The Desi Arnaz celebrity doll depicts him at 39 years old as Ricky Ricardo wearing a Santa suit from the 1956 “The Christmas Show” episode of the sitcom I Love Lucy. The black-and-white series originally ran from 1951 to 1957 on CBS.  The Pink Label Barbie doll was made by Mattel in 2008.

Desi Arnaz was Lucille Ball’s first husband and they were married at the time the show was on the air.  He was also Latin band leader of the Desi Arnaz Orchestra and co-founder (with Lucille Ball) of Desilu Productions. He is often credited with the innovation of the syndicated television rerun when he was the first to use film to record shows and ran reruns when Lucy was pregnant. He died in 1986 at the age of 69.

“The Christmas Show”

Ricky makes the holiday merrier, dressed in his Santa costume.

“I Love Lucy”®

The Barbie® Collector I Love Lucy® series continues with hits 15th edition, and its first-ever solo Ricky Ricardo doll.

Since its 1951 debut, I Love Lucy® has enchanted television audiences with its hilarious stories revolving around Lucy Ricardo, her handsome bandleader husband, Ricky, and their best friends and neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz.

“The Christmas Show” was filmed on November 22, 1956 and originally aired on television on December 24, 1956. This unique show features flashbacks to scenes from past favorite episodes interspersed with new footage.

It’s Christmas Eve at the Ricardo apartment and Little Ricky, dressed for bed, grills his parents about how Santa works. Finally, satisfied that his presents will be delivered, he goes off to bed. The Mertzes soon arrive with a beautiful tree. As the friends trim the tree, they reminisce about their times together. They remember when Lucy told Ricky she was pregnant (“Lucy is Enciente™”), singing in a barbershop quartet (“Lucy’s Show Biz Swan Song”), and the night Little Ricky was born (“Lucy Goes to the Hospital”). The next morning, the four adults are up early. Meeting up in the living room, they realize that they all dressed as Santa. Not wanting to disillusion the boy, they run to hid in the kitchen where a fifth Santa joins them. (Curators note: The running to hide in the kitchen part doesn’t seem to be in the real episode) Hesitantly, they pull the white beards off each other to reveal, Ethel, Lucy, Fred, Ricky… They pull the last beard. whose shearer replies “ouch!” As the “real” Santa disappears, before them, the amazed quartet turns to the audience and says, “Merry Christmas, everybody!”

Model: N7370

The Desi Arnaz Ricky doll comes wearing a Santa suit. The red felt Santa suit jacket is completely trimmed with white faux sheep fur. It opens in the front with snaps with a silver buckled wide black patent leather belt that closes with Velcro in the back. The matching red pants have an snap opening in the back and bottom elastic cuffs which tuck into the boots. The boots are a soft black patent leather with faux sheep fur trim. Cardboard inserts give them their structure.

The Santa suit has a matching red hat with fur ball and trim. Yellowish white curly hair is sewn in under the trim at the rim. A full beard complete with handlebar mustache and mouth opening is separate and goes around the head with elastic in the back.

Underneath the suit is a padded sleeveless to mid-thigh body suit to fill out the Santa shape.  The body suit opens in the back with snaps.

The doll bends at the elbows, shoulders, waist, knees and hips. The neck rotates only side to side.

Accessories include a Certificate of Authenticity and a black plastic base stand complete with instructions.

 
To get the current prices of the Desi Arnaz Ricky Ricardo Santa doll use these links. The museum gets a small commission for qualified purchase using the following links:

Here is a colorized youtube video of the “Christmas Show” episode of I Love Lucy.