FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Before ON YOUR FEET, Desi Arnaz Was Broadway's First Cuban-American Star

As Broadway celebrates the opening of On Your Feet, the new bio-musical featuring the hit songs of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, it's a good time to look back at another Cuban-American groundbreaking artist, Desi Arnaz.

Naturally, Arnaz will always be remembered for starring with his real-life wife, Lucille Ball, in the classic sitcom, I LOVE LUCY.

Just like in On Your Feet, when the Estefans struggle with music executives who were afraid the public wouldn't think they were American enough, there was a lot of concern with the television network as to whether or not the public would accept Arnaz as a TV husband to his actual spouse.

But the public not only loved Lucy, they loved Desi as well. Not only was the series a smash, but as a producer, Desi Arnaz revolutionized the industry by creating the 3-camera style of filming sitcoms before studio audiences, a method that was the standard for decades.

Born in 1917 in Santiago, Cuba, Arnaz was only 22 years old when cast as a conga-playing college student in the Rodgers and Hart Broadway hit, TOO MANY GIRLS.

He recreated a bit of his star-making TOO MANY GIRLS performance during the 1972 Tony Awards. Though some of the Lorenz Hart lyrics for "She Could Shake The Maracas" may seem insensitive to 21st Century listeners, Arnaz's panache and showmanship is still a delight.

Hollywood filmed TOO MANY GIRLS for the big screen in 1940 and Arnaz came along to repeat his Broadway success and play a rousing conga drum finale. The plot was revised a bit for Lucille Ball to play a starring role. She and Desi fell in love instantly and were married two months after the film's release.