The Cello Museum: Pepito and a Cello Helped Launch One of the Most Popular TV Shows of All Time (2020)

Without this “loaded” cello, the most popular TV show of all time might never have existed.

It was 1951 and due to prejudice in America at the time, it had taken 10 years for Lucille Ball to get a chance to co-star with her Cuban-American husband, Desi Arnaz. CBS gave them only one month to prepare a pilot to see if they could get a sponsor for their TV show. Since they were so short on time and Lucille was about four months pregnant, they decided to use an act they had put together for their vaudeville shows.

They turn to vaudeville – and a vaudeville cello – for inspiration…

Back in the spring of 1950, they decided to see how the public reacted to their acting together, so they put together a “Mr. and Mrs.” vaudeville act. Their friend Pepito Perez, a famous Spanish clown, taught Lucille his act using a cello. This wasn’t just any cello – Pepito had customized it to have special features …

Citation:

The Cello Museum, https://cellomuseum.org/a-cello-helped-launch-one-of-the-most-popular-tv-shows-of-all-time/

With warm thanks to CelloMuseum.org for the opportunity to be interviewed for this article, and for linking back to PepitoAndJoanne.com.