• Entry Category:Event

Trip to New York, the great challenge (Fourth part, final)

GARDELIAN EVENT N°42 - 03/09/2021

Around the end of the year, on December 29 and 31, the singer filmed his third performance: a participation in the film "Cazadores de Estrellas", known in the rest of the world as "The Big Broadcast of 1935", filming two numbers musicals for “Cazadores de Estrellas”, where he records versions of the tango “Amargura” in Spanish, English and French. Immediately after finishing the filming of El día que me quieras, Gardel filmed Tango bar.

 Star Hunters (The Big Broadcast of 1935)

Around the end of the year, on December 29 and 31, the singer filmed his third production: a participation in the film "Cazadores de Estrellas", known in the rest of the world as "The Big Broadcast of 1935". It is a film-magazine in which he was seconded by Manuel Peluffo, Celia Villa and Carlos Spaventa. Part of the production took place in Hollywood and Bing Crosby, the Vienna Boys' Choir, Jack Oakie, Ray Noble and his and Richard Tauber's orchestra, among the best known of the moment, took part. Gardel told Armando Defino about it in a letter dated August 5: “First of all, Paramount asked me to postpone the trip for a few weeks to give them time to resolve my inclusion in an American star film. They have already decided so and these days I have to sing a tango in three languages ​​for that film that will be a kind of magazine where each artist does the number of it. From an economic point of view, it's nothing special, I think they'll give me a total of two thousand dollars, but it's a day's work and it means the possibility of making myself known to the entire American public and, furthermore, to the whole the world. They also propose to make me sing in an upcoming film by George Raft. The proposal is interesting, but I think I will not accept. They (Paramount) want to gradually get used to the American public while I can learn English. I understand that it is a disgrace not to know this language, but you have to resign yourself". In another letter, dated January 2, 1935, Gardel stated: “I just did the Creole sketch that Paramount will include in the Big Broadcast of 1935. In Buenos Aires they will say when they see it that Creole purism has not been respected very much, but when we wanted things to be done faithfully, they answered us that it was a sketch for everyone and who preferred to sacrifice fidelity for the best visuality and photographic effect. I think it turned out very well and it was done without saving money with a director, Mr. Reed, who was sent from Hollywood and who was the director of many Douglas Fairbanck films. The sketch represented two days of work and we did it on December 29 and 31. We have finished the year working hard and I am happy because I presume that it is a good omen. There are two songs in it: the criolla song that you know (“Apure frontero buey”), modified in such a way that there can be no conflict (with “El cartero”) and the tango Amargura that I sang in Spanish, English and French.”

Poster of the film “The big broadcast of 1935” (“Star hunters”) and scene from the film with Carlos Gardel and Celia Villa.

Perhaps it is worth reproducing a paragraph from one of the many letters that Gardel sent to Defino and that in 1965 was reproduced by Revista Tanguera, now defunct: «…these people want to make films with me until the year 2000, if they continue to give money (…). I think we are getting what we wanted: Argentine and Spanish artists for the next films, more time to prepare the films, etc. I want to kill the point in the next few and I hope that I will achieve it, without rushing and with great care. (...) You know what my hopes are for the future: I want to work for myself, to be able to give my old lady a situation and to be able to enjoy the work of thirty years with four old friends. (...) A big hug, dear Armando, and many greetings to yours and to friends who are worth it.» 

Manuel Peluffo, Carlos Gardel and Carlos Spaventa on the set of the film "Star Hunters".

Tango bar

Finished filming The day you Love Me, Immediately after began filming tango bar; using the same sets, the same director, and of course the same scriptwriter, the same acting partners, the same technicians, and of course he, who also wore the same tuxedo. Both scripts had been written in parallel, it could even be said that "Tango Bar" is a continuation of El día que me quieras, but not the ideas for the songs, the place where they should appear, the nature of the lyrics, which They depended entirely on Gardel's discretion. This was the most difficult part of the job; Le Pera sometimes had to write a dozen letters before Carlitos gave him his consent. The same was the case with music; Gardel's demands were inconceivable. 

Carlos Gardel, Tito Lusiardo and Rosita Moreno in the scene where the protagonists of “Tango Bar” meet.

The action begins aboard a steamer, with the tango singer Ricardo Fuentes (Carlos Gardel) leaving Buenos Aires ruined by horse racing, bound for Barcelona. On the ship, the protagonist meets the famous artist Laura Montalván (Rosita Moreno), who is an accomplice of the gambler Zerrillo (Enrique de Rosas), who fleeces the passengers in the game of cards. Both steal a valuable jewel, Fuentes discovers the situation, but does not give them away due to his interest in the actress. Then he meets Ramos (Fernando Adelantado) and they agree to open a "tango bar" in Barcelona. When they arrive, they inaugurate it and Fuentes hires Laura Montalván, to help her in a difficult situation, and convinces the police of her innocence. At the same time, Fuentes returns to Buenos Aires, he meets the artist again and declares all his love for her.

The "Tango Bar" and its splendid dance hall. with orchestra and stage. Right: Rosita Moreno, Carlos Gardel, Conchita Vila and Tito Lusiardo, dancing on the stage of “Tango Bar”.

Tango bar takes place mostly on board a ship, like the end of El día que me quieras. It is true that Tango bar does not make references to El día que me quieras, and that the character has another name, now it is not Julio but Ricardo, however it seems a kind of continuation of the previous one. The "pure" artist of El día que me quieras returns to Buenos Aires from his triumphs in Europe and Hollywood, to take over the fortune and financial company of his deceased father, while in Tango bar, he begins to put aside the « purity” to do business with his art. Just as Carlos Argüelles exported raw materials from Argentina in El día que me quieras, Ricardo will export his art in Tango bar. He will export tango. What was a «Tango Bar»? Ricardo explains it to a fellow traveler: it is both a tango "show" and a luxurious location to exhibit it. In other words, it consisted of distorting the native tango from the suburbs, turning it into a tango for export. In his book Tango y cine mundial, Pedro Ochoa reviewed several hundred "foreign" films that included tangos, and recognized Gardel as one of the great diffusers, perhaps the greatest in his time. «It is essential to bear in mind that De Caro, Gardel and Contursi travel the world spreading their art and, of course, the three of them make their inevitable visit to Paris. Gardel is, above all, the one who develops a remarkable career. He was launched into the world, to conquer it by expanding our values ​​as Latinos through our culture, and he considered that bringing tango to Europe was equivalent to what Maurice Chevalier had done by bringing the chanson to the United States. So that the possible negative aspects of doing tango for export could be offset because both the tango and the artist —he— went out to achieve success.

Until then, there was no historical perspective that would allow Gardel or his contemporaries to understand what happened when the artist "brought" tango to Barcelona, ​​Paris or New York. Globalization was already underway. It was a subject that would soon begin to be discussed, in the same way that some imports were already being discussed and rejected, such as the Italian canzonetas that El Mudo, inaugurated before the public of the Río de la Plata and, to his surprise, he repudiated it. The path of exportation was inverse, and by taking tango with him, as he carried his suitcases, Gardel could proudly consider that he was disseminating an artistic modality from the River Plate, without suspecting the possibility that the metropolis could begin to transform it at will. Or the sad fate of the artists who had to submit and adapt to the laws of the market.

Backstage: Carlos Gardel, moments before interpreting “Lejana tierra mía”. Right: Gardel on the set of the film “Tango Bar”. 1935.

Not surprisingly, almost the entire film Tango Bar takes place on a ship, far from "mainland". In the character of Ricardo —as before in that of Julio Argüelles—, clear autobiographical "marks" were established, as if Gardel had proposed to continue reducing the distance between reality and fiction, symbolically but firmly revealing his secrets.

This time the plot does not involve a paternal figure —which had already been resolved in El día que me quieras—, but instead makes clear other features of life, his criminal experience and his hobbies for horse racing, gambling and the bets. While life in crime remained secret, Gardel's hobbies were known through his famous friendship with the jockey Irineo Leguisamo, or his presence at the racetracks, or his tangos and songs that incorporated the equestrian theme. Gardel did not hide those hobbies but he needed to transfer them to his character. Because above all gradually, Gardel and his character were merging into one.

In Tango Bar Ricardo declares himself an expert in gamblers' games, and confesses to bankruptcy after having lost all his money on horses. Experience in cheating and his pride in being skilled at concealment tricks pass from theory to practice like having a second "safe" hidden behind an obvious one. Gardel also lost large sums of money on horses, and had participated in the "bad life."

Having experience is having learned from the past. 

Backstage: Carlos Gardel singing during the filming of a scene from the film “Tango Bar”, 1935.

Embarked on the conquest of other territories, behind was buried the bad life of Gardel that life had not favored, economically speaking, in the present, on the other hand, contact with crime allows the character to guard against bandits, such as the that he had to be. At present, be clear, his character is honest, and with a great ethical conscience. Gardel must have discussed a lot with Le Pera about the need to give this central trait to his character, because it was essential for the image that Gardel wanted to project of himself to the public and to his friends.

Also in Julio Argüelles/Quiroga there is the contradiction of social class observed in other previous films or in the one that would follow, Tango bar. When Julio confronts Dávila's opposition to the marriage of his son with Marga, it is not to reproach him for social prejudice, but to inform him that, despite appearances, he was part of that social class by origin, and now by inheritance. privileged.

Carlos Gardel conducting the orchestra on the scene of the film "Tango Bar", 1935.

The other central and fundamental feature is the construction of his character and his manhood through art; The character that Gardel wanted to characterize himself was an artist whose songs allowed him to make his feelings transparent. Just as every time the character sings in the movies, his songs are allusive to the juncture of his drama, and consequently are extensions of his character, in the same way the character should be an extension of the artist. . It is difficult to decide if Gardel really had the same character and the same ethics as the characters he played, but all the testimonies about Gardel's personality coincide with the personality of his character. I would say more, that in all his films Gardel wanted his characters to be like he was, and he wanted to be like his characters. A unique negotiation between fiction and reality, between history and desire, which he finally ended up identifying in a single figure.

Filming lasts approximately 15 days, and on March 9. Tito Lusiardo, aboard the "Southern Prince", says goodbye to New York, after having fulfilled his happy film work alongside the "Thrush"

End of shooting: Carlos Gardel, Alfredo Lepera and Tito Lusiardo together with the director and the technical team of the film “Tango Bar”.

In a letter from Gardel to Defino dated April 10, he commented: “I am committed to six films, in three series of two… For the first film that I have to start in about ten days we have not been able to think of people like that (he is referring to the city of Buenos Aires). But for the second we plan to hire some actors and actresses, three altogether, four at the most. We have thought of Tito Lusiardo, Tita Merello and some others that you or Arturo Mom deem appropriate... The person who is now in charge of my current film contracts is a very good man of this type who dedicates continuous attention to me and who seems intelligent to me, as he proves. the big contract signed. As you know, no movie star is given a percentage and even Hollywood stars like Greta Garbo etc. never have 8 or 10 percent. I have achieved 20…”.

Following the completion of all filming on March 15. GARDEL SINGS FROM NORTH AMERICA LR3 RADIO BELGRANO at 21:XNUMX p.m., a special transmission, sponsored by the magazine "La Canción Moderna" (later Radiolandia).

Through this, his third audition from New York, Gardel greets the Argentine people with heartfelt words, and performs the following songs: "Soledad" (tango), "Golondrinas" (tango), "Rubias de Nueva York" (foxtrot) , and «Caminito sunny» (zamba).

March 19 and 20. DISC RECORDING in New York. Terig Tucci, conducting his orchestra, made up of Remo Bolognini, Horacio Zito, Rafael Galindo and Juan

Manzo (violins); Joe Biviano (accordion); Vicente Navatta (cello); Domingo Guido (bass); and Abraham Thevenet (piano) —in which guitar, trumpet or castanets are occasionally inserted— accompanies the singer, in the registers of all the songs, except for the song "Guitarra mía", where he is seconded by the guitarists Barbieri, Riverol and Aguilar.

This work, together with the repetition of the song "Apure frontero buey" and the tango "Amargura", constitute the last three recordings that the great singer has made in his life.

RCA Victor

On March 22, Gardel signs a contract with RCA Víctor to record the songs from the films on disc. In a letter to Armando Defino, Gardel describes the agreement:

Victor subject.- I signed a contract for a year of purely vocal exclusivity. As a singer, of course, I won't be able to sing during that year except with them, but as an author I reserve the right to do what I see fit. The main clauses of the contract are the following:

I agree to record at least 24 selections during the year of my contract. For each selection, the Víctor house pays me $116,66 as an advance on my rights as a singer and $66.67 as an author. All expenses of orchestra, guitarists etc. is on their behalf. In addition, the Víctor house advances me the amount of ten selections, which means, since they are all mine, the amount of 183,33 or 1833,30 dollars, money that I should receive tomorrow when I approve the selections that I have just made. engrave. As the advance is relatively large and as the contract is only for one year, on a trial basis, I preferred to pay royalties and not a fixed amount. I think that with the help of the movies and my tour, the records will go better…, … As for my right as a singer, which is 3 and a half cents per record, no matter how bad these are, I will always have a quantity of 233,33 minimum, that is, more than a thousand Argentine pesos. The interesting thing was to make a first contract with Víctor and as a test I think the one I just signed is convenient. Regarding copyright, they must be paid in American money, at a rate of 2 cents per disc for each author and without discounts for any publisher.

I have just recorded ten selections that will gradually go on sale. Víctor will do a lot of publicity and I want to see if in this first year the number of records sold exceeds the result of previous years with Odeón. Now without Razzano's ballast, the economic results will also improve. The accessory clauses of the contract are the common ones and you will be able to read them when I send you the respective copy that I will request from Víctor. Regarding exclusivity as an author, in Argentina everyone will be able to sing my records after Víctor has released them for sale. It will be up to you to carry out the control that you deem necessary and give the corresponding authorizations for which Le Pera agrees to give you full powers.

Disc (promotional) RCA Victor "Saludo a mis amigos de América Latina". Right: Carlos Gardel with RCA Victor's Magic Brain.

On the 25th, he records the themes, and makes a spoken record —non-commercial— at the request of the company Víctor. These are the terms with which it is expressed: «This is Carlos Gardel speaking... Dear friends of Latin America, of my land and of my race... The Víctor house wants me to announce the recent signing of my exclusive contract with it, and I do it very gladly, because I know that our recordings they will be more and more perfect, and they will find in you cordial and interested listeners. I have just finished two new Paramount films: "The day you want me" and "Tango Bar", and I am going to start a tour that will include Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Cuba and Mexico. Then I will visit the other countries of our language, where I hope to have the pleasure of greeting you personally.

I am now at the Víctor studios in New York, recording the songs for "El día que me quieras", the film that I love with all my heart, and that I dedicate to my friends in Spain and Latin America. These songs, like those of «Tango Bar», you will find on Víctor records. And now I give the microphone to my friend Le Pera, who is the author of my films and the lyrics of the songs.»

Alfredo Le Pera says: «I congratulate Gardel and the Víctor house for this contract, and as for myself, to the pleasure of seeing my compositions recorded on records of magnificent quality, the satisfaction of knowing that I am interpreted by an artist of the great talent of Carlos is added… Goodbye dear audience."

Gardel speaks again:

«And now, friends, I am going to make you listen to the tango «Volver», from my film «El día que me quieras»... And see you soon, very soon, my friends...»


walter santoro

Carlos Gardel International Foundation