Elías Isaac Alippi
Encyclopedia
Elías Isaac Alippi was an Argentine
actor
, theatrical impresario
, film director
and theater director. Born in Buenos Aires
on January 21, 1883, he died in the same city on May 3, 1942. He is also remembered as an excellent tango dancer
.
He traveled with Carlos Gardel
to Brazil
in 1915, failed and returned with no money. He then formed the "Compañía Tradicionista Argentina" (Argentine Traditionalist Company) which, with the direction of José González Castillo played at the San Martín theater in 1915, Juan Moreira, Santos Vega and Martín Fierro
with the musical help of Gardel and Razzano and their songs, plus Alippi's who wrote several tangos.
In 1916 he was joined by Enrique Muiño and formed the Muiño-Alippi Company, which would become one of the most important popular theater production companies of the time. Among the plays and musicals presented were La taba del querer by Carlos Schaeffer Gallo at the Nuevo theater in 1916, Las entrañas del lobo by Carlos De Paoli, Los novios de Genoveva by Alberto Vacarezza, El candidato del pueblo by José Antonio Saldías in 1917 and Avanti Foot-ball club by Juan Fernando Camilo Darthés and Carlos Santiago Daniel in 1918.
In 1918 Elías Alippi, who worked in the production the sainete
Los dientes del perro (The Dog's teeth) by José González Castillo an Alberto T. Weisbach had the idea of presenting a scene in a cabaret
live with the best orchestra
of the time, he hired Roberto Firpo
's orchestra, to play tango
s as proposed by his friend Gardel
. They included the tango piece Mi noche triste (My sad night) by Samuel Castriota
and Pascual Contursi
to be sung by Manolita Poli, a 19-year old actress and singer, daughter of zarzuela
parents. The play opened on 20 April 1918 at the Esmeralda theater (later called Maipo), and stayed open the whole season and renewed for a subsequent season the next year. The principal factor of such a success was the incorporation of the tango piece to the theatrical play, and especially the public's applause to the playing of Mi noche triste.
The company also played Premios a la virtud (Prizes for virtue) by Ulises Favaro in July 1920, El testamento de Fausto (Faust's testament) by Miguel Escuder on 23 December 1921, Pepita de oro (Gold nugget) by Roberto Cayol on 15 May 1924. Also played El debut de la piba (The girl's debut) by Roberto Cayol in 1916, Los bailes de la famosa (The dances of the famous woman) by Roberto Cayol in 1917, Chacarita by Alberto Vacarezza in 1924, La familia de don Giacumín (Don Giacumin's family) by Alberto Novión in 1924, among others.
He produced many more theater plays, including El Indio Rubio (The blond Indian) ; El Dolor Ajeno (Somebody else's pain), with José de Lara; ¡Viva la República! (Long live the Republic!), with Maroni and Sanromá; Hay que hacer algo por la revista (Must do something with the review) with Maroni and Alberti; Mi mujer quiere casarse (My woman wants to marry), El conventillo de las catorce provincias (The fourteen provinces tenement), El cantar de los tangos (The singing of the tangos), La borrachera del tango (Tango's drunkenness), Tarantini y Cía (Tarantini and Company), with Antonio Botta; Con esta...sí (With this one...yes), Atención al fogonazo (Beware of the spark), Hasta el San Martín no para (He doesn't stop till the San Martín) referring to the San Martín Theater, with Pascual Contursi
, Telones y Bambalinas (Stage and curtains) and Del tango al Charleston (From tango to Charleston).
and the May Revolution
) (1915). Then in the sound movie era eh acted in several films, among others: Cadetes de San Martín (San Martín's cadets) (1936), Viento Norte (North wind) and Así es la Vida (Such is life). Also in El mejor papá del Mundo (The best dad in the world); Medio Millón por una mujer (Half a million for a woman), with Eva Franco and Callejón sin salida (Dead-end alley), with Maruja Gil Quesada. Lastly, after his death a few scenes he had filmed were inserted in Se llamaba Carlos Gardel (He was named was Carlos Gardel) (1949).
In 1941 a group of performers usually met at the El Ateneo coffee house ubicado in the corner of Carlos Pellegrini and Cangallo (today's Teniente General Juan D. Perón) streets in Buenos Aires, including Enrique Muiño, Elías Alippi, Francisco Petrone
and Ángel Magaña
and also director Lucas Demare
.
Enrique Faustín Jr., who worked in a movie production company, and also assisted to the meetings brought the idea of forming a production company as a Coop
similar to United Artists
in the USA. The company was founded on 26 September 1941 with the name of Artistas Argentinos Asociados (associated Argentine Artists).
The planned to film La Guerra Gaucha
where Elías Alippi would act in the role of captain Del Carril, but as he fell ill to cancerand was not in shape to survive the rigorous filming conditions, his friends and colleagues, not wanting to replace him during his life, postponed the start of the project with an excuse and only started after his death, on 3 May 1942. The city of Buenos Aires named a city squared after him "Elías Alippi square" at the corner of Estado de Israel Ave. and Lambaré and Guardia Vieja streets.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, theatrical impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and theater director. Born in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
on January 21, 1883, he died in the same city on May 3, 1942. He is also remembered as an excellent tango dancer
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
.
His work with the theater
Alippi started in the theater in 1903 at the "Comedia de Buenos Aires" theater with Jerónimo Podestá's company. He formed his own acting company which was joined by Francisco Ducasse, José González Castillo, Miguel Ligero, Héctor Quiroga, Carlos Morganti among others known actors of the era.He traveled with Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in 1915, failed and returned with no money. He then formed the "Compañía Tradicionista Argentina" (Argentine Traditionalist Company) which, with the direction of José González Castillo played at the San Martín theater in 1915, Juan Moreira, Santos Vega and Martín Fierro
Martín Fierro
Martín Fierro is a 2,316 line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro . The poem is, in part, a protest against the modernist tendencies of Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento...
with the musical help of Gardel and Razzano and their songs, plus Alippi's who wrote several tangos.
In 1916 he was joined by Enrique Muiño and formed the Muiño-Alippi Company, which would become one of the most important popular theater production companies of the time. Among the plays and musicals presented were La taba del querer by Carlos Schaeffer Gallo at the Nuevo theater in 1916, Las entrañas del lobo by Carlos De Paoli, Los novios de Genoveva by Alberto Vacarezza, El candidato del pueblo by José Antonio Saldías in 1917 and Avanti Foot-ball club by Juan Fernando Camilo Darthés and Carlos Santiago Daniel in 1918.
In 1918 Elías Alippi, who worked in the production the sainete
Sainete
A sainete was a popular Spanish comic opera piece, a one-act dramatic vignette, with music. It was often placed at the end of entertainments, or between other types of performance. It was vernacular in style, and used scenes of low life. Active from the 18th to 20th centuries, it superseded the...
Los dientes del perro (The Dog's teeth) by José González Castillo an Alberto T. Weisbach had the idea of presenting a scene in a cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
live with the best orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
of the time, he hired Roberto Firpo
Roberto Firpo
Roberto Firpo was an Argentine tango pianist, composer and leader.Firpo was born in the Flores district of Buenos Aires, where his father owned a grocery store...
's orchestra, to play tango
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
s as proposed by his friend Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
. They included the tango piece Mi noche triste (My sad night) by Samuel Castriota
Samuel Castriota
Samuel Castriota was a pianist, guitarist and composer.He is the composer of the tango Mi noche triste.-External links:**...
and Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi was an Argentine poet, singer, and guitarist. He composed lyrics for 33 tango compositions - many well-known.-Life and work:...
to be sung by Manolita Poli, a 19-year old actress and singer, daughter of zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...
parents. The play opened on 20 April 1918 at the Esmeralda theater (later called Maipo), and stayed open the whole season and renewed for a subsequent season the next year. The principal factor of such a success was the incorporation of the tango piece to the theatrical play, and especially the public's applause to the playing of Mi noche triste.
The company also played Premios a la virtud (Prizes for virtue) by Ulises Favaro in July 1920, El testamento de Fausto (Faust's testament) by Miguel Escuder on 23 December 1921, Pepita de oro (Gold nugget) by Roberto Cayol on 15 May 1924. Also played El debut de la piba (The girl's debut) by Roberto Cayol in 1916, Los bailes de la famosa (The dances of the famous woman) by Roberto Cayol in 1917, Chacarita by Alberto Vacarezza in 1924, La familia de don Giacumín (Don Giacumin's family) by Alberto Novión in 1924, among others.
He produced many more theater plays, including El Indio Rubio (The blond Indian) ; El Dolor Ajeno (Somebody else's pain), with José de Lara; ¡Viva la República! (Long live the Republic!), with Maroni and Sanromá; Hay que hacer algo por la revista (Must do something with the review) with Maroni and Alberti; Mi mujer quiere casarse (My woman wants to marry), El conventillo de las catorce provincias (The fourteen provinces tenement), El cantar de los tangos (The singing of the tangos), La borrachera del tango (Tango's drunkenness), Tarantini y Cía (Tarantini and Company), with Antonio Botta; Con esta...sí (With this one...yes), Atención al fogonazo (Beware of the spark), Hasta el San Martín no para (He doesn't stop till the San Martín) referring to the San Martín Theater, with Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi
Pascual Contursi was an Argentine poet, singer, and guitarist. He composed lyrics for 33 tango compositions - many well-known.-Life and work:...
, Telones y Bambalinas (Stage and curtains) and Del tango al Charleston (From tango to Charleston).
His work in the cinema
He debuted on the silent movies acting in Tierra baja (Low ground) (1912) and Mariano Moreno y la Revolución de Mayo (Mariano MorenoMariano Moreno
Mariano Moreno was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, and politician. He played a decisive role in the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina, created after the May Revolution....
and the May Revolution
May Revolution
The May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish colony that included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...
) (1915). Then in the sound movie era eh acted in several films, among others: Cadetes de San Martín (San Martín's cadets) (1936), Viento Norte (North wind) and Así es la Vida (Such is life). Also in El mejor papá del Mundo (The best dad in the world); Medio Millón por una mujer (Half a million for a woman), with Eva Franco and Callejón sin salida (Dead-end alley), with Maruja Gil Quesada. Lastly, after his death a few scenes he had filmed were inserted in Se llamaba Carlos Gardel (He was named was Carlos Gardel) (1949).
In 1941 a group of performers usually met at the El Ateneo coffee house ubicado in the corner of Carlos Pellegrini and Cangallo (today's Teniente General Juan D. Perón) streets in Buenos Aires, including Enrique Muiño, Elías Alippi, Francisco Petrone
Francisco Petrone
Francisco Petrone was an Argentine film actor.He is best known for his roles in the 1940s in the classic film La Guerra Gaucha and Todo un hombre for which he won the Silver Condor award for Best Actor....
and Ángel Magaña
Ángel Magaña
Ángel Magaña was an Argentine film actor who appeared in some of Argentina's notable films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.He was married to Nuri Montsé-Filmography:#Hotel de señoritas...
and also director Lucas Demare
Lucas Demare
Lucas Demare was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer prominent in the Cinema of Argentina in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s....
.
Enrique Faustín Jr., who worked in a movie production company, and also assisted to the meetings brought the idea of forming a production company as a Coop
Artist cooperative
An artist cooperative is an autonomous visual arts organization, enterprise, or association jointly-owned and democratically-controlled by its members. Artist cooperatives are legal entities organized as non-capital stock corporations, non-profit organizations, or unincorporated associations...
similar to United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
in the USA. The company was founded on 26 September 1941 with the name of Artistas Argentinos Asociados (associated Argentine Artists).
The planned to film La Guerra Gaucha
La Guerra Gaucha
La guerra gaucha is a 1942 Silver Condor award winning Argentine historical drama and epic film directed by Lucas Demare and starring Enrique Muiño, Francisco Petrone, Ángel Magaña, and Amelia Bence. The film's script, written by Homero Manzi and Ulyses Petit de Murat, is based on the novel by...
where Elías Alippi would act in the role of captain Del Carril, but as he fell ill to cancerand was not in shape to survive the rigorous filming conditions, his friends and colleagues, not wanting to replace him during his life, postponed the start of the project with an excuse and only started after his death, on 3 May 1942. The city of Buenos Aires named a city squared after him "Elías Alippi square" at the corner of Estado de Israel Ave. and Lambaré and Guardia Vieja streets.
Filmography
- As an actor
- Se llamaba Carlos Gardel (1949)
- El mejor papá del mundo (1941)
- Medio millón por una mujer (1940)
- Así es la vida (1939)
- Callejón sin salida (1938/I)
- Viento norte (1937)
- Cadetes de San Martín (1937)
- Mariano Moreno y la Revolución de Mayo (1915)
- Tierra baja (1912)
- As director
- Retazo (1939)
- Callejón sin salida (1938)
Theater plays
- Conferencia contra la mujer
- No se jubile, Don Pancho! in colaboraction with Antonio Botta.
- El cantar de los tangos in colaboraction with Botta.
- Es zonzo el cristiano macho cuando el amor lo domina in colaboraction with Carlos Schaeffer Toro
- Sos bueno, vos también! in colaboraction with Folco Testena.
- Fresco el Andarín in colaboraction with Augusto Garrido.