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donospl · 4 years ago
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Literackie Biuro PodrĂłĆŒy [sezon 3 odc.7]
Literackie Biuro PodrĂłĆŒy [sezon 3 odc.7]
KRYMINAƁY I SENSACJA W audycji: Jeffrey Archer „Nic bez ryzyka” Dom Wydawniczy Rebis Robert Galbraith „Niespokojna krew” Wydawnictwo Dolnoƛląskie Ruth Ware „ƚmierć Pani Westaway” Wydawnictwo Czwarta Strona MUZYCZNY PRZERYWNIK Giovanni Guidi „Ojos de Gato” z albumu pod tym samym tytuƂem wydanym przez CAMJAZZ Magdalen Nabb „ƚmierć Anglika” Wydawnictwo  Próby Maurizio De Giovanni „Miejsce

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timeless-hollywood-classics · 4 years ago
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Lupe VĂ©lez (born MarĂ­a Guadalupe Villalobos VĂ©lez; July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood films.
VĂ©lez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. VĂ©lez then made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in several successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, VĂ©lez's popularity peaked after appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on VĂ©lez's well-documented fiery personality.
Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, VĂ©lez's personal life was as colorful as her screen persona. She had several highly publicized romances with Hollywood actors and a stormy marriage with Johnny Weissmuller. In December 1944, VĂ©lez died of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.
VĂ©lez was born in the city of San Luis PotosĂ­ in Mexico, the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and his wife Josefina VĂ©lez, an opera singer according to some sources, or vaudeville singer according to others. She was one of five children; she had three sisters: Mercedes, Reina and Josefina and a brother, Emigdio. According to VĂ©lez's second cousin, the Villalobos family were considered prominent in San Luis PotosĂ­ and most of the male family members were college educated. The family was also financially comfortable and lived in a large home.
At the age of 13, her parents sent her to study at Our Lady of the Lake (now Our Lady of the Lake University) in San Antonio, Texas. It was at Our Lady of the Lake that VĂ©lez learned to speak English and began to dance. She later admitted that she liked dance class, but was otherwise a poor student.
VĂ©lez began her career in Mexican revues in the early 1920s. She initially performed under her paternal surname (see Hispanic American naming customs) of Villalobos, but after her father returned home from the war (he did not die in combat as some sources state), he was outraged that his daughter had decided to become a stage performer. She chose her maternal surname VĂ©lez as her stage name. Their mother introduced VĂ©lez and her sister Josefina to the popular Spanish Mexican vedette MarĂ­a Conesa, "La Gatita Blanca". VĂ©lez debuted in a show led by Conesa, where she sang "Oh Charley, My Boy" and danced the shimmy.[6] In 1924, Aurelio Campos, a young pianist and friend of the VĂ©lez sisters, recommended VĂ©lez to stage producers Carlos Ortega and Manuel Castro. Ortega and Castro were preparing a season revue at the Regis Theatre, and hired VĂ©lez to join the company in March 1925. Later that year, VĂ©lez starred in the revues Mexican Rataplan and ÂĄNo lo tapes! (both parodies of the Bataclan's shows in Paris). Her suggestive singing and provocative dancing was a hit with audiences, and she soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. After a year and a half, VĂ©lez left the revue after the manager refused to give her a raise. She then joined the Teatro Principal, but was fired after three months due to her "feisty attitude". VĂ©lez was quickly hired by the Teatro Lirico, where her salary rose to 100 pesos a day.
Vélez, whose volatile and spirited personality and feuds with other performers were often covered by the Mexican press, also honed her ability for garnering publicity. Her most bitter rivals included the Mexican vedettes Celia Padilla, Celia Montalvån, and Delia Magaña. Called La Niña Lupe because of her youth, Vélez soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. Among her admirers were notable Mexican poets and writers like José Gorostiza and Renato Leduc.
In 1926, Frank A. Woodyard, an American who had seen VĂ©lez perform, recommended her to stage director Richard Bennett (the father of actresses Joan and Constance Bennett). Bennett was looking for an actress to portray a Mexican cantina singer in his upcoming play The Dove. He sent VĂ©lez a telegram inviting her to Los Angeles to appear in the play. VĂ©lez had been planning to go to Cuba to perform, but quickly changed her plans and traveled to Los Angeles. However, upon arrival, she discovered that she had been replaced by another actress.
While in Los Angeles, she met the comedian Fanny Brice. Brice was taken with VĂ©lez and later said she had never met a more fascinating personality. She promoted VĂ©lez's career as a dancer and recommended her to Flo Ziegfeld, who hired her to perform in New York City. While VĂ©lez was preparing to leave Los Angeles, she received a call from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Harry Rapf, who offered her a screen test. Producer and director Hal Roach saw VĂ©lez's screen test and hired her for a small role in the comic Laurel and Hardy short Sailors, Beware!.
After her debut in the short film Sailors, Beware!, VĂ©lez appeared in the Hal Roach short, What Women Did for Me, opposite Charley Chase. Later that year, she did a screen test for the upcoming Douglas Fairbanks full length film The Gaucho. Fairbanks was impressed by VĂ©lez and he quickly signed her to a contract. Upon its release in 1927, The Gaucho was a hit and critics were duly impressed with VĂ©lez's ability to hold her own alongside Fairbanks, who was well known for his spirited acting and impressive stunts.
VĂ©lez made her second major film, Stand and Deliver (1928), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. That same year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1929, VĂ©lez appeared in Lady of the Pavements, directed by D. W. Griffith and Where East Is East, playing a young Chinese woman. In the western film Wolf Song directed by Victor Fleming, she appears alongside Gary Cooper. As she was regularly cast as "exotic" or "ethnic" women that were volatile and hot tempered, gossip columnists took to referring to VĂ©lez as "Mexican Hurricane", "The Mexican Wildcat", "The Mexican Madcap", "Whoopee Lupe" and "The Hot Tamale".
By 1929, the film industry was transitioning from silents to sound films. Several stars of the era saw their careers abruptly end due to heavy accents or voices that recorded poorly. Studio executives predicted that VĂ©lez's accent would likely hamper her ability to make the transition. That idea was dispelled after she appeared in her first all-talking picture in 1929, the Rin Tin Tin vehicle, Tiger Rose. The film was a hit and VĂ©lez's sound career was established.
With the arrival of talkies, VĂ©lez appeared in a series of Pre-Code films like Hell Harbor (directed by Henry King), The Storm (1930, directed by William Wyler), and the crime drama East Is West opposite Edward G. Robinson (1930). In 1931, she appeared in her second film for Cecil B. DeMille, Squaw Man, opposite Warner Baxter, and in Resurrection, directed by Edwin Carewe. In 1932, VĂ©lez filmed The Cuban Love Song (1931), with the popular singer Lawrence Tibbett. That same year, she had a supporting role in Kongo (a sound remake of West of Zanzibar), with Walter Huston. She also starred in Spanish-language versions of some of her movies produced by the Universal Studios like ResurrecciĂłn (1931, the Spanish version of Resurrection), and Hombres en mi vida (1932, the Spanish version of Men in Her Life). VĂ©lez soon found her niche in comedy, playing beautiful, but volatile, characters.
In February 1932, VĂ©lez took a break from her film career and traveled to New York City where she was signed by Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. to take over the role of "Conchita" in the musical revue Hot-Cha!. The show also starred Bert Lahr, Eleanor Powell and Buddy Rogers.
In 1933, VĂ©lez appeared in the films The Half-Naked Truth with Lee Tracy and Hot Pepper, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. Later that year, she returned to Broadway where she starred opposite Jimmy Durante in the musical revue Strike Me Pink. In 1934, she filmed Palooka and Strictly Dynamite (both also with Durante). That same year, VĂ©lez was cast as "Slim Girl" in Laughing Boy with RamĂłn Novarro. The film was quietly released and largely ignored. The few reviews it received panned the film, but praised VĂ©lez's performance. She had more success with her brief appearance in the star packed film Hollywood Party, where she has a magnificent comic routine with Laurel and Hardy. Although VĂ©lez was a popular actress, RKO Pictures did not renew her contract in 1934. Over the next few years, VĂ©lez worked for various studios as a freelance actress; she also spent two years in England where she filmed The Morals of Marcus and Gypsy Melody (both 1936). She returned to Los Angeles the following year where she appeared in the final part of the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy High Flyers (1937).
VĂ©lez last Broadway performance was in the 1938 musical You Never Know, by Cole Porter. The show received poor reviews from critics, but received a large amount of publicity due to the feud between VĂ©lez and fellow cast member Libby Holman. Holman was also irritated by the attention VĂ©lez garnered from the show with her impressions of several actresses including Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn and Shirley Temple. The feud came to a head during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut after VĂ©lez punched Holman in between curtain calls and gave her a black eye. The feud effectively ended the show.
Upon her return to Mexico City in 1938 to star in her first Mexican film, VĂ©lez was greeted by ten thousand fans. The film La Zandunga directed by Fernando de Fuentes, co-starring Mexican actor Arturo de CĂłrdova, was a critical and financial success and VĂ©lez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films. She instead returned to Los Angeles and went back to work for RKO Pictures.
In 1939, VĂ©lez was cast opposite Leon Errol and Donald Woods in a B-comedy, The Girl from Mexico. Despite being a B film, it was a hit with audiences and RKO re-teamed her with Errol and Wood for a sequel, Mexican Spitfire. That film was also a success and led to a series of Spitfire films (eight in all). In the series, VĂ©lez portrays "Carmelita Lindsay", a temperamental yet friendly Mexican singer married to Dennis "Denny" Lindsay (Woods), an elegant American gentleman.[26] The Spitfire films rejuvenated VĂ©lez's career. Moreover, they were films in which a Latina headlined for eight movies straight –a true rarity.
In addition to the Spitfire series, she was cast in another musical and comedy features for RKO, Universal Pictures, and Columbia Pictures. Some of these films were Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (1941), Playmates (1941), opposite John Barrymore, and Redhead from Manhattan (1943). In 1943, the final film in the Spitfire series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event, was released. By that time, the novelty of the series had begun to wane.
VĂ©lez co-starred with Eddie Albert in a 1943 romantic comedy, Ladies' Day, about an actress and a baseball player. In 1944, VĂ©lez returned to Mexico to star in an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel Nana, which was well-received. It would be her final film. After filming wrapped, VĂ©lez returned to Los Angeles and began preparing for another stage role in New York.
On the evening of December 13, 1944, VĂ©lez dined with her two friends, the silent film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of December 14, VĂ©lez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, found the actress's body on her bed later that morning. A suicide note addressed to Harald Ramond was found nearby. It read:
To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him. – Lupe.
On the back of the note, VĂ©lez wrote:
How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time, you didn't want us? I see no other way out for me, so goodbye, and good luck to you, Love Lupe.[
The day after VĂ©lez's death, Harald Ramond told the press that he was "so confused" by VĂ©lez's suicide, and claimed that even though the two had broken up, he had agreed to marry VĂ©lez.[33] He admitted that he once asked VĂ©lez to sign an agreement stating that he was only marrying her to "give the baby a name", but claimed he only did so because he and VĂ©lez had had a fight, and he was in a "terrible temper". Actress Estelle Taylor, who was with VĂ©lez from 9:00 the previous night until 3:30 the morning VĂ©lez died, told the press that VĂ©lez had told her of her pregnancy, but said she would rather kill herself than have an abortion (VĂ©lez was a devout Roman Catholic). Beulah Kinder, VĂ©lez's secretary, later told investigators that after VĂ©lez broke off the relationship with Ramond, she planned to go to Mexico to have her baby. Kinder said VĂ©lez soon changed her mind after concluding that Ramond "faked" the relationship and considered having an abortion.
The day after VĂ©lez's death, the Los Angeles County coroner requested that an inquest be opened to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death. On December 16, the coroner dropped the request, after determining that VĂ©lez had written the notes, and that she had intended to kill herself. On December 22, a funeral for VĂ©lez was held at the mortuary at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Among the pallbearers were VĂ©lez's ex-husband, Johnny Weissmuller, and actor Gilbert Roland. After the service, VĂ©lez's body was sent by train to Mexico City, where a second service was held on December 27. Her body was then interred at PanteĂłn Civil de Dolores Cemetery.
Despite the coroner's ruling that VĂ©lez committed suicide to avoid the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, some authors have theorized that this was not entirely true.
In the book From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture, Rosa-Linda Fregoso wrote that VĂ©lez was known for her defiance of contemporary moral convention, and that it seems unlikely that she could not have reconciled having a child out of wedlock. Fregoso believes that in the final year of her life, VĂ©lez exhibited signs of extreme mania and depression. Fregoso goes on to speculate that VĂ©lez's death may have been the result of an untreated mental illness such as bipolar disorder.
Robert Slatzer (who later claimed to have been secretly married to Marilyn Monroe) claimed that a few weeks before VĂ©lez's death, he interviewed her at her home and she confided in him that she was pregnant with Gary Cooper's child (by that time, Cooper was married to socialite Veronica "Rocky" Balfe). According to Slatzer, VĂ©lez said that Cooper refused to acknowledge the child, believing that Harald Ramond was the father. After VĂ©lez died, Slatzer said he asked Cooper about the situation and Cooper confirmed that it was possible he might have been the father. Slatzer further claimed that he also interviewed Clara Bow (who had also dated Cooper in the 1920s), who revealed that shortly before VĂ©lez's death, Cooper called her and screamed that he was going to kill Harald Ramond for impregnating VĂ©lez. Slazter claimed that Bow told him that she never believed VĂ©lez's baby was fathered by Ramond, and that she was convinced that VĂ©lez had attempted to get Ramond to marry her to protect Cooper's reputation. Biographer Michelle Vogel speculated that if Cooper was the father, his rejection of VĂ©lez and their child coupled with the idea of having to raise a child alone may have sent VĂ©lez "over the edge".
In the 2002 book Tarzan, My Father Johnny Weissmuller Jr recounted the events surrounding VĂ©lez's death as a mystery caused by an attempt to "put a lid" on what happened. It states her housekeeper discovered her body and called Bo Roos, VĂ©lez's business manager, who called his friend and Beverly Hills Police Chief Anderson to the scene. The book states after VĂ©lez arranged to meet Ramond, decorated her room and dressed in a negligee, her ingestion of Seconal was either to calm her nerves to meet him or a failed dramatic gesture to scare him. The book also suggested the baby was fathered possibly by Cooper not Ramond.
VĂ©lez's death was recounted in the 1959 book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger and has become urban legend. In his telling, VĂ©lez planned to stage a beautiful suicide scene atop her satin bed, but the Seconal did not mix well with the "Mexi-Spice Last Supper" she had eaten earlier that evening. As a result, she became violently ill, stumbled to the bathroom to vomit, slipped on the bathroom floor tile and fell head first into the toilet, where she subsequently drowned. Anger claimed that VĂ©lez's "chambermaid" Juanita found her the next morning. Despite the fact that his version of events contradicts published reports and the official ruling, his story is often repeated as fact or for comedic effect – it was recounted in the pilot episode of the television comedy series Frasier, and also referenced in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons. VĂ©lez's biographer, Michelle Vogel, points out that it would have been "virtually impossible" for VĂ©lez to have "stumbled to the bathroom" or even get off her bed after having consumed such a large amount of Seconal. Seconal, a barbiturate, is noted for being fast acting even in small doses and VĂ©lez's death was likely instantaneous. Her death certificate lists "Seconal poisoning" due to "ingestion of Seconal" as the cause of death, not drowning. Further, there was also no evidence to suggest VĂ©lez had vomited.
Throughout her career, VĂ©lez's onscreen persona of a hot tempered, lusty "wild" woman was closely tied to her off screen personality. The press often referred to her by such names as "The Mexican Spitfire", "The Mexican It girl" and "The Mexican Kitten". Publicly promoted with the "Whoopee Lupe" persona that tried to define her, she dismissed the idea that she was uncontrollably wild. In an interview, she said:
What I attribute my success?, I think, simply, because I'm different. I'm not beautiful, but I have beautiful eyes and know exactly what to do with them. Although the public thinks that I'm a very wild girl. Actually I'm not. I'm just me, Lupe VĂ©lez, simple and natural Lupe. If I'm happy, I dance and sing and acted like a child. And if something irritates me, I cry and sob. Someone called that 'personality'. The Personality is nothing more than behave with others as you really are. If I tried to look and act like Norma Talmadge, the great dramatic actress, or like Corinne Griffith, the aristocrat of the movies, or like Mary Pickford, the sweet and gentle Mary, I would be nothing more than an imitation. I just want to be myself: Lupe VĂ©lez.
VĂ©lez's off-screen behavior blurred the line between her onscreen persona and her real personality. After her death, journalist Bob Thomas recalled that VĂ©lez was a "lively part of the Hollywood scene" who wore loud clothing and made as much noise as possible. She attended boxing matches every Friday night at the Hollywood Legion Stadium and would stand on her ringside seat and scream at the fighters.
VĂ©lez's temper and jealousy in her often tempestuous romantic relationships were well documented and became tabloid fodder, often overshadowing her career. VĂ©lez was straightforward with the press and was regularly contacted by gossip columnists for stories about her romantic exploits. One such incident included VĂ©lez chasing her lover Gary Cooper around with a knife during an argument and cutting him severely enough to require stitches. After their breakup, VĂ©lez attempted to shoot Cooper while he boarded a train. During her marriage to actor Johnny Weissmuller, stories of their frequent physical fights were regularly reported in the press. VĂ©lez reportedly inflicted scratches, bruises, and love-bites on Weissmuller during their fights and "passionate love-making".
VĂ©lez often targeted fellow actresses whom she deemed as rivals, professionally or otherwise, a habit which began back in her vaudeville days and continued in films. VĂ©lez's image was that of a wild, highly sexualized woman who spoke her mind and was not considered a "lady", while fellow Mexican actress Dolores del RĂ­o projected herself as sensual, but classy and restrained, often hailing from aristocratic roots. VĂ©lez hated del RĂ­o, and called her "bird of bad omen". Del RĂ­o was terrified to meet her in public places. When this happened, VĂ©lez was scathing and aggressive. VĂ©lez openly mimicked del RĂ­o, ironically making fun of her elegance. VĂ©lez also disliked Marlene Dietrich whom she suspected of having an affair with Gary Cooper while filming Morocco in 1930. Her rivalries with Jetta Goudal, Lilyan Tashman and Libby Holman were also well documented. In retaliation, VĂ©lez would perform scathing impersonations of the women she disliked at Hollywood parties. Also notable are her imitations of figures such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Fanny Brice, Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn, Simone Simon, and Shirley Temple.
VĂ©lez was involved in several highly publicized and often stormy relationships. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she was linked to actors Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable. Her first long-term, high-profile relationship was with Gary Cooper. VĂ©lez and Cooper met while filming 1929s Wolf Song and began a two-year relationship that was passionate and often stormy. When angered, VĂ©lez was reported to have physically assaulted Cooper. Cooper eventually ended the relationship in mid-1931, at the behest of his mother Alice who after meeting her, strongly disapproved of VĂ©lez.[51] With plans to marry him gone, she spoke to the press in 1931: "I turned Cooper down because his parents didn't want me to marry him and because the studio thought it would injure his career. Now its over, I'm glad I feel so free ... I must be free. I know men to well they are all the same, no? If you love them they want to be boss. I will never have a boss." The rocky relationship had taken its toll on Cooper, who had lost 45 pounds and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Paramount Pictures ordered him to take a vacation to recuperate and while he was boarding the train, VĂ©lez showed up at the station and fired a pistol at him.
After her breakup with Cooper, VĂ©lez began a short-lived relationship with actor John Gilbert. They began dating in late 1931, while Gilbert was separated from his third wife Ina Claire. Rumors of an engagement were fueled by the couple, but Gilbert ended the relationship in early 1932, and attempted to reconcile with Claire.
Shortly thereafter, VĂ©lez met Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller while the two were in New York. They dated off and on when they returned to Los Angeles, while VĂ©lez also dated actor Errol Flynn.[63] On October 8, 1933, VĂ©lez and Weissmuller were married in Las Vegas. There were reports of domestic violence and public fights. In July 1934, after ten months of marriage, VĂ©lez filed for divorce citing "cruelty". She withdrew the petition a week later after reconciling with Weissmuller. On January 3, 1935, she filed for divorce a second time and was granted an interlocutory decree. That decree was dismissed when the couple reconciled a month later. In August 1938, VĂ©lez filed for divorce for a third time, again charging Weissmuller with cruelty. Their divorce was finalized in August 1939.
After the divorce became final, VĂ©lez began dating polo player Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in late 1940. The couple were engaged, but never married. In late 1941, she became involved with author Erich Maria Remarque. Actress Luise Rainer recalled that Remarque told her "with the greatest of glee" that he found VĂ©lez's volatility wonderful when he recounted to her an occasion where VĂ©lez became so angry with him that she took her shoe off and hit him with it. After dating Remarque, VĂ©lez was linked to boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey.
In 1943, VĂ©lez began an affair with her La Zandunga co-star Arturo de CĂłrdova. De CĂłrdova had recently moved to Los Angeles after signing with Paramount. Despite the fact that de CĂłrdova was married to Mexican actress Enna Arana with whom he had four children, VĂ©lez granted an interview to gossip columnist Louella Parsons in September 1943 and announced that the two were engaged. She told Parsons that she planned to retire after marrying de CĂłrdova to "cook ... and keep house". VĂ©lez ended the engagement in early 1944, after de CĂłrdova's wife refused to give him a divorce.
VĂ©lez then met and began dating a struggling young Austrian actor named Harald Maresch, whose stage name was Harald Ramond. In September 1944, she discovered she was pregnant with Ramond's child. She announced their engagement in late November 1944. On December 10, four days before her death, VĂ©lez announced she had ended the engagement and kicked Ramond out of her home.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Lupe VĂ©lez has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.
Lupe VĂ©lez has a sculpture in her honor located in San Luis PotosĂ­, Mexico. The sculpture was done by artist Emilio Borjas in 2017 and is located in the Garden of San Sebastian, the neighborhood where the actress was born.
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silent-era-of-cinema · 4 years ago
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Lupe VĂ©lez (born MarĂ­a Guadalupe Villalobos VĂ©lez; July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood films.
VĂ©lez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. VĂ©lez then made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in several successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, VĂ©lez's popularity peaked after appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on VĂ©lez's well-documented fiery personality.
Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, VĂ©lez's personal life was as colorful as her screen persona. She had several highly publicized romances with Hollywood actors and a stormy marriage with Johnny Weissmuller. In December 1944, VĂ©lez died of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.
VĂ©lez was born in the city of San Luis PotosĂ­ in Mexico, the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and his wife Josefina VĂ©lez, an opera singer according to some sources, or vaudeville singer according to others. She was one of five children; she had three sisters: Mercedes, Reina and Josefina and a brother, Emigdio. According to VĂ©lez's second cousin, the Villalobos family were considered prominent in San Luis PotosĂ­ and most of the male family members were college educated. The family was also financially comfortable and lived in a large home.
At the age of 13, her parents sent her to study at Our Lady of the Lake (now Our Lady of the Lake University) in San Antonio, Texas. It was at Our Lady of the Lake that VĂ©lez learned to speak English and began to dance. She later admitted that she liked dance class, but was otherwise a poor student.
VĂ©lez began her career in Mexican revues in the early 1920s. She initially performed under her paternal surname (see Hispanic American naming customs) of Villalobos, but after her father returned home from the war (he did not die in combat as some sources state), he was outraged that his daughter had decided to become a stage performer. She chose her maternal surname VĂ©lez as her stage name. Their mother introduced VĂ©lez and her sister Josefina to the popular Spanish Mexican vedette MarĂ­a Conesa, "La Gatita Blanca". VĂ©lez debuted in a show led by Conesa, where she sang "Oh Charley, My Boy" and danced the shimmy.[6] In 1924, Aurelio Campos, a young pianist and friend of the VĂ©lez sisters, recommended VĂ©lez to stage producers Carlos Ortega and Manuel Castro. Ortega and Castro were preparing a season revue at the Regis Theatre, and hired VĂ©lez to join the company in March 1925. Later that year, VĂ©lez starred in the revues Mexican Rataplan and ÂĄNo lo tapes! (both parodies of the Bataclan's shows in Paris). Her suggestive singing and provocative dancing was a hit with audiences, and she soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. After a year and a half, VĂ©lez left the revue after the manager refused to give her a raise. She then joined the Teatro Principal, but was fired after three months due to her "feisty attitude". VĂ©lez was quickly hired by the Teatro Lirico, where her salary rose to 100 pesos a day.
Vélez, whose volatile and spirited personality and feuds with other performers were often covered by the Mexican press, also honed her ability for garnering publicity. Her most bitter rivals included the Mexican vedettes Celia Padilla, Celia Montalvån, and Delia Magaña. Called La Niña Lupe because of her youth, Vélez soon established herself as one of the main stars of vaudeville in Mexico. Among her admirers were notable Mexican poets and writers like José Gorostiza and Renato Leduc.
In 1926, Frank A. Woodyard, an American who had seen VĂ©lez perform, recommended her to stage director Richard Bennett (the father of actresses Joan and Constance Bennett). Bennett was looking for an actress to portray a Mexican cantina singer in his upcoming play The Dove. He sent VĂ©lez a telegram inviting her to Los Angeles to appear in the play. VĂ©lez had been planning to go to Cuba to perform, but quickly changed her plans and traveled to Los Angeles. However, upon arrival, she discovered that she had been replaced by another actress.
While in Los Angeles, she met the comedian Fanny Brice. Brice was taken with VĂ©lez and later said she had never met a more fascinating personality. She promoted VĂ©lez's career as a dancer and recommended her to Flo Ziegfeld, who hired her to perform in New York City. While VĂ©lez was preparing to leave Los Angeles, she received a call from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Harry Rapf, who offered her a screen test. Producer and director Hal Roach saw VĂ©lez's screen test and hired her for a small role in the comic Laurel and Hardy short Sailors, Beware!.
After her debut in the short film Sailors, Beware!, VĂ©lez appeared in the Hal Roach short, What Women Did for Me, opposite Charley Chase. Later that year, she did a screen test for the upcoming Douglas Fairbanks full length film The Gaucho. Fairbanks was impressed by VĂ©lez and he quickly signed her to a contract. Upon its release in 1927, The Gaucho was a hit and critics were duly impressed with VĂ©lez's ability to hold her own alongside Fairbanks, who was well known for his spirited acting and impressive stunts.
VĂ©lez made her second major film, Stand and Deliver (1928), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. That same year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1929, VĂ©lez appeared in Lady of the Pavements, directed by D. W. Griffith and Where East Is East, playing a young Chinese woman. In the western film Wolf Song directed by Victor Fleming, she appears alongside Gary Cooper. As she was regularly cast as "exotic" or "ethnic" women that were volatile and hot tempered, gossip columnists took to referring to VĂ©lez as "Mexican Hurricane", "The Mexican Wildcat", "The Mexican Madcap", "Whoopee Lupe" and "The Hot Tamale".
By 1929, the film industry was transitioning from silents to sound films. Several stars of the era saw their careers abruptly end due to heavy accents or voices that recorded poorly. Studio executives predicted that VĂ©lez's accent would likely hamper her ability to make the transition. That idea was dispelled after she appeared in her first all-talking picture in 1929, the Rin Tin Tin vehicle, Tiger Rose. The film was a hit and VĂ©lez's sound career was established.
With the arrival of talkies, VĂ©lez appeared in a series of Pre-Code films like Hell Harbor (directed by Henry King), The Storm (1930, directed by William Wyler), and the crime drama East Is West opposite Edward G. Robinson (1930). In 1931, she appeared in her second film for Cecil B. DeMille, Squaw Man, opposite Warner Baxter, and in Resurrection, directed by Edwin Carewe. In 1932, VĂ©lez filmed The Cuban Love Song (1931), with the popular singer Lawrence Tibbett. That same year, she had a supporting role in Kongo (a sound remake of West of Zanzibar), with Walter Huston. She also starred in Spanish-language versions of some of her movies produced by the Universal Studios like ResurrecciĂłn (1931, the Spanish version of Resurrection), and Hombres en mi vida (1932, the Spanish version of Men in Her Life). VĂ©lez soon found her niche in comedy, playing beautiful, but volatile, characters.
In February 1932, VĂ©lez took a break from her film career and traveled to New York City where she was signed by Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. to take over the role of "Conchita" in the musical revue Hot-Cha!. The show also starred Bert Lahr, Eleanor Powell and Buddy Rogers.
In 1933, VĂ©lez appeared in the films The Half-Naked Truth with Lee Tracy and Hot Pepper, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. Later that year, she returned to Broadway where she starred opposite Jimmy Durante in the musical revue Strike Me Pink. In 1934, she filmed Palooka and Strictly Dynamite (both also with Durante). That same year, VĂ©lez was cast as "Slim Girl" in Laughing Boy with RamĂłn Novarro. The film was quietly released and largely ignored. The few reviews it received panned the film, but praised VĂ©lez's performance. She had more success with her brief appearance in the star packed film Hollywood Party, where she has a magnificent comic routine with Laurel and Hardy. Although VĂ©lez was a popular actress, RKO Pictures did not renew her contract in 1934. Over the next few years, VĂ©lez worked for various studios as a freelance actress; she also spent two years in England where she filmed The Morals of Marcus and Gypsy Melody (both 1936). She returned to Los Angeles the following year where she appeared in the final part of the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy High Flyers (1937).
VĂ©lez last Broadway performance was in the 1938 musical You Never Know, by Cole Porter. The show received poor reviews from critics, but received a large amount of publicity due to the feud between VĂ©lez and fellow cast member Libby Holman. Holman was also irritated by the attention VĂ©lez garnered from the show with her impressions of several actresses including Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn and Shirley Temple. The feud came to a head during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut after VĂ©lez punched Holman in between curtain calls and gave her a black eye. The feud effectively ended the show.
Upon her return to Mexico City in 1938 to star in her first Mexican film, VĂ©lez was greeted by ten thousand fans. The film La Zandunga directed by Fernando de Fuentes, co-starring Mexican actor Arturo de CĂłrdova, was a critical and financial success and VĂ©lez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films. She instead returned to Los Angeles and went back to work for RKO Pictures.
In 1939, VĂ©lez was cast opposite Leon Errol and Donald Woods in a B-comedy, The Girl from Mexico. Despite being a B film, it was a hit with audiences and RKO re-teamed her with Errol and Wood for a sequel, Mexican Spitfire. That film was also a success and led to a series of Spitfire films (eight in all). In the series, VĂ©lez portrays "Carmelita Lindsay", a temperamental yet friendly Mexican singer married to Dennis "Denny" Lindsay (Woods), an elegant American gentleman.[26] The Spitfire films rejuvenated VĂ©lez's career. Moreover, they were films in which a Latina headlined for eight movies straight –a true rarity.
In addition to the Spitfire series, she was cast in another musical and comedy features for RKO, Universal Pictures, and Columbia Pictures. Some of these films were Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (1941), Playmates (1941), opposite John Barrymore, and Redhead from Manhattan (1943). In 1943, the final film in the Spitfire series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event, was released. By that time, the novelty of the series had begun to wane.
VĂ©lez co-starred with Eddie Albert in a 1943 romantic comedy, Ladies' Day, about an actress and a baseball player. In 1944, VĂ©lez returned to Mexico to star in an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel Nana, which was well-received. It would be her final film. After filming wrapped, VĂ©lez returned to Los Angeles and began preparing for another stage role in New York.
On the evening of December 13, 1944, VĂ©lez dined with her two friends, the silent film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of December 14, VĂ©lez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, found the actress's body on her bed later that morning. A suicide note addressed to Harald Ramond was found nearby. It read:
To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him. – Lupe.
On the back of the note, VĂ©lez wrote:
How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time, you didn't want us? I see no other way out for me, so goodbye, and good luck to you, Love Lupe.[
The day after VĂ©lez's death, Harald Ramond told the press that he was "so confused" by VĂ©lez's suicide, and claimed that even though the two had broken up, he had agreed to marry VĂ©lez.[33] He admitted that he once asked VĂ©lez to sign an agreement stating that he was only marrying her to "give the baby a name", but claimed he only did so because he and VĂ©lez had had a fight, and he was in a "terrible temper". Actress Estelle Taylor, who was with VĂ©lez from 9:00 the previous night until 3:30 the morning VĂ©lez died, told the press that VĂ©lez had told her of her pregnancy, but said she would rather kill herself than have an abortion (VĂ©lez was a devout Roman Catholic). Beulah Kinder, VĂ©lez's secretary, later told investigators that after VĂ©lez broke off the relationship with Ramond, she planned to go to Mexico to have her baby. Kinder said VĂ©lez soon changed her mind after concluding that Ramond "faked" the relationship and considered having an abortion.
The day after VĂ©lez's death, the Los Angeles County coroner requested that an inquest be opened to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death. On December 16, the coroner dropped the request, after determining that VĂ©lez had written the notes, and that she had intended to kill herself. On December 22, a funeral for VĂ©lez was held at the mortuary at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Among the pallbearers were VĂ©lez's ex-husband, Johnny Weissmuller, and actor Gilbert Roland. After the service, VĂ©lez's body was sent by train to Mexico City, where a second service was held on December 27. Her body was then interred at PanteĂłn Civil de Dolores Cemetery.
Despite the coroner's ruling that VĂ©lez committed suicide to avoid the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, some authors have theorized that this was not entirely true.
In the book From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture, Rosa-Linda Fregoso wrote that VĂ©lez was known for her defiance of contemporary moral convention, and that it seems unlikely that she could not have reconciled having a child out of wedlock. Fregoso believes that in the final year of her life, VĂ©lez exhibited signs of extreme mania and depression. Fregoso goes on to speculate that VĂ©lez's death may have been the result of an untreated mental illness such as bipolar disorder.
Robert Slatzer (who later claimed to have been secretly married to Marilyn Monroe) claimed that a few weeks before VĂ©lez's death, he interviewed her at her home and she confided in him that she was pregnant with Gary Cooper's child (by that time, Cooper was married to socialite Veronica "Rocky" Balfe). According to Slatzer, VĂ©lez said that Cooper refused to acknowledge the child, believing that Harald Ramond was the father. After VĂ©lez died, Slatzer said he asked Cooper about the situation and Cooper confirmed that it was possible he might have been the father. Slatzer further claimed that he also interviewed Clara Bow (who had also dated Cooper in the 1920s), who revealed that shortly before VĂ©lez's death, Cooper called her and screamed that he was going to kill Harald Ramond for impregnating VĂ©lez. Slazter claimed that Bow told him that she never believed VĂ©lez's baby was fathered by Ramond, and that she was convinced that VĂ©lez had attempted to get Ramond to marry her to protect Cooper's reputation. Biographer Michelle Vogel speculated that if Cooper was the father, his rejection of VĂ©lez and their child coupled with the idea of having to raise a child alone may have sent VĂ©lez "over the edge".
In the 2002 book Tarzan, My Father Johnny Weissmuller Jr recounted the events surrounding VĂ©lez's death as a mystery caused by an attempt to "put a lid" on what happened. It states her housekeeper discovered her body and called Bo Roos, VĂ©lez's business manager, who called his friend and Beverly Hills Police Chief Anderson to the scene. The book states after VĂ©lez arranged to meet Ramond, decorated her room and dressed in a negligee, her ingestion of Seconal was either to calm her nerves to meet him or a failed dramatic gesture to scare him. The book also suggested the baby was fathered possibly by Cooper not Ramond.
VĂ©lez's death was recounted in the 1959 book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger and has become urban legend. In his telling, VĂ©lez planned to stage a beautiful suicide scene atop her satin bed, but the Seconal did not mix well with the "Mexi-Spice Last Supper" she had eaten earlier that evening. As a result, she became violently ill, stumbled to the bathroom to vomit, slipped on the bathroom floor tile and fell head first into the toilet, where she subsequently drowned. Anger claimed that VĂ©lez's "chambermaid" Juanita found her the next morning. Despite the fact that his version of events contradicts published reports and the official ruling, his story is often repeated as fact or for comedic effect – it was recounted in the pilot episode of the television comedy series Frasier, and also referenced in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons. VĂ©lez's biographer, Michelle Vogel, points out that it would have been "virtually impossible" for VĂ©lez to have "stumbled to the bathroom" or even get off her bed after having consumed such a large amount of Seconal. Seconal, a barbiturate, is noted for being fast acting even in small doses and VĂ©lez's death was likely instantaneous. Her death certificate lists "Seconal poisoning" due to "ingestion of Seconal" as the cause of death, not drowning. Further, there was also no evidence to suggest VĂ©lez had vomited.
Throughout her career, VĂ©lez's onscreen persona of a hot tempered, lusty "wild" woman was closely tied to her off screen personality. The press often referred to her by such names as "The Mexican Spitfire", "The Mexican It girl" and "The Mexican Kitten". Publicly promoted with the "Whoopee Lupe" persona that tried to define her, she dismissed the idea that she was uncontrollably wild. In an interview, she said:
What I attribute my success?, I think, simply, because I'm different. I'm not beautiful, but I have beautiful eyes and know exactly what to do with them. Although the public thinks that I'm a very wild girl. Actually I'm not. I'm just me, Lupe VĂ©lez, simple and natural Lupe. If I'm happy, I dance and sing and acted like a child. And if something irritates me, I cry and sob. Someone called that 'personality'. The Personality is nothing more than behave with others as you really are. If I tried to look and act like Norma Talmadge, the great dramatic actress, or like Corinne Griffith, the aristocrat of the movies, or like Mary Pickford, the sweet and gentle Mary, I would be nothing more than an imitation. I just want to be myself: Lupe VĂ©lez.
VĂ©lez's off-screen behavior blurred the line between her onscreen persona and her real personality. After her death, journalist Bob Thomas recalled that VĂ©lez was a "lively part of the Hollywood scene" who wore loud clothing and made as much noise as possible. She attended boxing matches every Friday night at the Hollywood Legion Stadium and would stand on her ringside seat and scream at the fighters.
VĂ©lez's temper and jealousy in her often tempestuous romantic relationships were well documented and became tabloid fodder, often overshadowing her career. VĂ©lez was straightforward with the press and was regularly contacted by gossip columnists for stories about her romantic exploits. One such incident included VĂ©lez chasing her lover Gary Cooper around with a knife during an argument and cutting him severely enough to require stitches. After their breakup, VĂ©lez attempted to shoot Cooper while he boarded a train. During her marriage to actor Johnny Weissmuller, stories of their frequent physical fights were regularly reported in the press. VĂ©lez reportedly inflicted scratches, bruises, and love-bites on Weissmuller during their fights and "passionate love-making".
VĂ©lez often targeted fellow actresses whom she deemed as rivals, professionally or otherwise, a habit which began back in her vaudeville days and continued in films. VĂ©lez's image was that of a wild, highly sexualized woman who spoke her mind and was not considered a "lady", while fellow Mexican actress Dolores del RĂ­o projected herself as sensual, but classy and restrained, often hailing from aristocratic roots. VĂ©lez hated del RĂ­o, and called her "bird of bad omen". Del RĂ­o was terrified to meet her in public places. When this happened, VĂ©lez was scathing and aggressive. VĂ©lez openly mimicked del RĂ­o, ironically making fun of her elegance. VĂ©lez also disliked Marlene Dietrich whom she suspected of having an affair with Gary Cooper while filming Morocco in 1930. Her rivalries with Jetta Goudal, Lilyan Tashman and Libby Holman were also well documented. In retaliation, VĂ©lez would perform scathing impersonations of the women she disliked at Hollywood parties. Also notable are her imitations of figures such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Fanny Brice, Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn, Simone Simon, and Shirley Temple.
VĂ©lez was involved in several highly publicized and often stormy relationships. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she was linked to actors Tom Mix, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable. Her first long-term, high-profile relationship was with Gary Cooper. VĂ©lez and Cooper met while filming 1929s Wolf Song and began a two-year relationship that was passionate and often stormy. When angered, VĂ©lez was reported to have physically assaulted Cooper. Cooper eventually ended the relationship in mid-1931, at the behest of his mother Alice who after meeting her, strongly disapproved of VĂ©lez.[51] With plans to marry him gone, she spoke to the press in 1931: "I turned Cooper down because his parents didn't want me to marry him and because the studio thought it would injure his career. Now its over, I'm glad I feel so free ... I must be free. I know men to well they are all the same, no? If you love them they want to be boss. I will never have a boss." The rocky relationship had taken its toll on Cooper, who had lost 45 pounds and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. Paramount Pictures ordered him to take a vacation to recuperate and while he was boarding the train, VĂ©lez showed up at the station and fired a pistol at him.
After her breakup with Cooper, VĂ©lez began a short-lived relationship with actor John Gilbert. They began dating in late 1931, while Gilbert was separated from his third wife Ina Claire. Rumors of an engagement were fueled by the couple, but Gilbert ended the relationship in early 1932, and attempted to reconcile with Claire.
Shortly thereafter, VĂ©lez met Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller while the two were in New York. They dated off and on when they returned to Los Angeles, while VĂ©lez also dated actor Errol Flynn.[63] On October 8, 1933, VĂ©lez and Weissmuller were married in Las Vegas. There were reports of domestic violence and public fights. In July 1934, after ten months of marriage, VĂ©lez filed for divorce citing "cruelty". She withdrew the petition a week later after reconciling with Weissmuller. On January 3, 1935, she filed for divorce a second time and was granted an interlocutory decree. That decree was dismissed when the couple reconciled a month later. In August 1938, VĂ©lez filed for divorce for a third time, again charging Weissmuller with cruelty. Their divorce was finalized in August 1939.
After the divorce became final, VĂ©lez began dating polo player Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in late 1940. The couple were engaged, but never married. In late 1941, she became involved with author Erich Maria Remarque. Actress Luise Rainer recalled that Remarque told her "with the greatest of glee" that he found VĂ©lez's volatility wonderful when he recounted to her an occasion where VĂ©lez became so angry with him that she took her shoe off and hit him with it. After dating Remarque, VĂ©lez was linked to boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey.
In 1943, VĂ©lez began an affair with her La Zandunga co-star Arturo de CĂłrdova. De CĂłrdova had recently moved to Los Angeles after signing with Paramount. Despite the fact that de CĂłrdova was married to Mexican actress Enna Arana with whom he had four children, VĂ©lez granted an interview to gossip columnist Louella Parsons in September 1943 and announced that the two were engaged. She told Parsons that she planned to retire after marrying de CĂłrdova to "cook ... and keep house". VĂ©lez ended the engagement in early 1944, after de CĂłrdova's wife refused to give him a divorce.
VĂ©lez then met and began dating a struggling young Austrian actor named Harald Maresch, whose stage name was Harald Ramond. In September 1944, she discovered she was pregnant with Ramond's child. She announced their engagement in late November 1944. On December 10, four days before her death, VĂ©lez announced she had ended the engagement and kicked Ramond out of her home.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Lupe VĂ©lez has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.
Lupe VĂ©lez has a sculpture in her honor located in San Luis PotosĂ­, Mexico. The sculpture was done by artist Emilio Borjas in 2017 and is located in the Garden of San Sebastian, the neighborhood where the actress was born.
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dustedmagazine · 7 years ago
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Devin Gray – Dirigo Rataplan II (Rataplan)
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A cognate phrase, Dirigo Rataplan loosely translates from the Latin and French respectively to “I direct a drumming sound.” The latter word is also the name of Devin Gray’s new record label, this disc being the inaugural release on the same. Gray’s kept fast company over the course of his active career and this project is a direct reflection of that consistency from the roster on down. Trumpeter Dave Ballou, tenorist Ellery Eskelin and bassist Michael Formanek are each acknowledged masters on their instruments and strong musical personalities who exhibit their shared confidence through the deference and engagement they show toward Gray’s deceptively demanding designs.
The album is actually a sequel to the ensemble’s 2012 recorded debut on the Brooklyn-based Skirl label, delving into both Gray’s developments in the intervening half-decade as well as the resilient rapport that also informed the earlier effort. Ten pieces by the drummer tally together to less than hour of the music, but each one is rigged with an ample and admirable array of ideas. “Congruently” immediately illustrates the leader’s abilities at parsing meter with an alternating, loosely Latinate rhythm that is as variable and supple as breathing. The horns dance atop the shifting patterns of drums and bass, riding the harnessed energy like seasoned surfers shooting a curl.
“Rollin’ Thru Town” sets up an inverse dynamic with Gray pulling inward in a gravitational tug of staccato sticking as the tenor and trumpet phrase in overlapping increments. Formanek peppers the field with a cascade of slanted plucks before landing on a sauntering series of accents. Once again, time is malleable and multidirectional in a manner of constant movement. “Trends of Trending” pivots on another diagonal groove with Eskelin and Ballou harmonizing in and around a unified line and over into fleeting abstraction bulwarked by garrulous bass that steers the piece to an ardent, vamp-anchored end.
Gray’s composition titles are evocative and elliptical at once. “Texicate” trades mainly on a fluttering a chamber-like colloquy between the horns as bass and drums interject from the edges. “Quantum Cryptology” echoes its appellation through a series of micro-gestures between component groupings. Ballou states a motif backed by Formanek before falling away to leave the bassist and Eskelin to an intimate dialogue. Grey enters on delicate cymbals to create a trio and signals Ballou’s return, this time solo for a focused improvisation that tests his tonal mettle. The concluding “Micro Dosage” is similarly succinct, a playfully incremental, drain-circling piece that stops on a dime.
Derek Taylor
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opsikpro · 5 years ago
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Devin Gray - Socialytics (Rataplan Records, 2020) ****
Devin Gray – Socialytics (Rataplan Records, 2020) ****
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By Paul Acquaro
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview drummer/composer Devin Gray about his new release, Socialytics. The short recording is also a powerful one, driven by a trio with guitarist Ryan Ferreria and trumpeter David Ballou. Long time associates of Grey, Ferreria is a nuanced sound explorer who notably worked with Tim Berne’s Snakeoil on the 2015 release Yo

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jazzworldquest-blog · 7 years ago
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USA: Devin Gray-Meta Cache(2018)
Devin Gray-Meta Cache Label: Rataplan Records
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Devin Gray’s Meta Cache Let your Meta Musical Cache out! Alleviate the stacks of compositions taking space in my small brain/room! Jeremy Viner-clarinet Elias Stemeseder-piano Kim Cass-bass Devin Gray-drums/composition
 Devin Gray's Meta Cache 
Let your Meta Musical Cache out! Alleviate the stacks of compositions taking space in my small brain/room! Jeremy Viner-clarinet Elias Stemeseder-piano Kim Cass-bass Devin Gray-drums/composition Cover art by Jussi JÀÀskelÀinen (www.kobaia-design.com) Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn NY, March 31st 2017 Edited/Mixed and Mastered by Curtis MacDonald Produced by Devin Gray and Curtis MacDonald Video by Devin Gray Special thanks to Kris Davis/Chris Speed and Trevor Dunn ---> Liner Notes: I first learned about Jermey Viner through a very important teacher of ours. His name is Steve Grover, and he was and continues to be a very important influence in the sprit of my life as a musician. It was Steve who encouraged me to investigate Jermey's exceptional musical mind. I first meet Kim Cass at my best friends house Sam Caldwell in Yarmouth Maine (around 2000 or 2001) and knew that if Sam said...then Kim really WAS already the real deal...and since then I am more than happy to continue playing music with him every chance I can get. Elias and I meet on Carroll street in Brooklyn somehow around 2010, and the second he ripped up my old piano I knew his musical spirit needed to be apart of my everyday life. His attitude to living in music resonates wholesomely. Curtis MacDonald and I met in Banff Canada in 2006, and his approach to music and life will forever amaze me and I am for sure in debt to his generosity and sharp mind. It's always a pleasure for me to try to keep up around Curtis. As for this tune, I am very happy to have found the inspiration to write it and bring it to this place and to be able to share my process in such an open way. I also have to thank Reid Anderson for his compositional encouragement, as well as a general force of endless musical inspiration. Lastly, as a drummer/composer/producer - if there is a listener who could aid my process in the form of a donation - it would really help allow me to continue to speed up the recording and production processes of my compositions, as I am composing almost everyday. devingraymusic.com
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