Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha was born into wealth and privilege in Santiago, Cuba, but after the Cuban Revolution of 1933 his family was forced to flee to Miami, where as a teenage refugee he lived in a pest-ridden warehouse and earned spare change cleaning birdcages. A turning point came at a nightclub on Park Avenue in 1937, when the young bandleader realized the Latin music he knew was foreign to his pickup band and saved the show by beating out a tempo on his conga drum. When the band joined in, the mesmerized audience followed him dancing into neighboring streets, and what he called his “Dance of Desperation” launched the “Conga Craze” in America. His talent and determination led him to Broadway and then Hollywood, where he met Lucille Ball. Married in 1940, they had two children, created Desilu Productions, achieved stardom with I Love Lucy, and acquired RKO Studios. On a 1954 TV special honoring the couple, Arnaz reflected, “From cleaning canary cages to this night... I don’t think there’s any other country in the world that can give you that opportunity. I want to say thank you. Thank you, America.”