Moreno Among the Recipients of This Year’s Kennedy Center Honors

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Rita Moreno continues to rack up the honors…

The 83-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s SAG Awards, has been announced as one of recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors.

Each year, the Kennedy Center recognizes a select group for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts with the primary criterion in the selection process being excellence. Honorees are chosen by the center’s board of trustees.

Moreno, a Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, will be honored along side Star Wars patriarch George Lucas, actress Cicely Tyson, songwriter Carole King, conductor Seiji Ozawa and the Eagles.

Moreno, who recently guest-starred on the CW’s Jane the Virgin, has previously received the Library of Congress Living Legends Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a National Medal of Arts and the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The event, a fundraiser for the Washington, D.C. arts center, will take place on December 6. CBS will broadcast the star-studded event on December 29.

Miranda’s “Down Argentine Way” and “The Gang’s All Here” Added to the National Film Registry

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Carmen Miranda is a national (registry) treasure…

The late half-Brazilian actress, singer and dancer’s work will now be preserved for all time.

The Library of Congress has added 25 films to the National Film Registry, including two of Miranda’s most memorable projects.

The annual selection helps to ensure that the movies will be preserved for all time. This year’s list brings the number of films in the registry to 650.

Down Argentine Way (1940), which established Betty Grable’s as the pinup queen, features the actress’ character traveling to South America and falling in love with Don Ameche.

Miranda, who was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s, made her Hollywood debut in the film, and her exotic clothing and Latin accent became her trademark.

The Gang’s All Here (1943), featured showgirl Alice Faye being romanced by a soldier who uses an assumed name and then turns out to be a rich playboy.

Miranda, nicknamed the “Brazilian Bombshell” is noted for her outrageous costume and signature fruit hat, which was highlighted in the legendary musical number “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat.”

But Miranda isn’t the only one being immortalized in the National Film Registry…

Efraín Gutiérrez’s Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976) has also made the cut.

He wrote, directed and starred in the independent film, which is set in the San Antonio barrio in the early 1970s and tells the story of a young Chicano man questioning his and his people’s place in society as thousands of his Latino brethren return from the war in coffins during the turbulent days near the end of the Vietnam War.

Meantime, Felicia (1965), a 13-minute short subject, marketed as an educational film, has been included in the National Film Registry this year.

It centers on an unassuming-yet-articulate teenager Felicia Bragg, a high-school student of African-American and Hispanic descent. Felicia’s first-person narrative reflects her hopes and frustrations as she annotates footage of her family, school and neighborhood, creating a time capsule that’s both historically and culturally significant.

Here’s a look at the films featuring Latino talent that made the final cut:

2014 National Film Registry

Down Argentine Way (1940)  Betty Grable’s first starring role in a Technicolor musical happened only because Alice Faye had an attack of appendicitis, but Grable took advantage of the situation and quickly made herself as important to 20th Century-Fox as Faye. Released just over a year before America entered World War II, this film and others starring Grable established her as the pinup queen. The title explains much, with Grable traveling to South America and falling in love with Don Ameche. Carmen Miranda makes her American film debut, and the Nicolas Brothers’ unparalleled dance routines dazzle.

The Gang’s All Here (1943)  Although not remembered as well today as those put out by MGM, 20th Century-Fox’s big Technicolor musicals stand up well in comparison. Showgirl Alice Faye, Fox’s No. 1 musical star, is romanced by a soldier who uses an assumed name and then turns out to be a rich playboy. Carmen Miranda is also featured and her outrageous costume is highlighted in the legendary musical number “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat.” Busby Berkeley, who had just finished a long stint directing musicals at MGM and an earlier one at Warner Bros., directs and choreographs the film.

Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976)  The San Antonio barrio in the early 1970s is the setting for writer, director and star Efraín Gutiérrez’s independent piece, considered by historians to be the first Chicano feature film. A self-taught filmmaker, Gutiérrez not only created the film from top to bottom on a shoestring, he also acted as its initial distributor and chief promoter, negotiating bookings throughout the Southwest where it filled theaters in Chicano neighborhoods. He tells his story in the turbulent days near the end of the Vietnam War, as a young Chicano man questioning his and his people’s place in society as thousands of his Latino brethren return from the war in coffins. Chon Noriega, director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, wrote, “The film is important as an instance of regional filmmaking, as a bicultural and bilingual narrative, and as a precedent that expanded the way that films got made. …” Cultural historians often compare Gutiérrez to Oscar Micheaux, the pioneering African-American filmmaker who came to prominence in the 1920s.

Felicia (1965) This 13-minute short subject, marketed as an educational film, records a slice of life in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles prior to the rebellions of 1965. Filmmakers Trevor Greenwood, Robert Dickson and Alan Gorg were UCLA film students when they crafted a documentary from the perspective of the unassuming-yet-articulate teenager Felicia Bragg, a high-school student of African-American and Hispanic descent. Felicia’s first-person narrative reflects her hopes and frustrations as she annotates footage of her family, school and neighborhood, creating a time capsule that’s both historically and culturally significant. Its provenance as an educational film continues today as university courses use “Felicia” to teach documentary filmmaking techniques and cite it as an example of how non-traditional sources, as well as mainstream television news, reflect and influence public opinion.

Ronstadt Receives the National Medal of Arts

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

It’s turning out to be an extra special year for Linda Ronstadt…

President Barack Obama awarded the 68-year-old Mexican American singer-songwriter the National Medal of Arts at a special ceremony on Monday at the White House.

During the ceremony, Obama, who hung the medal around Ronstadt’s neck, revealed, “I had a little crush on her back in the day.”

The honor was a particularly special moment for Ronstadt, who didn’t make it to her induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April since Parkinson’s disease limits her ability to travel. The same month her album Heart Like a Wheel was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

A military aide brought her into the East Room by wheelchair, but she walked to the stage to receive her award as a citation was read honoring her “one-of-a-kind voice” that paved the way for generations of women artists.

Eleven other recipients were awarded the 2013 National Medal of Arts, as the nation’s highest award given to artists and their patrons, including DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg and Dominican-American writer Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies.

Ten were awarded the National Humanities Medal, which honors those in fields including history, literature, languages and philosophy.

During her illustrious career, Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award. She’s also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award.

Ronstadt’s “Heart Like a Wheel” Added to the National Recording Registry

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

One of Linda Ronstadt’s most acclaimed recordings will live on in the archives of American history…

The 67-year-old Mexican American singer’s Grammy-winning fifth solo album Heart Like a Wheel has been inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

The album, released in 1974, is considered to be Ronstadt’s masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of country rock.

In the 1970s, a decade that saw the rise of singer-songwriters, Ronstadt – who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this month – was a bit of an anomaly. Primarily an interpreter, she was blessed with excellent taste in song selection and the talent to put her own stamp on each of her covers.

Heart Like a Wheel continued her tradition of eclecticism and featured covers of songs by Hank Williams, Paul Anka and Little Feat’s Lowell George. It also shows a keen ear for new material, like the achingly beautiful title track by Anna McGarrigle.

What made this album different from Ronstadt’s previous efforts was the additions of producer Peter Asher, who had been crucial to the career of James Taylor, and Andrew Gold, who arranged the music and played several instruments on the album sessions.

Ronstadt told the Library of Congress that the title track on the album “became an iconic song for me. That was the first chance I got to record a little bit more complex, emotionally, pieces instead of just trying to sing rock ’n’ roll. I never thought of myself as a rock ’n’ roll singer. I sang rock ’n’ roll because I liked to eat.”

Heart Like a Wheel was the first of Ronstadt’s three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching the summit for the week ending February 15, 1975, alongside the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, “You’re No Good.”

But Ronstadt’s prized work isn’t the only Latin album among the latest batch of 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” recordings to be preserved this year.

Celia & Johnny, the album released in 1974 by the late Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco, is also being inducted into the National Recording Registry.

Cuba’s Cruz was a dominant artist in the Afro-Cuban scene of the 1950s, when she sang with the great Sonora Matancera band. She came to America in 1962 and did well initially, but by the early 1970s, her career entered a slump as Latin styles nurtured in the U.S. became dominant.

For this album, rather than re-create the large orchestras that Cruz usually fronted, Pacheco – a New York-based bandleader and co-founder of the Fania Records label — assembled a small group that included pianist Papo Lucca, tres player Charlie Martinez and several percussionists, including himself.

This proved to be the perfect setting for Cruz to reach a newer and younger audience while remaining true to her roots. And she responded with some of the most inspired singing of her career, especially in the album’s many improvised passages. The album’s opening rumba, “Quimbara,” was a huge dance-floor hit, and Cruz soon was acclaimed as the Queen of Salsa.

This year’s 25 selections raise the number of recordings in the registry to 400, a fraction of the Library’s vast recorded sound collection of more than 3.5 million items.

Every year, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board, selects 25 recordings that are at least 10 years old; the best existing versions of each are housed in the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va.

“These recordings represent an important part of America’s culture and history,” Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said. “As technology continually changes and formats become obsolete, we must ensure that our nation’s aural legacy is protected. The National Recording Registry is at the core of this effort.”

Nominations were gathered through online submissions from the public and the NRPB.

Rodriguez’s “El Mariachi” to Be Made Into a Spanish-Language Series

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez’s debut film is getting a brand new life…

Sony Pictures Television has announced plans to produce 70 episodes of El Mariachi, an original series based on the 45-year-old Mexican American director’s 1992 cult film of the same name.

In 2011, El Mariachi was selected as an addition to the National Film Registry of films for preservation by the Library of Congress for it’s “enduring significance to American Culture.”

The Spanish-language drama marks the first time Sony and its Colombian partner Teleset will produce a series entirely in Mexico.

Soy tu Fan star Ivan Arana takes on the role of the lovestruck, revenge-seeking mariachi who wages war against fearsome drug cartels.

El Mariachi also features Mexican actors Martha Higareda and Julio Bracho.

“Staying true to the story, we are producing the series in Mexico, shooting in magnificent locations and utilizing some of the country’s best talent,” said Angelica Guerra, Sony senior vice president of production in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market.

The series will air on Sony Entertainment Television in Latin America and on a yet-to-be-announced U.S. network.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s latest film, Machete Kills, will have its world premiere on September 19 at the Fantastic Fest in Austin.

“El Mariachi” & “Stand and Deliver” Added to National Film Registry’s Preservation List

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Tom Castaneda

Robert Rodriguez and Ramón Menéndez have cemented their status as Latino luminaries in American film history.

The Mexican-American Rodriguez’s El Mariachi and the Cuban-born Menéndez’s Stand and Deliver have been selected as this year’s additions to the National Film Registry of films for preservation by the Library of Congress for “their enduring significance to American Culture.”

El Mariachi (1992): Directed, edited, co-produced and written in a short two weeks by then-film student Rodriguez for only $7,000, El Mariachi became an insta-hit on the film festival circuit. After being picked up for distribution, the film helped usher in the independent movie boom of the early 1990s. El Mariachi is an energetic, highly entertaining tale of an itinerant musician who arrives at a Mexican border town during a drug war and is mistaken for a hit man who recently escaped from prison. The story, as film historian Charles Ramirez Berg has suggested, plays with expectations common to two popular exploitation genres—the narcotraficante film, a Mexican police genre, and the transnational warrior-action film, itself rooted in Hollywood Westerns. Rodriguez’s success derived from invigorating these genres with creative variants despite the constraints of a shoestring budget. Rodriguez has gone on to become, in Berg’s estimation, “arguably the most successful Latino director ever to work in Hollywood.”

Stand and Deliver (1988): Based on a true story, Stand and Deliver stars Edward James Olmos in an Oscar-nominated performance as crusading educator Jaime Escalante. A math teacher in East Los Angeles, Escalante inspired his underprivileged students to undertake an intensive program in calculus, achieve high test scores and improve their sense of self-worth. Co-produced by Olmos and directed by Menéndez, Stand and Deliver became one of the most popular of a new wave of narrative feature films produced in the 1980s by Latino filmmakers. The film celebrates in a direct, approachable, and impactful way, values of self-betterment through hard work and power through knowledge. Menéndez’s first feature film won six IFP Spirit Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

In all, 25 movies were selected from a lost of more than 2,200 titles nominated this year, including Fake Fruit Factory (1986), a documentary that takes an expressive, sympathetic look at the everyday lives of young Mexican women who create ornamental paper maché fruits and vegetables.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

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