Editing Desi Arnaz (section)

===Musician and actor===
After finishing high school, Arnaz joined a band, the Siboney Septet,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-12-07 |title=Desi Arnaz - Children, Death & Show |url=https://www.biography.com/actors/desi-arnaz |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=Biography |language=en-US}}</ref> and began making a name for himself in Miami. [[Xavier Cugat]], after seeing Arnaz perform, hired him for his touring orchestra, playing the conga drum and singing. Becoming a star attraction encouraged him to start his own band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra.<ref name="closer">{{Cite web|url=https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/i-love-lucy-star-desi-arnaz-life-and-career-remembered/|title=Here's What Happened to 'I Love Lucy' Star Desi Arnaz|date=November 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Arnaz"/>

Arnaz and his orchestra became a hit in New York City's club scene, including a club named La Conga, where he is credited with introducing the concept of [[conga line]] dancing to the United States.<ref name="Outsider.com">{{cite web |title='I Love Lucy': Lucie Arnaz Revealed Her Father Introduced 'Conga Line' Dance to United States in 2011 Interview |url=https://outsider.com/entertainment/i-love-lucy-lucie-arnaz-revealed-father-introduced-conga-line-dance-united-states-2011-interview/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526012711/https://outsider.com/entertainment/i-love-lucy-lucie-arnaz-revealed-father-introduced-conga-line-dance-united-states-2011-interview/ |archive-date=May 26, 2022 |website=Outsider.com |date=March 24, 2021 |access-date=August 11, 2024}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

He came to the attention of [[Rodgers and Hart]] who, in 1939, cast him in their [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical ''[[Too Many Girls (musical)|Too Many Girls]]''. The show was a hit and [[RKO Pictures]] bought the movie rights.<ref name="closer"/>

Arnaz went to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] the next year to appear in the show's [[Too Many Girls (film)|movie version]] at RKO, which also starred [[Lucille Ball]]. Arnaz and Ball fell in love during the film's production and eloped on November 30, 1940.<ref name="closer"/>

Arnaz appeared in several movies in the 1940s such as ''[[Bataan (film)|Bataan]]'', starring [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]] (1943). His portrayal of Felix Ramirez, the jive-loving California National Guardsman, was described by ''New York Times'' critic [[Bosley Crowther]] as one of several supporting players who were "convincing in soldier roles".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/06/04/archives/bataan-film-of-heroic-defense-of-peninsula-starring-robert-taylor.html |title=' Bataan,' Film of Heroic Defense of Peninsula, Starring Robert Taylor, Robert Walker and Thomas Mitchell, at Capitol |author=Bosley Crowther |date=June 4, 1943 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>