4.4 • 34.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
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0:00.0 | This message comes from death, sex, and money. |
0:02.8 | From paramenopause to your father's dying wish, to an eating disorder that's turned into an obsession with money, |
0:08.8 | Slate's Anna Sale explores the questions and choices that are often left out of polite conversation. |
0:14.3 | Listen now. |
0:15.5 | This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. |
0:18.1 | Lucy, I'm home. |
0:19.4 | That's a phrase Desi Arnaz was known for in the sitcom I Love Lucy. |
0:27.3 | That was one of his signature songs. |
0:31.8 | The conga was the rhythm he helped popularize in the U.S., beating out on a Sconga drum as people dance to the beat of |
0:38.6 | one, two, three, kick. |
0:43.2 | Arnezz's movie career didn't go far, but playing Ricky Ricardo, husband of Lucille Ball's |
0:48.5 | character, Lucy Ricardo, made him a star. Just getting a major TV role was quite a feat because networks and sponsors were |
0:56.5 | skeptical that a Cuban refugee with an accent would be accepted by American viewers. I Love Lucy |
1:02.8 | premiered in 1951 when TV was young and ended its run of new shows in 1957. It became the first show in |
1:10.6 | TV history to reach 10 million people. |
1:13.6 | For years, it was the most popular show on TV. A lot of that is credited to Ball's comedic |
1:19.2 | talent and to the work Arnaz did in front of the camera and behind the scenes, creating what became |
1:24.8 | standard procedures for producing, shooting, lighting, and broadcasting TV sitcoms, |
1:29.9 | and led to the possibility of reruns and syndication. He also founded Desilu Productions, |
1:35.7 | which kept expanding and for a while was the largest creator of TV content in the world. |
1:41.4 | Our Miss Brooks, December Bride, the Andy Griffith Show, The Untouchables, and the Dick Van Dyke |
1:46.3 | show were among the programs produced by Desi Lou and or filmed in its studios. The new book, |
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