#Antonio Perez Arnay

[tina-aumont]

Beautiful photos of María Montez and her sisters.

These photos come from the personal archive of Armando Gracia Sanfiel who gave them to Antonio Perez Arnay who published them in the biographical book of María Montez "La Reina del Tecnicolor" (Editorial Filmoteca Canaria, 1995).

Armando Gracia Sanfiel was Aquilino Gracia García's son, and Aquilino was María's uncle (her dad's brother), so Armando was María's cousin.

María sent these three photos to her cousin Armando as they kept contact through letters, Armando was living in Madrid and he didn't know anything about María's private life or from his Dominican family, he just knew from his uncle Isidoro and from his family from La Palma and Teruel.

María and her cousin Armando first reached contact when he sent her a letter when she was living in Hollywood telling her he was her cousin as their dads were brothers and from that day María started sending him letters with photos and she was really interested about her family in Spain and asked him lots of questions about them.

Very special thanks to @74paris for sending me these photos and the information that comes with them.

[tina-aumont]

“Saludos afectuosos al pueblo español, mi pueblo, que pronto tendré el inmenso placer de visitar. Estoy tan contenta de trabajar en España! María Montez”

“Affectionate greetings to the Spanish people, my people, who I will soon have the immense pleasure of visiting. I am so happy to work in Spain! María Montez”

This is a postcard announcing that María would come to Spain to film “La Maja de Goya”, a film produced by Cesáreo González. He contacted her with the contract and the script and she agreed to take part on the film. The film was about to start by September 1951 but since 1949 the Spanish producer wanted to work with the Dominican Star.

Cesareo González was the one who promoted Mexican actress and singer María Félix and launched her career in European films. She first worked with him in "La Corona Negra" in 1951. This was a Spanish film co-produced by France and Italy.

[Mexican actress and singer María Félix pictured in 1947]

This photo was first printed in Spanish magazine Primer Plano number 560 from July 1951.

[Left: the magazine cover, featuring Ava Gardner, right the photo printed from the magazine]

Antonio Pérez Arnay had the magazine and was interested in getting the photo for his book "María Montez La Reina del Tecnicolor", and finally, he had a copy from the original one (believed to be in the Spanish Filmotheque) and could publish it in his great and unique book for María Montez.

Very special thanks to @74paris for the information given and the pics provided here.

[tina-aumont]

Litte Tina, aged 13 with her dad, step mother and half brother Jean-Claude Aumont in Madrid, Spain in 1959 while a break of "Solomon and Sheba" filming.

It's a beautiful thing that Tina visited Spain as a child and later filmed there "L'Uomo L'Orgoglio, la Vendetta" and "The Last Run" because she fulfilled her mother's dream in a way...

The thing is that María Montez wanted to film in Spain and she was about to do it in 1951, and she was really happy because she wanted to use her real surname Gracia (she changed it to Montez cause the English-speaking people don't know how to pronounce Gracia) and she wanted to do a film in Spanish, sadly, it never happened as fate had other plans for her...

"Saludos afectuosos al pueblo español, mi pueblo, que pronto tendré el inmenso placer de visitar. Estoy tan contenta de trabajar en España! María Montez"

"Affectionate greetings to the Spanish people, my people, who I will soon have the immense pleasure of visiting. I am so happy to work in Spain! María Montez"

This is a postcard announcing that María would come to Spain to film "La Maja de Goya", a film produced by Cesáreo González. He contacted her with the contract and the script and she agreed to take part on the film.

First photo comes from Moon City Garbage Agency and the second photo comes from "María Montez La Reina del Tecnicolor" book written by Antonio Pérez Arnay. Please notice that María is wearing a necklace that later inherited her younger sister Teresita and later she gave it to Tina, as you can see in this post.

Very special thanks to @74paris for his invaluable help!!

[tina-aumont]

Beautiful photos of Montez Sisters sent to their Spanish cousin Armando Gracia Sanfiel.

On the left we can see the four sisters: Adita, Consuelo, Teresita and Lucita's beautiful photos they sent to their Spanish cousin Armando Gracia Sanfiel. Adita, Consuelo and Lucita's photos where sent through María Montez in 1944 as she was the one from the family who wrote long and loving letters to him, as far as I know they never met in person but they kept a beautiful correspondence.

On the right we can see a photo of María taken in 1941 and sent to her cousin Armando. Maria went to Canary Islands in 1930 when her father didn't want she got married to William McFeeters, who was 20 years her senior, and the only thing she knew about Spain was Tenerife, that's why she always wrote long letters to her cousin Armando (who lived in Madrid) asking him about Teruel and Canary Islands as she wanted to know the origins of her ancestors and the diversity of landscapes and life Spain had.

Teresita's photo was taken in 1952 when she travelled to Madrid to make a film and the beautiful thing is that she met her cousin Armando and gave him this beautiful photo taken by Ibañez, a Spanish photographer who always took photos of the cinema stars back in the day.

These beautiful photos arrived to me by mail, and I thank @74paris for sending me these very special gems which are copies from the originals. These photos were given to Antonio Perez Arnay by Armando Gracia Sanfiel as they were friends and Armando knew Antonio wanted to write a book about María Montez, which eventually did in 1995, however in the first book edition, these photos were not included, but Antonio Perez Arnay kept them and wanted to publish them in a second edition of his book "María Montez, La Reina del Tecnicolor" to celebrate María's birth centennary. Sadly Antonio passed away the 1st January 2012 and could never fulfill his dream. Instead, these photos were displayed in María Montez exhibit in Canary Islands back in 2012 but that's not what Antonio wanted...

My friend @74paris went to this exhibit and saw these great and beautiful photos and after long letters, long calls and lots of adventures he could have a copy of them for him and another one for me!! I feel really lucky, happy and fortunate to have them. They are a treasure and I will keep them such as that.

Mil gracias @74paris por este precioso presente que me has enviado, me siento muy afortunada y feliz por tenerlas, gracias por las mil y una gestiones que has hecho para obtenerlas. Te lo agradezco de todo corazón!! Son un gran tesoro!!

Eleni xoxoxo

[tina-aumont]

1944 Montez sisters

In 1944 upon their arrival in Hollywood, Maria younger sisters Consuelo, Adita and Lucita were received by her elder sister and under her wing they went to English private lessons and also to some social "etiquette" classes in order to have a very beautiful appeareance and to know how to behave in some places they weren't used to as they came from Dominican Republic rural area.

The photographer of these photos is unknown, but the first photo was sent from Maria to her Spanish cousin Armando Gracia Sanfiel (1913-1997) and he gave it to Antonio Perez Arnay (1959-2012) who published in his book "María Montez, La Reina del Technicolor" (Filmoteca Canaria, 1995).

The other photos come from ebay and pinterest.

[tina-aumont]

I want to thank my friend @74paris who contacted the Canarian Authorities and sent him these digitalized photos from the exhibit that Garafia and La Palma had about Maria Montez back in 2012 (more than ten years ago!!)

Maria Montez dad, Isidoro Gracia García was born in Garafia (La Palma) in April 3rd 1873 and by 1904 he settled in Barahona (Dominican Republic) with his brother Joaquín. They left Carany Islands due to economic struggles and they dreamt for a better future, which eventualy came.

These photos show Joaquín (left) and Isidoro (right) pictured in Barahona in 1908. Next we can see Isidoro Gracia pictured in Barahona in 1906. Under these two photos, Isidoro is pictured, again in Barahona, this time in 1909 and the last photo shows Joaquín in an undated photo, but my guessing is that it was taken in Barahona as well aroung the time the other photos were taken (1906-1909).

These photos were displayed in "María Montez, de la Palma a Hollywood" exhibition celebrated in Garafia and La Palma during the celebrations of MAría Montez birthday centenary.

Joaquín Gracia Anadón, who was born in Estercuel (Teruel-Aragón-Spain), in 23rd May 1841 and María Antónia García Martín, who was born in Garafia, (La Palma, Canary Islands) in 28th September 1842 were also remembered in this exhibition.

This beautiful photo taken in 1942 celebrating Doña Justa's birthday was also in the exhibition. Doña Justa Recio Sánchez was María Montez granny and Regla María Teresa Vidal Recio's mother. In this photo we can see at the left Adita with her mother, and at the right we can see Consuelo. In the front row, at the right we can see a very young Teresita. It's beautiful to see that in this exhibition, also the maternal side of María was important although there were no Canarian roots in them (as far as we know).

María Montez most intimal side was also shown in this exhibition, here we can see her pictured in 1943 at her wedding day to Jean-Pierre Aumont.

While Jean-Pierre Aumont was away fighting in II World War and María was at the highest point of her career, she invited her sisters to Hollywood as she wanted them to have a successful career. Although all of them tried, only Teresita (not shown here as she was still very young) succeed but as a High Couture model working in France in the 50s hired exclusively by Vogue magazine.

These photos are from the banners displayed in "María Montez, de la Palma a Hollywood" exhibition held in La Laguna, Tenerife (Canary Islands) in 2012, they show María's family, sisters, daughter Tina and places where her family came from. These photos come from this blog: Personalidades Garafianas

These screencaps from this video show two banners from the exhibition "María Montez: De La Palma a Hollywood" with Maria Montez and Jean Pierre Aumont and Maria's dad Isidoro, her granny María Antónia and on the left Isidoro and his brother Joaquín.

The other screencaps show Joaquín Gracia and María Antónia García's home in Garafia where Isidoro, Joaquín and their siblings were born.

This house is still standing, now I wonder... could a María Montez museum will be made here and be permanent so everybody could visit it? I vote for it, but I don't know if it will ever me made, it would be beautiful if ever that happen...

Here you have the Villa de Garafia website where is explained the exhibition.

Photos shown here are courtesy of Armando Gracia Sanfiel, the Spanish cousin María was always writing. He gave these photos to Antonio Perez Arnay to be published in his book "María Montez La Reina del Tecnicolor" (Filmoteca Canaria, 1995).

Banners courtesy of "Cabildo de la Palma", the governing and administrative body of La Palma.

Muchas gracias de nuevo @74paris por todo el trabajo que has hecho contactando con la administración del Cabildo de la Palma para que te enviaran este material tan precioso y muchas gracias por compartirlo conmigo para que lo publique.

[tina-aumont]

Various close-ups from Maria and younger sister Consuelo pictured, according to Margarita Vicens, in 1934. If the date given is correct (which I assume it is), Maria would be 22, and her sister Consuelo (according to Maria, she was born in 1925) would be 9 years old!! which is clearly impossible!! I think Consuelo is a teenager here.

It's interesting to note that in Margarita Vicens book "María Montez, Su vida", the sibligs are listed as follows:

Isidoro Rafael - the firstborn

María África

Aquilino Mario

Joaquín David

Ada

Consuelo

Luz

Luis Antonio

Jaime Enrique

Teresita

In Antonio Pérez Arnay's book "María Montez La Reina del Technicolor", the siblings are listed as it follows:

Isidoro Rafael (3rd April, 1911)

María África (6th June 1912)

Aquilino Mario (14th May 1914)

Joaquín David (26th August 1915)

Ada

Consuelo

Luz

Luis Antonio (10th June 1923)

Jaime Enrique (24th August 1925)

Teresita (1932)

So Ada, Consuelo and Luz have no birthdates in neither of these two books.

Jaime is listed he was born in 1925 in Antonio Perez Arnay's book while Margarita says in her book that Jaime passed away in 1979 aged 51, that would meant he was born in 1927 or 1928, so the date given in the book doesn't fit, but if you go to GENI Family tree site, you'll find he was born the 28th September 1927 and I do really believe this is the correct date of his birthday since the person who admins his profile at this website is surnamed Pombrol, and The Pombrols are distant cousins from The Gracias.

With Teresita we have a similar "problem", in Antonio's book it's written she was born in 1932 but she passed away in January 2023 aged 93, so it's very probably she was born in 1929 rather in 1930.

About Lucita, we have a similar problem... in Margarita Vicens book it says she passed away in 1979 due to a cancer, but there is no information about her birth date, I've read in some sources that she was born in 1929. If you look at her pictures, she looks very young, even younger than her sister Teresita!! but we all know and agree that Teresita is the youngest one, so it's very likely that Lucita was born in 1926.

Now here it comes very interesting information about Adita. According to GENI, Adita was born the 24th December 1924, in 1946 she was 22 years old (that's a fact) and she was married twice! She got married the 11th May 1957 with Otto R. Nemeth, when she was 32 years old. When she passed away, the 8th February 1993, she was Ada Teresa Thomas. It's not known if she had any children.

So as you can see, Consuelo couldn't be born in 1925, my guessing is that she was born circa 1917, so in that photo she was 17 years old. That would make so much sense.

So the updated list would be as follows:

Isidoro Rafael (3rd April, 1911)

María África (6th June 1912)

Aquilino Mario (14th May 1914)

Joaquín David (26th August 1915)

Consuelo (1917 ?)

Luis Antonio (10th June 1923)

Ada Teresa (24th December 1924)

Luz (1926 ?)

Jaime Enrique (28th September 1927)

Teresita (1929 ?)

My dream is to find the Gracia Vidal siblings birthdates, so if there is someone from Barahona here and can access the birth certificates or the baptism registries, your help will be much welcomed, appreciated and credited, of course!!

Remember that this site is made from love and respect and if I would like to have their birthdates is because I want to honour them for their birthday.

Thank you so much!!

Eleni xoxoxo

María África Gracia Vidal (on screen she will became Maria Montez) pictured with her younger sister Consuelo in Barahona, Dominican Republic in 1934.

This photo comes from Pinterest but it has been printed in Margarita Vicens book "María Montez, Su vida - edición especial del Centenario" (Dirección General de Cine de la República Dominicana, 2012.

[tina-aumont]

TINA AUMONT

My encounter with Tina, which took about a year and a half to complete, after the following events: my regular visit to the Montparnasse cemetery on the grave of Maria Montez, whom I still thank regularly, for me, childhood sweetheart, in the midst of prodigious adventures, in magnificent, dazzling colors, María Montez, the Queen of Technicolor, surrounded by John Hall, Sabu, Turham Bey, Thomas Gomez and many others (White Savage, Cobra Woman, etc…), films ingrained in my memory forever. Maria is buried on the Israeli side at the Montparnasse Cemetery in the tomb of the Aumont family.

About five years ago, placed on this grave in a transparent bag accompanied by a note, there was a superb book published in Spain on Maria Montez by Antonio Perez Arnay and Terenci Moix and to be sent to the family following the request of Ramon, Spanish administrator of Maria, who deposited this book as a tribute instead of a bouquet of flowers. I try to contact Jean-Pierre Aumont in vain. After a lot of lost time, I found traces of Tina, daughter of Maria Montez and Jean-Pierre Aumont. So I can accomplish this mission. Since then Ramon has gone to Paris and was able to meet Tina, he also being a fervent admirer of Maria. And a solid friendship was born between Tina, Ramon and me. Note a second book on Maria Montez, slightly different from the Spanish book (the latter having been published in the Dominican Republic, Maria's country of origin, by Filmateca Canaria, Islas Canarias, 1995): María Montez, Su Vida by Morales ( CPS 411, PO BOX 149020, Coral Gables, Florida 33114, USA).

by Jean Bloch

Cine Zine Zone, January-June 2002, number 134

Here you have a beautiful story of how Tina Aumont and Ramón met, the translation will come soon.

This is the first article from this magazine, part 2 and more surprises will come soon.

Very special thanks to @74paris for sending me this article!!