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Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Television production |
Founded | 1950 |
Founders | Desi Arnaz Lucille Ball |
Defunct | December 29, 1967 |
Fate | Purchased by Gulf+Western and amalgamated into Paramount Television |
Successors |
|
Headquarters | , United States |
Parent | Desilu Corporation |
Desilu Productions, Inc. ( /ˈdɛsiluː/ ) 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 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. [1] [2]
Ball and Arnaz jointly owned the majority stake in Desilu from its inception until 1962, when Ball bought out Arnaz and ran 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). [3] 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 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. [4]
1886 | Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company |
---|---|
1912 | Famous Players Film Company is founded |
1913 | Lasky Feature Play Company is founded |
1914 | Paramount Pictures is founded |
1916 | Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount |
1927 | Famous Players–Lasky renamed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation; CBS is founded with investment from Columbia Records |
1929 | Paramount acquires 49% of CBS |
1930 | Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation renamed to Paramount Publix Corporation |
1932 | Paramount sells back its shares of CBS |
1934 | Gulf+Western is founded as the Michigan Bumper Corporation |
1935 | Paramount Publix Corporation renamed to Paramount Pictures |
1936 | National Amusements is founded as Northeast Theater Corporation |
1938 | CBS acquires Columbia Records |
1950 | Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs |
1952 | CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division |
1958 | CBS Television Film Sales renamed to CBS Films |
1966 | Gulf+Western acquires Paramount |
1967 | Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television (now CBS Studios) |
1968 | CBS Films renamed to CBS Enterprises |
1970 | CBS Enterprises renamed to Viacom |
1971 | Viacom is spun off from CBS |
1987 | National Amusements acquires Viacom |
1988 | CBS sells Columbia Records to Sony |
1989 | Gulf+Western renamed to Paramount Communications |
1994 | Viacom acquires Paramount Communications |
1995 | Westinghouse acquires CBS |
1997 | Westinghouse renamed to CBS Corporation |
2000 | Viacom acquires UPN and CBS Corporation |
2005 | Viacom splits into second CBS Corporation and Viacom |
2006 | CBS Corporation shuts down UPN and replaces it with The CW |
2017 | CBS Corporation sells CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy) |
2019 | CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS |
2022 | ViacomCBS renamed to Paramount Global |
2024 | Skydance Media and Paramount Global agree to merge |
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 . [5] During 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. [6]
Ball's contribution was more on the artistic side. She 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.[ original research? ]
She approved original production concepts (such as The Untouchables and Star Trek) for development into broadcast series, [7] assessing how 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. [8]
Much of Desilu Productions' early success can be traced to Arnaz's unusual business style in his role as producer of I Love Lucy. [9] For example, lacking formal business training, he knew nothing of amortization and often included all 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, 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 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 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, [10] what is now Red Studios Hollywood. Most of 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. [11] [12] This purchase included Forty Acres, the backlot where exteriors for Mayberry were filmed. [13] These acquisitions gave 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 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. [9] In November 1962, Arnaz resigned as president when his holdings in 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. [14] 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 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). [15] 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 , 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. [16] 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, [15] which had only recently acquired Paramount Pictures. The company 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. [17]
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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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. [18]
Title | Genre | Years | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
I Love Lucy | Sitcom | 1951–57 | CBS | distributed by CBS Television Film Sales |
Our Miss Brooks | 1952–56 | distributed by CBS Television Film Sales | ||
Willy | 1954–55 | |||
Shower of Stars | Variety | 1954–58 | ||
December Bride | Sitcom | 1954–59 | distributed by CBS Television Film Sales (renamed CBS Films in 1958) | |
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp | Western | 1955–61 | ABC | co-production with Wyatt Earp Enterprises |
The Adventures of Jim Bowie | 1956–58 | co-production with Jim Bowie Enterprises | ||
The Sheriff of Cochise | 1956–60 | Syndication | co-production with National Telefilm Associates | |
Whirlybirds | Adventure | 1957–60 | distributed by CBS Films/Viacom | |
Official Detective | Anthology | 1957–58 | co-production with National Telefilm Associates | |
The Walter Winchell File | ABC | co-production with National Telefilm Associates | ||
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour | Variety | 1957–60 | CBS | distributed by CBS Television Film Sales (renamed CBS Films in 1958) |
The Texan | Western | 1958–60 | co-production with Rorvic Productions | |
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Anthology | |||
The Ann Sothern Show | Sitcom | 1958–61 | co-production with Anso Productions currently owned by 20th Television | |
This Is Alice | 1958–59 | NTA Film Network | co-production with National Telefilm Associates | |
The Untouchables | Police drama | 1959–63 | ABC | co-production with Langford Productions Inc. |
Guestward, Ho! | Sitcom | 1960–61 | ||
Angel | CBS | co-production with Burlingame Productions and CBS Films | ||
Harrigan and Son | ABC | |||
Fair Exchange | 1962–1963 | CBS | co-production with Cy Howard Productions | |
The Lucy Show | 1962–68 | Desilu produced up to its sale to Gulf+Western (during season six) | ||
You Don't Say! | Game show | 1963-69 | NBC | co-production with Ralph Andrews-Bill Yagemann Productions Desilu produced up to its sale to Gulf+Western (during season five) |
The Greatest Show on Earth | Drama | 1963–64 | ABC | co-production with Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Television, and Cody Productions |
Glynis | Sitcom | 1963 | CBS | |
Star Trek | Science fiction | 1966–68 | NBC | co-production with Norway Corporation Desilu produced up to its sale to Gulf+Western (during season two) |
Mission: Impossible | Secret agent drama | CBS | Desilu produced up to its sale to Gulf+Western (during season two) | |
Mannix | Crime drama | 1967–68 | Desilu produced up to its sale to Gulf+Western (during season one) |
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.
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III, known as Desi Arnaz, 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.
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons. The series starred Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley, and follows the life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a young, middle-class housewife living in New York City, who often concocts plans with her best friends and landlords, Ethel and Fred Mertz, to appear alongside her bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz), in his nightclub. Lucy is depicted trying numerous schemes to mingle with and be a part of show business. After the series ended in 1957, a modified version of the show continued for three more seasons, with 13 one-hour specials, which ran from 1957 to 1960. It was first known as The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show, and later, in reruns, as The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.
William Clement Frawley was an American Vaudevillian and actor best known for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the sitcom I Love Lucy. Frawley also played "Bub" O'Casey during the first five seasons of the sitcom My Three Sons and the political advisor to the Hon. Henry X. Harper in the film Miracle on 34th Street.
Vivian Vance was an American actress best known for playing Ethel Mertz on the sitcom I Love Lucy (1951–1957), for which she won the 1953 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, among other accolades. She also starred alongside Lucille Ball in The Lucy Show from 1962 until she left the series at the end of its third season in 1965. In 1991, she posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is most commonly identified as Lucille Ball’s longtime comedic foil from 1951 until her death in 1979.
The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show focused on his relationship with his family, yet went through a number of significant changes in cast and characters during the course of its run. Episodes regularly featured music by Thomas, guest stars and occasionally other cast members as part of the plot.
The Lucy Show is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962 to 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the fourth season (1965–1966) divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program for its second season, remained. For the first three seasons, Vivian Vance was the co-star.
Here's Lucy is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The series co-starred her long-time comedy partner Gale Gordon and her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. It was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1974. It was Ball's third network sitcom, following I Love Lucy (1951–57) and The Lucy Show (1962–68).
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a renaming of the original incarnation of the Paramount Television studio.
Madelyn Pugh, sometimes credited as Madelyn Pugh Davis, Madelyn Davis, or Madelyn Martin, was a television writer who became known in the 1950s for her work on the I Love Lucy television series.
The Mothers-in-Law is an American sitcom featuring Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard as two women who were friends and next-door neighbors until their children's elopement made them in-laws. The show aired on NBC television from September 1967 to April 1969. Executive produced by Desi Arnaz, the series was created by Bob Carroll, Jr., and Madelyn Davis.
My Favorite Husband is the name of an American radio program and network television show. The original radio show, starring Lucille Ball, evolved into the groundbreaking television sitcom I Love Lucy. The series was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) written by Isabel Scott Rorick, the earlier of which had previously been adapted into the Paramount Pictures feature film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942), co-starring Ray Milland and Betty Field.
Red Studios Hollywood, formerly Desilu-Cahuenga Studios and Ren-Mar Studios, is a rental studio located at 846 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, Los Angeles on premises that were formerly the home of Desilu Productions. Originally it was the site of Metro Pictures Back Lot #3 in 1920. In 1947 it was rebuilt as a nine-stage studio called Equity Pictures and became Motion Picture Center Studios a year later. It has been used for a wide variety of film and television production, and the studio has been known by many different names.
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a collection of thirteen black-and-white one-hour specials airing occasionally from 1957 to 1960. The first five were shown as specials during the 1957–58 television season. The remaining eight were originally shown as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. Its original network title was The Ford Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the first season, and Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Presents The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show for the following seasons. The successor to the classic comedy, I Love Lucy, the programs featured the same cast members: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, and Little Ricky. The production schedule avoided the grind of a regular weekly series.
The Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for three seasons from October 6, 1958, to March 30, 1961. Created by Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, the series was the second starring vehicle for Sothern, who had previously starred in Private Secretary, which also aired on CBS from 1953 to 1957.
Lucy is a 2003 television film directed by Glenn Jordan. It is based on the life and career of actress and comedian Lucille Ball. The film premiered on May 4, 2003, on CBS.
Lucy in London is a 1966 prime-time TV special produced and directed by Steve Binder, co-produced and choreographed by David Winters and sponsored by the Monsanto Company. The program starred Lucille Ball, Anthony Newley and the Dave Clark Five and was filmed entirely on location in London. It's also notable in that producer Phil Spector was among the musicians to contribute to the special.
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on the Columbia Broadcasting System between 1958 and 1960. Three of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by Time in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for her work in all four of these areas. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006.
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.