Vivian Vance and her husband had dinner at my house when I was a kid. Lotsa diamonds and a mink coat. Very glamorous.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read any Lucille Ball biographies. But I don’t remember anything outrageous that sticks in my mind. It could be there, just don’t remember.
CBS was very reluctant to cast Arnaz and when they did, they kept his name off the title (the I in I Love Lucy was their concession, I meaning Desi). But they wanted a tv version of Ball’s three year old radio show “My Favorite Husband” where her husband was Richard, whom I assume was of German descent since he was born as Denninger. They may have felt why change something that is working.
I think around 1950 Latin/South Americans were seen as emotional, romantic,exotic with such glamorous places as Havana, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.
One case of discrimination involves Lucy’s second husband, Gary Morton. The two owned a house at an exclusive private community but he couldn’t play golf there because he was Jewish.
I’ve seen pictures of Vance when she was younger - very glamorous indeed
Nope. I am literally watching the episode now. Ricky says “Hey porter” and “thank you, porter.” You may have misheard him due to his accent, as there is some elision there, but it’s pretty clearly “porter.”
Here’s the scene:
Definitely no “boy.” 
Although interestingly, Ricky does have a habit of calling other men “boy,” particularly Fred and his band members. I think it’s a remnant of his band/jazz/club background.
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In some of the episodes, Lucy and Ethel call Fred and Ricky ‘the boys.’
Employers often call employees of their same race ‘my boys’.
My friend, who is Celtic said to me (Celt) and friend (Japanese) " Let’s go, boys".
seal_cleaner
“Vivian Vance and her husband had dinner at my house when I was a kid. Lotsa diamonds and a mink coat. Very glamorous.”
I am very, very impressed.
I wasn’t around in the 50s but I know there was definitely a 'West Side Story" attitude in parts of the US regaurding Latin and Anglo couples. My friend, an Italian woman married a light skinned Spanish guy in Buffalo and they had all kinds of harassment back in the day. She said no one minded Desi Arnaz because he had money.
Arnez looked white. Maybe it’s the one-drop rule in reverse, and besides, it was Hollywood. What’s more, people are not consistent or logical in racism.
Many Cubans have more obvious European ancestry than not.
A Cuban friend of mine has black hair, blue eyes, and Type 1 never-tanning skin paler than mine (I’m of British and German ancestry). Until he opens his mouth or someone learns his surname, the shortcut assumption is that he’s white.
Proving “race” is a stupid construct, or something.
But, but… I *heard *Ricky say it! It was the episode when Cary Grant guest-starred, and was heard saying, “Judy, Judy, Judy…” 
Yes, basically “Richards”. Still hispanic, but closer to an english name than, say, Ramirez or Gonzales.
As said, “Hispanic” was not a common general category in the 1950s. It would be interesting to see if Arnaz ever toured as a musician or visited a place where Mexican Americans faced overt discrimination at the time, or if newspapers in those areas ever commented on it.
I think the interesting thing about Arnaz on that show is the fact that, even though he was a white/light skinned Cuban with a white American wife, he played decidedly Afro-Cuban music. I think his music might have caused more of a stir than his origins. Elvis and other white rock stars initially faced hostility for playing black music, Arnaz was bringing very African music into living rooms in 1953…
Indeed, there was a famous English economist - of Sephardic origin - named David Ricardo.
I thought it was the one in which James Cagney said, “You dirty rat!” 
You say that like racism and segregation was always logical and rational. The fact is that there are cases of black players breaking the color line pre-Robinson by saying they were Latino.