How exactly did Ricky's job work

[TMC]

He seems to leave in the morning for work? But didn't he work at a NIGHTclub? So that shouldn't mean he would get home after midnight? Also does he do the same show 7 days a week? If so, how long is the show?

And do you pay for the show? Or do you just buy food and eat it while he sings? Or do you just get served drinks and no food?

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by TMC

He seems to leave in the morning for work? But didn't he work at a NIGHTclub? So that shouldn't mean he would get home after midnight? Also does he do the same show 7 days a week? If so, how long is the show?

And do you pay for the show? Or do you just buy food and eat it while he sings? Or do you just get served drinks and no food?

Good questions!

He was supposed to rehearse with the band from mid-morning to late afternoon and get a dinner break before he was to return to the Tropicana perform at night six nights a week.I imagine the shows would start about 8PM and end around 11PM. I don't they performed on Sundays.

I imagine that Mr. Arnaz and/or the writers realized that more viewers could identify with Ricky and Lucy if Ricky went to work in the mornings to late afternoon like the bulk of working folks did- even though it only seemed as though he'd do nothing more than rehearse the same numbers he'd been playing for YEARS at the Tropicana. Of course, it also got Ricky out of the apartment building on a regular basis doing something respectable so Lucy could concoct her schemes with Ethel (despite Fred rarely if ever leaving said apartment building). Interestingly,too, Ricky would wear business suits to rehearsal even though he'd only be interacting with his bandmates that he'd been with all that time and not the public nor any bosses. I mean, he could have just worn jeans and a t-shirt to rehearse but( again) I suppose Mr. Arnaz and the writers wanted to the viewers who DID wear business suits to work to identify with him. Of course, he'd almost always wear a tux to perform when not in a costume.

Of course, even by the time of ILL's debut, nightclubs featuring big bands were already on their way out.Thus, by the time the show ended, they'd be virtually extinct thanks to the duel mid 1950's phenoms of television and rock music drawing younger audience members away (while elder audience members were dying out).