from kinescopes . Karl Freund ,
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#17327795491987688-537: The creation of its productions using conventional film studio materials, production, and processing techniques. The use of these materials and techniques meant that the 35 mm negatives (the source material for copyright purposes) were immediately available for production and distribution of prints when the Lucy series went into syndication at local stations around the country. As such, no "lost" episodes of programs occurred, and no programs were recorded by kinescope from
7812-623: The daily five-minute syndicated series Les Paul & Mary Ford At Home in 1954–55), but with the introduction of a practical videotape recorder only one year away, the Electronicam system never saw widespread use. The DuMont network did not survive into the era of videotape, and in order to gain clearances for its programs, was heavily dependent on kinescopes, which it called Teletranscriptions. Attempts were made for many years to take television images, convert them to film via kinescope, then project them in theatres for paying audiences. In
7936-465: The early 1970s by which time programs were being videotaped in color. Most, if not all, recordings from the 405-line era have long since been lost as have many from the introduction of 625-line video to the early days of color. Consequently, the majority of British shows that still exist before the introduction of color, and a number thereafter, do so in the form of these telerecordings. A handful of shows, including some episodes of Doctor Who and most of
8060-530: The expense of 35mm film, Arnaz and Ball agreed to salary cuts. In return, they retained the rights to the films. This was the basis for their invention of re-runs and syndicating TV shows (a huge source of new revenue). In addition to I Love Lucy , he executive produced The Ann Sothern Show and Those Whiting Girls (starring Margaret Whiting and Barbara Whiting ), and was involved in several other series such as The Untouchables , Whirlybirds , and Sheriff of Cochise / United States Marshal . While he
8184-462: The few surviving DuMont kinescopes, with the UCLA Film and Television Archive having collected over 300 for preservation. In September 2010, a kinescope of game 7 of the 1960 World Series was found in the wine cellar of Bing Crosby. The game was thought lost forever but was preserved due to Crosby's superstition about watching the game live. The film was transferred to DVD and was broadcast on
8308-483: The film prints and negatives. Arnaz's unprecedented arrangement is widely considered to be one of the shrewdest deals in television history. As a result of his foresight, Desilu reaped the profits from all reruns of the series. Desilu soon outgrew its first space and in 1954 bought its own studio, the Motion Picture Center on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, what is now Red Studios Hollywood . Most of
8432-443: The film's production and eloped on November 30, 1940. Arnaz appeared in several movies in the 1940s such as Bataan , starring Robert Taylor (1943). His portrayal of Felix Ramirez, the jive-loving California National Guardsman, was described by New York Times critic Bosley Crowther as one of several supporting players who were "convincing in soldier roles". On April 27, 1943, Arnaz received his draft notice. However, Arnaz
8556-529: The first commercial Quadruplex videotape recorder, followed in 1958 by a colour model. Offering high quality and instant playback at a much lower cost, Quadruplex tape quickly replaced kinescope as the primary means of recording television broadcasts. In the late 1960s, U.S. television networks continued to make kinescopes of their daytime dramas available, many of which still aired live during that time period, for their smaller network affiliates that did not yet have videotape capability but wished to time-shift
8680-683: The first series of Adam Adamant Lives! , were deliberately telerecorded for ease of editing rather than being videotaped. In September 1947, Eastman Kodak introduced the Eastman Television Recording Camera, in cooperation with DuMont Laboratories and NBC , for recording images from a television screen under the trademark "Kinephoto". NBC, CBS , and DuMont set up their main kinescope recording facilities in New York City, while ABC chose Chicago . By 1951, NBC and CBS were each shipping out some 1,000 16 mm kinescope prints each week to their affiliates across
8804-578: The form of chroma dots in the frames of the film; using a specially designed computer program, these chroma dots were used to bring out the original color information, which as then applied to the film, allowing the color to be restored to the episode. The restored version of Room at the Bottom was broadcast on 13 December 2008, the first time it had been seen in color since May 1970. NTSC television images are scanned at roughly 60 Hz , with two interlaced fields per frame, displayed at 30 frames per second . A kinescope must be able to convert
8928-468: The help of Spanish clown Pepito Pérez, together with Ball's radio show writers. Much of the material from their vaudeville act, including Lucy's memorable seal routine, was used in the pilot episode of I Love Lucy . Segments of the pilot were recreated in the sixth episode of the show's first season. During his time on the show, Arnaz and Ball became TV's most successful entrepreneurs. With Ball, Arnaz founded Desilu Productions in 1950, initially to produce
9052-507: The home video reissues of the Ball/Arnaz material not owned by CBS (successor-in-interest to Paramount Television , which in turn succeeded the original Desilu company). This material included Here's Lucy and The Mothers-In-Law , as well as many programs and specials Ball and Arnaz made independently of each other. In the 1970s, Arnaz co-hosted a week of shows with daytime host and producer Mike Douglas . Vivian Vance appeared as
9176-525: The kinescopes, however, was replaced with high fidelity sound that had been recorded simultaneously either on transcription discs or magnetic tape . In the mid-1990s, Edie Adams , wife of Ernie Kovacs, claimed that so little value was given to the kinescope recordings of the DuMont Television Network that after the network folded in 1956 its entire archive was dumped into upper New York bay. Today however, efforts are made to preserve
9300-474: The mid-1960s, Producer/entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. used conventional analog Image Orthicon video camera tube units, shooting in the B&;W 819-line interlaced 25fps French video standard, using modified high-band quadruplex VTRs to record the signal. The promoters of Electronovision (not to be confused with Electronicam ) gave the impression that this was a new system created from scratch, using
9424-464: The missing material as possible, many recovered programs, have been returned from the 1980s onwards as telerecordings held by foreign broadcasters or private film collectors. Many of these surviving telerecorded programs, such as episodes of Doctor Who , Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part continue to be transmitted on satellite television stations such as UKTV Gold , and many such programs have been released on VHS and DVD . In 2008,
9548-429: The need for hot kines , the television networks continued to use kinescopes in the double system method of videotape editing. It was impossible to slow or freeze frame a videotape at that time, so the unedited tape would be copied to a kinescope, and edited conventionally. The edited kinescope print was then used to conform the videotape master. More than 300 videotaped network series and specials used this method over
9672-466: The network programming. Some of these programs aired up to two weeks after their original dates, particularly in Alaska and Hawaii . Many episodes of programs from the 1960s survive only through kinescoped copies. In Australia, kinescopes were still being made of some evening news programs as late as 1977, if they were recorded at all. A recording of a 1975 episode of Australian series This Day Tonight
9796-493: The network, or to stations that wished to show a program at a time different than the network broadcast. Although the quality was less than desirable, television programs of all types from prestigious dramas to regular news shows were handled in this manner. Even after the introduction of videotape, the BBC and the ITV companies made black and white kinescopes of selected programs for international sales and continued to do so until
9920-446: The newly formed Desi Arnaz Productions, he made The Mothers-In-Law (at Desilu) for United Artists Television and NBC . This sitcom ran for two seasons from 1967 to 1969. During its two-year run, Arnaz made four guest appearances as a Spanish matador, Señor Delgado. Arnaz's company was succeeded-in-interest by the company now known as Desilu, Too. Desilu, Too and Lucille Ball Productions worked hand-in-hand with MPI Home Video in
10044-429: The night together the day before, California state law at the time had declared it null and void. Arnaz and Ball subsequently had two children, actors Lucie Arnaz (born 1951) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (born 1953). Hollywood procurer of prostitutes Scotty Bowers claimed in his memoir Full Service that he had procured as many as two to three prostitutes per week for Arnaz, each of whom was paid 200 dollars, as opposed to
10168-413: The only exception consisted of making fun of Ricky Ricardo's accent; even these jokes worked only when Lucy, as his wife, did the mimicking. Arnaz was a lifelong Catholic . A lifelong Republican , Arnaz was deeply patriotic about the United States. In his memoirs, he wrote that he knew of no other country in the world where "a sixteen-year-old kid, broke and unable to speak the language" could achieve
10292-405: The only practical way to preserve live television broadcasts prior to videotape. Typically, the term can refer to the process itself, the equipment used for the procedure (a movie camera mounted in front of a video monitor, and synchronized to the monitor's scanning rate), or a film made using the process. Film recorders are similar, but record source material from a computer system instead of
10416-626: The premiere of I Love Lucy in October. When he became successful in television, he kept the orchestra on his payroll, and Rizo arranged and orchestrated the music for I Love Lucy . On October 15, 1951, Arnaz co-starred in the premiere of I Love Lucy , in which he played a fictionalized version of himself, Cuban orchestra leader Enrique "Ricky" Ricardo. His co-star was his real-life wife, Lucille Ball, who played Ricky's wife, Lucy. Television executives had been pursuing Ball to adapt her very popular radio series My Favorite Husband for television. Ball insisted on Arnaz playing her on-air spouse so
10540-403: The project was abandoned. After selling Desilu, Ball established her own new production company, Lucille Ball Productions (LBP), in 1968. The company went to work on her new series Here's Lucy that year. The program ran until 1974 and enjoyed several years of ratings success. Ball returned to network television in 1986 with the short-lived Life with Lucy . It lasted eight episodes before it
10664-779: The public would enjoy them and their potential for long-term success. This led to continued profits from the programs through reruns , which would recover their high development and production costs. Even decades after the absorption of Desilu Productions and the production end of all original series Desilu approved for development, some series have achieved enduring success and, in some cases, redevelopment into feature-length movie franchises in their own right. Examples are The Untouchables , Star Trek and Mission Impossible . Much of Desilu Productions' early success can be traced to Arnaz's unusual business style in his role as producer of I Love Lucy . For example, lacking formal business training, he knew nothing of amortization and often included all
10788-667: The rights to everything Desilu produced after 1960 as successor in interest to Paramount Television. There is a street named after Desilu in San Antonio, Texas . Desilu Productions was founded in 1950 using the combined names of the husband and wife production team of "Desi Arnaz" and "Lucille Ball". It was created to produce Lucy and Desi's vaudeville act as a television series and sell it to Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) executives. Arnaz and Ball wanted to adapt Ball's CBS radio series My Favorite Husband to television. The television project eventually became I Love Lucy . During
10912-589: The set of I Love Lucy . He smoked cigars until he was in his sixties. Arnaz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1986 and underwent treatment. Lucille Ball visited him during this time in the hospital and the two watched VHS tapes of I Love Lucy . His daughter Lucie was by his side constantly during his final days. On November 30, 1986, Ball called him. They talked for a short time due to Arnaz's state of health, as he had barely spoken to anyone and had not eaten for three days. According to Lucie, her mother simply said "I love you. I love you. Desi, I love you," repeating
11036-482: The short duration of a 16 mm film magazine, was that a large opaque frame had to be placed in front of the TV set in order to block out any stray reflections, making it impossible to watch the set normally while filming. It is not known if any recordings made using this equipment still exist. British broadcasters used telerecordings for domestic purposes well into the 1960s, with 35 mm film usually used as it produced
11160-459: The show was kinescoped for later rebroadcast for the West Coast. Per his contract, he would receive one copy of each broadcast, which he kept in his vault, and only released them to the public (on home video) shortly before his death in 1987. Milton Berle sued NBC late in his life, believing the kinescopes of a major portion of his programs were lost. However, the programs were later found in
11284-462: The show was originally broadcast on BBC TV it was 60 minutes in length and also included performances from Winifred Atwell , Evelyn Dove , Cyril Blake and his Calypso Band, Edric Connor and Mable Lee , and was produced by Eric Fawcett. The six-minute footage of Miss Hall is all that survives of the show. From the following month, the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip also survives, as do various early 1950s productions such as It
11408-481: The show's first few years, Desilu rented space at General Service Studios (now the Sunset Las Palmas Studios ) at Santa Monica Boulevard and North Las Palmas Avenue. They used Stage Two, which was named Desilu Playhouse. Later, a special entrance was added at 6633 Romaine Street, on the south side of the lot, to allow direct access to it. Ball's contribution was more on the artistic side. She
11532-578: The soldiers. For example, upon discovering the first thing the wounded soldiers requested was a glass of cold milk, he arranged for movie starlets to meet them and pour the milk for them. Arnaz served two years, seven months and four days. His primary unit was the 9th Service Command, Army Service Forces. For his service during World War II, he was awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal , the American Campaign Medal , and
11656-539: The stars and producers of the Hollywood-based television series I Love Lucy , Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball , decided to film the show directly onto 35 mm film using the three-camera system , instead of broadcasting it live. Normally, a live program originating from Los Angeles would be performed live in the late afternoon for the Eastern Time Zone and seen on a kinescope three hours later in
11780-413: The storage areas of some of these older advertising agencies or in the storage areas of the program sponsors themselves. Certain performers or production companies would require that a kinescope be made of every television program. Such is the case with performers Jackie Gleason and Milton Berle , for whom nearly complete program archives exist. As Jackie Gleason's program was broadcast live in New York,
11904-462: The studio TV cameras had built-in 35 mm film cameras which shared the same optical path. An Electronicam technician threw switches to mark the film footage electronically, identifying the camera takes called by the director. The corresponding film segments from the various cameras then were combined by a film editor to duplicate the live program. The "Classic 39" syndicated episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed using Electronicam (as well as
12028-756: The successes that he had. He was a supporter of Richard Nixon and member of the Spanish-Speaking Committee for the Re-Election of the President in 1972. Nixon appointed Arnaz as the U.S. roving ambassador to Latin America in the early 1970s. He was a supporter of Ronald Reagan and spoke at campaign rallies, such as one hosted by the National Republican Hispanic Assembly in 1980. He was an advocate for
12152-801: The television broadcast. Through the use of film-studio production techniques, the content and quality of Desilu productions displayed a high standard relative to peers in television of the 1950s and '60s. Moreover, they were readily adaptable to both comedy and drama formats and were able to handle special effects or feature interior or exterior sets and locations with equal ease. Some of these programs were created and owned by Desilu; others were other production companies' programs that Desilu filmed or to which Desilu rented production space. 34°05′23″N 118°20′05″W / 34.089777°N 118.334722°W / 34.089777; -118.334722 Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), known as Desi Arnaz ,
12276-456: The television broadcasting standard, which was not true of videotape. Later, the system could be used to make black-and-white copies of color programs for sale to television stations that were not yet broadcasting in color. The system was largely used for black-and-white reproduction. Although some color telerecordings were made, they were generally in the minority as by the time color programs were widely needed for sale, video standards conversion
12400-560: The television images they transmitted for further evaluation of the target and the missile's performance. The first known surviving example of the telerecording process in Britain is from October 1947, showing the singer Adelaide Hall performing at the RadiOlympia event. Hall sings " Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep) " and " I Can't Give You Anything But Love ", as well as accompanying herself on ukulele and dancing. When
12524-501: The term to the public domain in 1950. The General Electric laboratories in Schenectady, New York experimented with making still and motion picture records of television images in 1931. There is anecdotal evidence that the BBC experimented with filming the output of the television monitor before its television service was suspended in 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II . A BBC executive, Cecil Madden , recalled filming
12648-465: The thin' is, it's too tough competing with the Ricky Ricardo of 20 years ago. He looks a lot better than I do." Arnaz made a guest appearance on the TV series Alice , in 1978 starring Linda Lavin and produced by I Love Lucy co-creators Madelyn Pugh (Madelyn Davis) and Bob Carroll, Jr. His last acting role was as Mayor Leon Quiñones in the 1982 film, The Escape Artist . Arnaz owned
12772-562: The time equivalent of one field of television (131.25 lines). In the British 405-line television system , the French 819-line television system and the greater European 625-line television system , television ran at 25 frames—or more correctly, 50 fields—per second, so the film camera would also be run at 25 frames per second rather than the cinematic film standard of 24 frames. Therefore, in order to maintain successful kinescope photography,
12896-483: The two married on March 2, 1963 (Arnaz's 46th birthday), he greatly reduced his show business activities. The two were married for 22 years until Edith died from cancer on March 23, 1985. Although Arnaz and Ball both married other spouses after their divorce in 1960, they remained friends and grew closer in his final decade. For Lucy's appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986, Arnaz had written
13020-434: The two would be able to spend more time together. CBS wanted Ball's Husband co-star Richard Denning . The original premise was for the couple to portray Lucy and Larry Lopez, a successful show business couple whose glamorous careers interfered with their efforts to maintain a normal marriage. Market research indicated, however, that this scenario would not be popular, so Jess Oppenheimer changed it to make Ricky Ricardo
13144-426: The usual 20. Lucille Ball confronted Bowers about this and publicly slapped him in the face, yelling "You! Stop pimping for my husband!" Arnaz's marriage with Ball began to collapse under the strain of his growing problems with alcohol, gambling, and infidelity. According to his memoir, the combined pressures of managing the production company, as well as supervising its day-to-day operations, had greatly worsened as
13268-524: The words over the phone. Arnaz finished the conversation by answering "I love you, too, honey. Good luck with your show." Lucie hadn't realized the solemnity of this last time, not until she checked her diary to notice the date had been the 46th anniversary of Ball and Arnaz's wedding. He died two days later on December 2, 1986, at the age of 69, just 3 years before Lucy's death. Arnaz was cremated and his ashes were scattered at Sea of Cortés in Mexico . Ball
13392-697: Was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy , in which he co-starred with his wife Lucille Ball . Arnaz and Ball are credited as the innovators of the syndicated rerun , which they pioneered with the I Love Lucy series. Arnaz and Lucille Ball co-founded and ran the television production company called Desilu Productions , originally to market I Love Lucy to television networks. After I Love Lucy ended, Arnaz went on to produce several other television series, at first with Desilu Productions, and later independently, including The Ann Sothern Show and The Untouchables . He
13516-544: Was a skilled yachtsman since childhood), fishing, and cooking Cuban dishes. He suffered from numerous health issues later in life. He contributed to charitable and nonprofit organizations, including San Diego State University . He was active in politics and made occasional public appearances. He was the guest of honor at the Carnival Miami in March 1982 where he performed with his children, Lucie and Desi Jr., in front of
13640-477: Was also the bandleader of his Latin group, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. He was known for playing conga drums and popularized the conga line in the United States. Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba , Cuba, to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Alberni II (March 8, 1894 – May 31, 1973) and Dolores "Lolita" de Acha y de Socias (April 2, 1896 – October 24, 1988). His father was Santiago's youngest mayor and also served in
13764-578: Was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after an altercation with youth parking in front of his house. Two young men were allegedly partying nearby and harassing his then-15-year-old daughter Lucie and her friend. Arnaz confronted them, threatened to shoot their tires and cars, and then fired two shots that went into the ground. He spent three hours at the San Diego jail and was released on $ 1,100 bail. Desi Arnaz spent his retirement doing activities he enjoyed including sailing his yacht (he
13888-472: Was cancelled—a first for Ball—because of poor ratings. LBP continues to exist, and its primary purpose is residual sales of license rights for Here's Lucy . Desilu-Paramount TV's holdings are owned by Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS), the owner of the pre-1960s shows. Desilu Productions Inc. was reincorporated in Delaware in 1967, by Paramount Pictures and still exists as a legal entity. Desilu Too LLC
14012-421: Was disqualified from overseas service due to hypertension and knee injuries, which caused him pain with prolonged physical exertion, according to his military physical examination. He had injured his left knee prior to his enlistment and injured his right knee soon after enlisting on May 23, 1943, during a baseball game at Camp Arlington . He completed his recruit training, but was classified for limited service in
14136-542: Was disqualified from serving overseas. In the late 1960s, he was seriously injured in an accident when the floor collapsed and he was impaled by a tree stump in his home in Baja California. An operation saved his life, although his health was never the same after the incident. Throughout his life he periodically had to seek medical treatment for diverticulitis and intestinal issues, sometimes requiring hospitalization. After his second wife Edith's death in 1985, Arnaz
14260-460: Was easier and higher quality and the price of videotape had become much reduced. Before videotape became the exclusive recording format during the early to mid-1980s, any (color) video recordings used in documentaries or filmed program inserts were usually transferred onto film. In the 1950s a home telerecording kit was introduced in Britain, allowing enthusiasts to make 16 mm film recordings of television programs. The major drawback, apart from
14384-407: Was given a game show on CBS Radio , Your Tropical Trip to entice Arnaz and Ball to stay at CBS over a competing offer from NBC, and to keep Arnaz and his band employed and in Hollywood, rather than touring. The musical game show, hosted by Arnaz and featuring Arnaz's orchestra, had audience members competing for a Caribbean vacation. The program aired from January 1951 until September, shortly before
14508-528: Was later created by Lucie Arnaz mostly as a licensee for I Love Lucy -related merchandise. Desilu Too also partners with MPI Home Video and Lucille Ball Productions (formed by Ball and second husband Gary Morton ) on the video releases of Here's Lucy and other material Ball and Arnaz made independently of each other. Desilu Too officials have worked with MPI Home Video for the home video reissue of The Mothers-In-Law . Paramount Home Entertainment (through CBS DVD ) continues to hold DVD distribution rights to
14632-544: Was never nominated for an Emmy for his performance in I Love Lucy ; however, as executive producer of the series, he was nominated four times in the Best Situation Comedy category, winning twice. In 1956, he won a Golden Globe for Best Television Achievement for helping to shape the American Comedy through his contributions in front of and behind the camera of I Love Lucy . He was inducted into
14756-604: Was one of hundreds to attend Arnaz's funeral, which was held at St. James Roman Catholic Church in San Diego County, California. His death came just five days before Lucille Ball received the Kennedy Center Honors . His mother outlived him by almost two years. Desi Arnaz has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : one at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard for contributions to motion pictures and one at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard for television. Unlike his co-stars, Arnaz
14880-418: Was persuaded by his children to seek treatment for his decades-long alcohol addiction, which by then had seriously damaged his health. Lucie Arnaz described her pride at attending a treatment meeting with her father where he stood up and said "I'm Desi, and I'm an alcoholic". Arnaz had a few run-ins with the law. He was arrested in 1959 on an intoxication charge while he was walking Hollywood Blvd. In 1966, he
15004-730: Was producing The Untouchables , Arnaz was allegedly the target of a mafia murder plot, which was later called off, due to the show's negative publicity of gangsters. These allegations were made in the 1980s by Jimmy Fratianno in his book, The Last Mafioso , although they were rejected by Arnaz. He also produced the feature film Forever, Darling (1956), in which he and Ball starred. The original Desilu company continued long after Arnaz's divorce from Ball and her subsequent marriage to Gary Morton . Desilu continued to produce its own programs in addition to providing facilities to other producers. In 1962, Arnaz sold his share of Desilu to Ball and formed his own production company after their divorce. With
15128-623: Was renamed Paramount Television, and the former RKO main lot on Gower Street was absorbed into the adjacent Paramount lot. The old RKO globe logo is still in place. The company is now called CBS Studios (formerly CBS Television Studios). Perfect Film purchased Desilu Studios' other lot in Culver City in 1968. Arnaz left television production for a few years but returned in 1966 when he formed his own company, Desi Arnaz Productions, based at Desilu. Desi Arnaz Productions, along with United Artists Television , co-produced The Mothers-in-Law for
15252-412: Was skilled at proposing new programs that were popular to broad audiences and successful in both their original broadcasts and syndication reruns. Before starring in I Love Lucy, she starred in many B movies , and had a good idea of what television audiences wanted. She approved original production concepts (such as The Untouchables and Star Trek ) for development into broadcast series, assessing how
15376-492: Was the only means of ensuring top quality pictures on the home receiver as well as ensuring a flawless show. The I Love Lucy decision introduced reruns to most of the American television audience, and set a pattern for the syndication of TV shows after their network runs. The program director of the DuMont Television Network , James L. Caddigan, devised an alternative – the Electronicam . In this, all
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