Rumberas film
Encyclopedia
The Rumberas film was a sub-genre film of the Golden age of Mexican Cinema
(with some movies made also in Cuba
and Spain), whose plots were set primarily in cabarets. His principal stars were the actresses and dancers known as "Rumberas".
(before emigrating to Hollywood), Mimi Derba
, Maria Conesa "La Gatita Blanca", Amparo Arozamena
and many others, caught the attention of an audience that enjoyed his sexy musical routines with the rhythms of the moment. It is considered popularly to Lolita Tellez Wood as the first dancer in dance West Indian rhythms.
Maria Conesa (called "La gatita blanca"), she arrived in Mexico in 1908 and she had her debut at sixteen in the Teatro Principal and later in Teatro Colón. In 1917, being 25 she starred her first film "El pobre Valbuena" with Manuel Noriega, totaling 8 films and a TV series during her career. She lived in Mexico until her death in 1978, her memory remains unforgettable.
Lolita Téllez Wood participated in three Mexican films: El Rosal Bendito (Juan Bustillo Oro, 1936), Mujeres de Hoy (Ramón Peon, 1936) and Honrarás a tus padres (1936 ), the latter directed by Juan Orol
, considered the "spiritual father" of Rumberas films.
However, since the early talkies of Mexican films. other actresses had danced rumba, like Maruja Griffel in ¡Que viva México!
(Sergei Eisenstein
, 1931), Consuelo Moreno in ¿Mujeres sin Alma: Venganza Suprema? (1934), Rita Montaner
in La Noche del Pecádo (1933) and Margarita Mora in Águila o Sol (1937). The Puerto Rican actress Mapy Cortés
, was famous for dancing the Conga
in numerous films. At that time, Cuba considered the best rumbera to the Mexican Luz Gil.
It's common recognizing María Antonieta Pons
as the first rumba film star following her debut in the film Siboney (1938), directed by her husband, Spanish filmmaker Juan Orol, famous for import numerous Cuban stars to the Mexican Cinema. But was the movie Humo en los Ojos (1946), by filmmaker Alberto Gout, the film that began the massive production of the Rumberas films, where the film studios found a check for many digits in the box office.
Special mention: artists like Damaso Perez Prado, Beny Moré, Kiko Mendive, Agustín Lara
, Toña la Negra
, Rita Montaner
, Maria Luisa Landin, Olga Guillot
and others whose musical numbers (varying according to the Mambo
, Rumba
, Samba
or Cha Cha Cha
) achieved the brilliance of the stars.
, Meche Barba
, Amalia Aguilar
, Ninón Sevilla
and Rosa Carmina
.
, and is paving the way for a sensual and daring film. After splitting Orol sentimental and professionally, she pass the baton to her second husband, filmmaker Ramón Pereda. His particular way of moving her hips, and the picaresque of hes films, was the basis of their great success.
.
as Aventurera
(1950).
Other actresses and dancers also acted in Rumbera films, such as Silvia Pinal
, Lilia Prado
, Ana Bertha Lepe
, Evangelina Elizondo, Ana Luisa Peluffo
and other as Yadira Jiménez, Mary Esquivel and Dinorah Judith, also imported by Orol.
Is a wrong to confuse the Rumberas with the so-called Exóticas although some also danced in the movies, but dancing at different rhythms. The main Exoticas were "Tongolele, Su Muy Key
, "Kalantan", "Bongala", "Turanda"", Gemma
"and many others.
Some of the Rumberas as Maria Antonieta Pons and Amalia Aguilar opted for retirement, while Ninon Sevilla, Meche Barba and Rosa Carmina opted to emigrate to television, where they have had guest appearances on the Mexican telenovelas.
was another figure to the appreciation of the genre to rescue from oblivion to several rumberas and honored in some series like La pasión de Isabela (1984) and Salomé (2001).
In 1993, the journalist Fernando Muñoz Castillo published the book "Las Reinas del Trópico", where rescues and honors the life and work of the greatests five rumberas.
From 1997 and until today, the Mexican actress Carmen Salinas revived the classic Aventurera in a musical play (the most successful in Mexico), and where does a tribute to the old era of Rumberas film. The work you got Broadway
and has been starring actresses as Edith González
, Itatí Cantoral
, Niurka Marcos
and most recently Maribel Guardia
, among others. In the 2010 another stage play was released named Perfume de Gardenias, starring by Aracely Arámbula
.
Golden age of the cinema of Mexico
The Golden Age of Mexican cinema is a period between 1936 and 1969 where the quality and economic success of the cinema of Mexico reached its peak....
(with some movies made also in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Spain), whose plots were set primarily in cabarets. His principal stars were the actresses and dancers known as "Rumberas".
Origins
Probably the Rumberas film take the inspiration in the burlesque houses that flourished in Mexico in the 1920s. Stars like Lupe VélezLupe Vélez
Lupe Vélez was a Mexican film actress. Vélez began her career in Mexico as a dancer, before moving to the U.S. where she worked in vaudeville. She was seen by Fanny Brice who promoted her, and Vélez soon entered films, making her first appearance in 1924. By the end of the decade she had...
(before emigrating to Hollywood), Mimi Derba
Mimí Derba
Mimí Derba was a Mexican actress and the first female director in Mexico. Derba founded one of the very first Mexican production companies, Azteca Films. She had a successful career in Vaudeville before entering films.-External links:....
, Maria Conesa "La Gatita Blanca", Amparo Arozamena
Amparo Arozamena
Amparo Arozamena was a Mexican actress of film and television, best known for her character roles in the 1960s. During the same decade, she became most noted for her role of "Doña Chole" in the Telesistema Mexicano sitcom Los Beverly de Peralvillo...
and many others, caught the attention of an audience that enjoyed his sexy musical routines with the rhythms of the moment. It is considered popularly to Lolita Tellez Wood as the first dancer in dance West Indian rhythms.
In the cinema
Lolita Téllez Wood participated in three Mexican films: El Rosal Bendito (Juan Bustillo Oro, 1936), Mujeres de Hoy (Ramón Peon, 1936) and Honrarás a tus padres (1936 ), the latter directed by Juan Orol
Juan Orol
Juan Orol was a Spanish and Mexican actor, screenwriter and director of the Cinema of Mexico.-Early life:He was born in La Coruña, Galicia...
, considered the "spiritual father" of Rumberas films.
However, since the early talkies of Mexican films. other actresses had danced rumba, like Maruja Griffel in ¡Que viva México!
¡Qué viva México!
¡Qué viva México! is a film project begun in 1930 by the Russian avant-garde director Sergei Eisenstein . It would have been an episodic portrayal of Mexican culture and politics from pre-Conquest civilization to the Mexican revolution. Production was beset by difficulties and was eventually...
(Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
, 1931), Consuelo Moreno in ¿Mujeres sin Alma: Venganza Suprema? (1934), Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner, born Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda , was a Cuban singer, pianist, actress and star of stage, film, radio and television. In Cuban parlance, she was a vedette , and she was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and New York, where she performed, filmed and recorded on...
in La Noche del Pecádo (1933) and Margarita Mora in Águila o Sol (1937). The Puerto Rican actress Mapy Cortés
Mapy Cortés
Mapy Cortés , born Maria del Pilar Cordero in Santurce, Puerto Rico, was a famous actress that participated in many films during the Mexican film industry's golden era...
, was famous for dancing the Conga
Conga
The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
in numerous films. At that time, Cuba considered the best rumbera to the Mexican Luz Gil.
It's common recognizing María Antonieta Pons
María Antonieta Pons
Maria Antonieta Pons was a Cuban born Mexican film actress and Rumba dancer.-Career:Born in Cuba in 1922, from Catalan origin, she was one of the most notorious rumba dancers of her times. She was discovered in Cuba by the Spanish film director Juan Orol. Emigrated to Mexico City to film Siboney...
as the first rumba film star following her debut in the film Siboney (1938), directed by her husband, Spanish filmmaker Juan Orol, famous for import numerous Cuban stars to the Mexican Cinema. But was the movie Humo en los Ojos (1946), by filmmaker Alberto Gout, the film that began the massive production of the Rumberas films, where the film studios found a check for many digits in the box office.
Special mention: artists like Damaso Perez Prado, Beny Moré, Kiko Mendive, Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Biography:Lara was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Later, the Lara family had to move again to Mexico City, establishing their house in the borough of Coyoacán. After Lara's mother died, Agustín and his siblings lived in a hospice run by their...
, Toña la Negra
Toña la Negra
Toña la Negra was an Afro-Mexican singer known for her interpretation of boleros, sones, rumbas and songs from Agustín Lara. She first became famous by her interpretation of Lara's song "Enamorada", he also wrote "Lamento Jarocho" specially for her to sing...
, Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner
Rita Montaner, born Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda , was a Cuban singer, pianist, actress and star of stage, film, radio and television. In Cuban parlance, she was a vedette , and she was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and New York, where she performed, filmed and recorded on...
, Maria Luisa Landin, Olga Guillot
Olga Guillot
Olga Guillot was a Cuban singer who was known to be the "queen of bolero". She was a native of the Cuban city of Santiago.Guillot and her family moved to Havana, Cuba when she was a small child...
and others whose musical numbers (varying according to the Mambo
Mambo (dance)
Mambo .In the late 1940s, Perez Prado came up with the dance for the mambo music and became the first person to market his music as "mambo". After Havana, Prado moved his music to Mexico, where his music and the dance was adopted. The original mambo dance was characterized by freedom and...
, Rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
, Samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
or Cha Cha Cha
Cha-cha-cha (dance)
The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953...
) achieved the brilliance of the stars.
The Queens of the Tropic
Of all the great dancers who caused a sensation in Mexican Cinema, only five of them have been going down in history as the greatest exponents of Rumberas Film: (baptized as the Queens of the Tropic by the journalist Fernando Muñoz Castillo), and they were: María Antonieta PonsMaría Antonieta Pons
Maria Antonieta Pons was a Cuban born Mexican film actress and Rumba dancer.-Career:Born in Cuba in 1922, from Catalan origin, she was one of the most notorious rumba dancers of her times. She was discovered in Cuba by the Spanish film director Juan Orol. Emigrated to Mexico City to film Siboney...
, Meche Barba
Meche Barba
Meche Barba was a Mexican film actress and dancer of the Golden age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Was considered one of the icons of the "Rumberas film"...
, Amalia Aguilar
Amalia Aguilar
Amalia Aguilar is a Cuban and Mexican film actress and dancer of the Golden age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She was considered one of the icons of the Rumberas film.- Early life :...
, Ninón Sevilla
Ninón Sevilla
Ninón Sevilla is a Mexican and Cuban film actress and dancer who was active during the Golden age of Mexican cinema. She was considered one of the greatest Cuban stars and the queen of the "rumberas film".- Career :...
and Rosa Carmina
Rosa Carmina
Rosa Carmina is a Mexican-Cuban film actress and dancer of the Golden age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She is considered one of the icons of the "Rumberas film".-Career:...
.
Maria Antonieta Pons
Baptized as "The Cyclone of the Caribbean". She arrived to Mexico in 1938 by the hand of her then husband, Spanish filmmaker Juan OrolJuan Orol
Juan Orol was a Spanish and Mexican actor, screenwriter and director of the Cinema of Mexico.-Early life:He was born in La Coruña, Galicia...
, and is paving the way for a sensual and daring film. After splitting Orol sentimental and professionally, she pass the baton to her second husband, filmmaker Ramón Pereda. His particular way of moving her hips, and the picaresque of hes films, was the basis of their great success.
Meche Barba
Named "The Venus Azteca". Was the only Mexican among the big five rumberas. She began hes career as a "young lady" of cinema. Moving to Rumberas film is in 1946. Thereafter will be the favorite of the cabaret films. She was a famous film couple with singer Fernando FernándezFernando Fernandez
Fernando Fernández was the founder of the oldest Rum producing company in Puerto Rico.- Start of a dynasty:Fernández, was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He was the owner of the Santa Ana Plantation located in the city of his birth...
.
Amalia Aguilar
Named "The Atomic Bomb". Possessing an enormous charisma, arrives in Mexico in 1945 by the hand of the dancer Julio Richard. Her great success was due largely to his frenetic dance form that made her even recognition in Hollywood. Unlike her colleagues, she was not the woman ever suffered or perverse, she preferring to opt for light comedies.Ninón Sevilla
Named "The Golden Venus". She debuted in 1946. Her stunning wild beauty and her spectacular physical made her the market as Spain, France and Brazil. It was a complete veddette: She dancing and acting but also singing and riding their own musical numbers. Has kept current today. Main muse was the film versions of songs by Agustín LaraAgustín Lara
Agustín Lara was a Mexican singer and songwriter.-Biography:Lara was born in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. Later, the Lara family had to move again to Mexico City, establishing their house in the borough of Coyoacán. After Lara's mother died, Agustín and his siblings lived in a hospice run by their...
as Aventurera
Aventurera (1950 film)
Aventurera is a 1950 Mexican drama film directed by Alberto Gout and starring Ninón Sevilla. It's considered a masterpiece of the Rumberas film.-Plot:...
(1950).
Rosa Carmina
Named "The Woman of Fire". She not only was a Rumberas film expert but also she was the "Queen of the Gangsters", thanks to the many movies filmed by Juan Orol. Carmina was the third wife of Juan Orol. She was discovered by Orol who left her to Mexico in 1946. Her height and singular beauty are highlighted in a particular way.Other actresses and dancers also acted in Rumbera films, such as Silvia Pinal
Silvia Pinal
Silvia Pinal is a Mexican actress, who had roles in several of Luis Buñuel's movies such as El ángel exterminador and Viridiana...
, Lilia Prado
Lilia Prado
Lilia Prado was a Mexican actress. After winning a beauty contest she started working in the Mexican cinematographic industry, first as an extra, and later on in leading roles....
, Ana Bertha Lepe
Ana Bertha Lepe
Ana Bertha Lepe is a Mexican actress and third runner up at the Miss Universe contest in 1953. She was born in Tecolotlán, Jalisco....
, Evangelina Elizondo, Ana Luisa Peluffo
Ana Luisa Peluffo
Ana Luisa Peluffo is a Mexican actress. She has appeared in over 200 films and television shows since 1949. She starred in the 1977 film Paper Flowers, which was entered into the 28th Berlin International Film Festival....
and other as Yadira Jiménez, Mary Esquivel and Dinorah Judith, also imported by Orol.
Is a wrong to confuse the Rumberas with the so-called Exóticas although some also danced in the movies, but dancing at different rhythms. The main Exoticas were "Tongolele, Su Muy Key
Su Muy Key
Su Muy Key was a Chinese-Mexican film actress and dancer of the Golden age of Mexican cinema.Was one of the first strippers in the history of Mexican cinema. She was known as the nickname of "Muñequita China" ....
, "Kalantan", "Bongala", "Turanda"", Gemma
Gemma
Gemma may refer to:In science:* Gemma , an asexual reproductive structure in plants and fungi* , a genus of clam in the family Veneridae; see amethyst gem clam...
"and many others.
Directors
Between 1946 and 1959 there were more than a hundred productions of Rumberas Film. The principal directors are:- Juan OrolJuan OrolJuan Orol was a Spanish and Mexican actor, screenwriter and director of the Cinema of Mexico.-Early life:He was born in La Coruña, Galicia...
- Alberto Gout
- Ramón Pereda
- Jaime Salvador
- José Díaz Morales
- Joaquín PardavéJoaquín PardavéJoaquín Pardavé Arce was a Mexican film actor, director, songwriter and screenwriter of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. He was best known for starring and directing various comedy films during the 1940s...
- Emilio FernándezEmilio FernándezEmilio "El Indio" Fernández was an actor, screenwriter and director of the cinema of Mexico. He is best known for his work as director of the film Maria Candelaria which won the Grand Prix at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.-Early life:Fernández was born in Mineral del Hondo, Coahuila...
- Ernesto CortazarErnesto CortazarErnesto Cortazar was a contemporary classical composer and pianist.He started his music career in Mexico at the age of 18 composing the background music for the motion picture La Risa de la Ciudad....
- Gilberto Martínez Solares
- Ramón Peón
- Miguel Morayta
Films
The principal films were:- Siboney (1938)
- Noches de Ronda (1942)
- Konga Roja (1943)
- Balaju (1944)
- La Reina del Trópico (1945)
- Embrujo Antillano (1945)
- Rosalinda (1945)
- Pervertida (1945)
- Humo en los Ojos (1946)
- Una mujer de Oriente (1946)
- Pecadora (1946)
- Tania, la Bella Salvaje (1947)
- El Ciclón del Caribe (1948)
- Cortesana (1947)
- Señora Tentación (1948)
- Lazos de Fuego (1948)
- La Venus de Fuego (1948)
- Revancha (1949)
- Calabacitas Tiernas (1949)
- En cada puerto un amor (1949)
- La Mujer del Puerto (1949)
- Fuego en la Carne (1949)
- Coqueta (1949)
- Perdída (1949)
- Amor Salvaje
- AventureraAventurera (1950 film)Aventurera is a 1950 Mexican drama film directed by Alberto Gout and starring Ninón Sevilla. It's considered a masterpiece of the Rumberas film.-Plot:...
(1950) - Considerada la Obra maestra del género. - Cabaret Shanghai (1950)
- Al Son del Mambo (1950)
- Traicionera (1950)
- Víctimas del Pecádo (1950)
- En Carne Viva (1950)
- La Reina del Mambo (1950)
- Amor Perdído (1950)
- María Cristina (1951)
- La Niña Popoff (1951)
- Dancing (1952)
- La Diosa de Tahití (1952)
- Yo fuí una callejera (1952)
- La Mujer Desnuda (1952)
- Delírio Tropical (1952)
- En carne viva (1952)
- Sandra, la Mujer de Fuégo (1952)
- Mis Tres Viudas Alegres (1953)
- La muerte es mi pareja (1953)
- Mulata (1953)
- Me lo díjo Adela (1954)
- Las Cariñosas (1954)
- Las Viudas del Cha Cha Chá (1955)
- Yambáo (1956)
- La Odalísca no. 13 (1958)
- Mujeres de Fuego (1959)
- Zarzuela 1900 (1949)
- Caña Brava (1964)
Genre Decline
In the late 1950s, the plots of Rumberas film lost originality. All actresses acting in similar roles and patterns, and it ceased to be attractive to the public. To this is added the attacks of the "Legion of Decency", which had the support of the authorities, gender and regarded as a breach of morality and decency. The power of this group was so important that even the Mexican Academy of Film vetoed for many years to the Rumberas film in the Silver Ariel Award Ceremony. The power of this group soon reached several points of Latin America, which marked the end of the genre.Some of the Rumberas as Maria Antonieta Pons and Amalia Aguilar opted for retirement, while Ninon Sevilla, Meche Barba and Rosa Carmina opted to emigrate to television, where they have had guest appearances on the Mexican telenovelas.
Genre re-evaluating
In the 1980s, there was a re-evaluation of the genre of Rumberas. This was made possible in large part to the demise of the League of Decency, and the Mexican Academy first recognized Sevilla and Barba careers. The writer of telenovelas Carlos RomeroCarlos Romero
Carlos Romero Carlos Romero Carlos Romero (15 February 1927 – 21 June 2007, was an American actor, noted for his many appearances on television. In addition to his many television appearances, he also acted in several movies including The Young Land, They Came to Cordura, Island of the Blue...
was another figure to the appreciation of the genre to rescue from oblivion to several rumberas and honored in some series like La pasión de Isabela (1984) and Salomé (2001).
In 1993, the journalist Fernando Muñoz Castillo published the book "Las Reinas del Trópico", where rescues and honors the life and work of the greatests five rumberas.
From 1997 and until today, the Mexican actress Carmen Salinas revived the classic Aventurera in a musical play (the most successful in Mexico), and where does a tribute to the old era of Rumberas film. The work you got Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and has been starring actresses as Edith González
Edith González
Edith González Fuentes is a Mexican actress and dancer.- Personal life :González has a daughter, Constanza , whose father is the Mexican politician Santiago Creel. Edith has worked for hispanic television networks, such as, Televisa, Telemundo, and TV Azteca...
, Itatí Cantoral
Itatí Cantoral
Itatí Cantoral, is a Mexican actress.-Early life and education:Cantoral is the daughter of Mexican composer and songwriter, Roberto Cantoral, and Argentine actress of Italian descent, Itatí Zucchi.A child actress, at 13, Cantoral was accepted into the Televisa actors' academy, Centro de Educación...
, Niurka Marcos
Niurka Marcos
Niurka Marcos is a Cuban-born Mexican singer, dancer, actress, and erotic model. She is known professionally simply as Niurka.-Personal life:...
and most recently Maribel Guardia
Maribel Guardia
Maribel del Rocío Fernández García is a Costa Rican actress, who works in Mexico, and currently lives and resides in Miami, Florida.-Miss Universe and Miss World:...
, among others. In the 2010 another stage play was released named Perfume de Gardenias, starring by Aracely Arámbula
Aracely Arámbula
Aracely Arámbula Jacques is a Mexican actress, model and singer.- Biography :Arámbula was born March 6, 1975 in the city of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. She was noticed for the first time in 1993 when she was chosen for the "Rostro del Heraldo de México". Arámbula also writes songs and plays guitar...
.