When Texas had segregated schools, Mexican-American kids were usually considered white. I lived in an unincorporated area but attended a school district “owned” by a “sundown” community; any blacks were only passing through & had better be gone before dark, if they knew what was good for them. (I didn’t realize this is at the time & my own family was fairly liberal; I repeated the n-word one time at home & Grandma convinced me never to do it again. Ever.) But I had Mexican-American classmates; they were the only other Catholics until the Fontenots moved in from Louisiana. (The district has some African-Americans now and an assortment of Asians; the Hispanic/Latino minority is now the majority.)
Of course there was prejudice; mostly Mexican-American schools & districts were poorly funded. But they were better off than the blacks.
(I remember* Lucy*–we watched because she was funny & I never heard a word against Desi’s ethnicity–which was obvious. Of course, there could have been comments in other homes (or trailers) in that community.)
So when they dubbed I Love Lucy into Spanish, does anybody know if Desi dubbed his own dialogue? Or if they dubbed his Spanish rants into Spanish with the voice actor’s voice?
Years ago, I worked on a project going over the records of World War II veterans in south Texas, most of whom were Hispanic. Out of a couple of hundred sets of enlistment papers I looked at, only two or three listed their race as “Mexican” or “Spanish.” The rest had them down as “White.”
Hispanic (or Mexican, Spanish, Latino, etc.) is not a Race. The modern method for recording that sort of data asks about Ethnicity (Hispanic or non-), then Race (pick one or many from a very long list).
When I was a kid, a Mexican-American family lived down the lane. One grandmother was delicate, pale & very European. The other was dark, solidly built, with a long braid down her back. She ground the family corn on a* metate*, just like the lady painted by Diego Rivera.
Apparently, in the episode where his relatives come from Cuba, Desi Arnez flubs some of his lines when he speaks to them. Someone really good at the Cuban flavor of Spanish should view the episode and report back. I always wondered if Desi was just rushed in the live performance, adding to the confusion of the scene for the Lucy character by being obfuscating for everyone, or had actually forgotten how to speak Cuban.
You say that like there is no such thing as Black Cubans. What difference would it have made if he were Cuban? He still was Black. Cubans come in both Black and White and mixtures of the 2. There may have even been indigenous peoples living there before the Spaniards invaded it and brought the Black people there for slavery (Trans-Atlantic slavery). So Cubans are mixtures of native/indigenous peoples, Blacks, and Spanish-speaking Whites. Blacks are/have ALWAYS been the target of racism far more than any other races on this earth just because of their skin complexion.
And as for those Cubans who never was targeted by racism, it’s only because their skin was “White enough” so that they could easily blend in with White society thus not having to deal with racism. There have even been very pale-skinned Black people who chose to blend in with this White racist society just as a protection to themselves; to keep from having to experience racism. That one drop of Black blood rule slave owners made up applied to even the palest-skinned Black folk)But their skin was that pale whereas they could get away with it. To me, Desi Arnez was a White guy(White Hispanic). Yes, there were some White racist idiots who may not have seen Desi as White like them, solely because he lived in Cuba. Their ignorance led them to believe no Cuban could ever be White just because they were from Cuba. They were ignorant (like racist people tend to be anyway).
You say that like there is no such thing as Black Cubans. What difference would it have made if he were Cuban? He still was Black. Cubans come in both Black and White and mixtures of the 2. There may have even been indigenous peoples living there before the Spaniards invaded it and brought the Black people there for slavery (Trans-Atlantic slavery). So Cubans are mixtures of native/indigenous peoples, Blacks, and Spanish-speaking Whites. Blacks are/have ALWAYS been the target of racism far more than any other races on this earth just because of their skin complexion.
And as for those Cubans who never was targeted by racism, it’s only because their skin was “White enough” so that they could easily blend in with White society thus not having to deal with racism. There have even been very pale-skinned Black people who chose to blend in with this White racist society just as a protection to themselves; to keep from having to experience racism. That one drop of Black blood rule slave owners made up applied to even the palest-skinned Black folk). But their skin was that pale whereas they could get away with it.
To me, Desi Arnez was a White guy(White Hispanic). Now he may have had Black ancestors but his skin complexion was so White that, well, he considered himself to be a White Hispanic. Yes, there were some White racist idiots who may not have seen Desi as White like them, solely because he lived in Cuba. Their ignorance led them to believe no Cuban could ever be White just because they were from Cuba. They were ignorant (like racist people tend to be anyway).
Weren’t there also people in the 1970s and 1980s who tended to dismiss Arnaz as a mediocre conga playing night club performer who got lucky? I remember a Lucille Ball interview with Barbara Walters where Lucy explained how much Desi had to do with the show’s success. I think now we are more aware of his contributions
There were a lot one reasons why Ball’s mid 1980s tv show failed but one factor was Arnaz was dying from cancer. He would sometimes call Lucy at night and beg her to forgive him for cheating on her. She would break down crying, not get any sleep and her performance would suffer.
You don’t understand how superficial racism in the US was. As long as you looked white, you were white. Rudolph Valentino was an Italian immigrant. Daniel Inouye, when he was stationed in the south for army training, was told to use the white person’s water fountain. Jim Thorpe, part cherokee, was wholeheartedly accepted as white.
I don’t know, but probably since he was married to Lucille Ball, that gave him a step-up before he became established. I have seen the “I Love Lucy” episodes over 50 times over the years, and it has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I’ve read that Desi Arnaz cast Fred and Ethel. It was great casting, and sometimes shows cast with professional casting directors are not well cast. In addition, you could sense that there was a true connection between Lucy and Ricky on the show. It was just a terrific show from the writing to the acting.
In most official documents from that time and earlier, there were mainly 3 categories. You were either white, black or mulatto. In the US census, and school census records (at least in Texas) hispanics were considered white. Offhand, I don’t recall seeing any other designations like Asian, Indian or the like. I’m sure some of the records do break down the racial categories like this. I just haven’t come across any yet that I know of.
Yes. Before ILL they were all one camera shoots. Desi was responsible for 2 and 3 camera shooting. Which made it more enjoyable for live audiences and reduced production time (lots of crew getting paid by the hour).
