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60-463: Of Cuban descent, during a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language. He was educated in New York City, and wrote short stories and advertising copy. For his second novel, adapted for the movie The Mambo Kings , he became the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Hijuelos

120-488: A musical in 2005. In its theme of the American immigrant experience, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love was similar to many of his works. Michiko Kakutani , reviewing the novel for The New York Times , describes it as "essentially elegiac in tone — a Chekhovian lament for a life of missed connections and misplaced dreams." His autobiography, Thoughts Without Cigarettes , was published in 2011. Bruce Weber, writing in

180-464: A "Two Thumbs Up" rating on their syndicated television program, Siskel and Ebert and the Movies . Rita Kempley of The Washington Post praised the film's director, writing that "Glimcher shows an epicure's taste in his choice of both cast and crew. The look of "The Mambo Kings" is doubtless richer than the text, which is, however, strengthened by Glimcher's nostalgia for the teenage, eager America of

240-571: A club, where the Castillo brothers have a part-time job. Nestor's love ballad captures the interest of one of the customers, who turns out to be the Cuban bandleader and American television star Desi Arnaz . After a pleasant evening in Nestor and Delores's home, Arnaz invites the struggling Castillos to sing and act on an episode of his sitcom series, I Love Lucy . Fame does not last, however. Nestor

300-637: A few folks somewhere (in Santiago?) who claimed to have once heard the MKs -- it happens that I've had similar experiences along the lines of 'And whatever happened to those guys?' as if they really existed (perhaps they did.) In any event, the fact that some folks really believe that the MKs had been around, sort of led me, in a very roundabout way, to the notion that a real Maria has existed all along...." Oscar Hijuelos' Papers are located at Columbia University Libraries . Hijuelos taught at Hofstra University and

360-1036: A former New York City concert hall. The Embassy Theatre in downtown Los Angeles depicted a nightclub known as Club Babalu, while the Tower Theatre doubled for scenes set in the fictional Empire Ballroom. A meat-packaging plant in Vernon was used for scenes set in the Castillo brothers' workplace. The filmmakers also shot scenes in San Marino , where Lacy Park doubled for scenes set in New York City 's Central Park . Scenes set in Mexico were shot on location in Westward Beach in Malibu . Principal photography concluded after 50 days of filming. Assante and Banderas did their own singing, and studied to master

420-439: A love affair with Cesar. Nestor, in the meantime, remains oblivious to other women while continually composing his ode to his lost Cuban love, Maria. He writes version after version of the same ballad, " Beautiful Maria of My Soul ", until by chance one day he encounters Delores, a shy but attentive young woman who wishes to become a schoolteacher. When she becomes pregnant, they decide to get married. Fate intervenes one night at

480-415: A mixed review, writing that the film is "beautifully filmed and flashily edited", but that it "has nothing to offer". Vincent Canby of The New York Times , gave the film a negative review, writing, "there are times when the director doesn't even seem to know where to put the camera. Scenes unravel without dramatic point. No amount of breathless editing and fancy graphics can disguise the amateur nature of

540-548: A staff service. In the 1890s Columbia was declared a university and moved to its current location in Morningside Heights. There, the Low Memorial Library was built in 1895 to serve as the centerpiece of the new campus. Financed with $ 1 million of University President Seth Low's own money, at full capacity the library was expected to house 1.9 million volumes. However, the library at this point

600-590: A theatrical release on December 25, 1991 but it was pushed back due to post-production delays. The Mambo Kings premiered at the Miami International Film Festival on February 7, 1992 before opening in limited release on February 28, 1992. The film expanded to 185 screens on March 13, 1992. By the end of its theatrical run, The Mambo Kings grossed $ 6,742,168 in North America, well below its $ 15.5 million budget. The film

660-576: Is growing at a pace of 140,000 items per annum . The system attracts over four million visitors a year. The Columbia Center for Oral History Research , the oldest academic oral history research program, was founded at Columbia by Professor Allan Nevins in 1948. Its oral history archives are stored in Butler Library, and contain over 12,000 interviews. Columbia shares an off-site shelving facility, located in Plainsboro, New Jersey , with

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720-542: Is located on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City and employs more than 500 professional and support staff. Additionally, Columbia Libraries is part of the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP) along with the Harvard Library , Princeton University Library , and New York Public Library . The Columbia University Libraries began with the 1756 donation of

780-425: Is not as ambitious as his brother and desires nothing more than to own his own small club. He is in love with Delores, but lacks the passion he felt for his beloved Maria back home. Cesar suppresses his true feelings, believing that a woman like Delores would actually be perfect for him. He reveals to Nestor that Maria left him for a Cuban mobster in exchange for cancelling a contract hit against Nestor. One snowy night,

840-456: Is on his own and lacking in resources to make what drama there is come to a coherent or meaningful point". Desi Arnaz Jr. voiced his support of the film, stating that he and his sister Lucie Arnaz , "loved the story being told in this movie". Arnaz, Jr. said: "It is an amazing saga of people in search of the American dream. It is my father's story. It is the story of many people who came to this country with hopes and dreams". Tito Puente praised

900-534: Is survived by his second wife. The tennis courts that Hijuelos died on in Riverside Park, New York were renamed after him. The Mambo Kings The Mambo Kings is a 1992 musical drama film based on the 1989 Pulitzer Prize -winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos . The film was directed and produced by Arne Glimcher , and stars Armand Assante , Antonio Banderas , Cathy Moriarty and Maruschka Detmers . Set in

960-466: Is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and graphic and audio-visual materials, it is the fifth-largest academic library in the United States and the largest academic library in

1020-533: The 35th Grammy Awards for " Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television " category. The film received a second Grammy nomination for " Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television " for the song "Mambo Caliente" which was composed by Arturo Sandoval . The Mambo Kings inspired a musical stage play of the same name in 2005. It was produced by Daryl Roth and Jordan Roth, with lyrics by Arne Glimcher and music by Carlos Franzetti . The Mambo Kings premiered at

1080-625: The Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, California, opening on May 31, 2005. The stage version featured Esai Morales and Jaime Camil as Cesar and Nestor Castillo, with supporting performers including Christiane Noll , David Alan Grier , Cote de Pablo , Albita and Justina Machado . The production cancelled plans to open on Broadway theatre after a critically panned tryout engagement in San Francisco. Columbia University Libraries Columbia University Libraries

1140-694: The Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature . In 2003 he received the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature . Hijuelos' first marriage ended in divorce. He married writer and editor Lori Marie Carlson on December 12, 1998 in Manhattan. On October 12, 2013, Oscar Hijuelos collapsed of a heart attack while playing tennis in Manhattan and never regained consciousness. He was 62 years old. He

1200-424: The Miami International Film Festival on February 7, 1992. It opened in limited release on February 28, 1992 and grossed $ 6.7 million during its North American theatrical run. Critical reaction was mostly positive, with reviewers praising Glimcher's direction, the story, music and visuals. The film received Oscar , Golden Globe Award and Grammy nominations for its original song " Beautiful Maria of My Soul ". In

1260-549: The New York Times , described his style as "fluid prose, sonorous but more earthy than poetic, with a forthright American cadence." His influences included writers from Cuba and Latin America, including Carlos Fuentes , José Lezama Lima and Gabriel García Márquez . Hijuelos expressed discomfort in his memoir with being pigeon-holed as an ethnic writer. Weber states "Unlike that of many well-known Latin writers, his work

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1320-558: The State of New York . Additionally, the closely affiliated Jewish Theological Seminary Library holds over 400,000 volumes, which combined makes the Columbia University Libraries the third-largest academic library, and the second-largest private library in the United States. The services and collections are organized into 19 libraries and various academic technology centers, including affiliates. The organization

1380-508: The film adaptation . Cidre spent eighteen months working on the screenplay, and after 24 drafts , she had stripped the story down to cover only half of Hijuelos's 407-page book. While the book spans several decades, events in the film take place from 1952 to 1955. Various studios rejected the film, resulting in Glimcher paying the crew's salaries with his own money. When the project moved to Universal Pictures , Glimcher tried to convince

1440-481: The 1825 purchase of 264 books from the library of Lorenzo Da Ponte , and the donation of the library of Nathaniel Fish Moore to the college. The physical location of the library has moved several times over the course of the university's history. Originally housed in College Hall on Columbia's Park Place campus, it relocated to the university's newly acquired Madison Avenue campus in 1857. A new building for

1500-494: The 1950s". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, " The Mambo Kings is most fun when it practically dares you to swoon. It's a movie you don't have to believe to enjoy". Betty Goodwin of the Los Angeles Times praised the film's visual style: "The innocence of the pre- MTV '50s mambo scene is expressed through meticulously real details and honest styling". Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote

1560-455: The 1950s, all of which had to be re-recorded, as they were originally recorded in mono sound. The song " Beautiful Maria of My Soul " was written for the film, with lyrics by Glimcher and music composed by Kraft. The original soundtrack album was released in 1991 by Elektra Records . It features a number of original master recordings , re-recorded tracks and mambo-themed songs performed by Sandoval, Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. The soundtrack

1620-442: The 1990 films Reversal of Fortune and Goodfellas , and the studio felt that they would appeal to a wide audience. Through a translator, Glimcher told Banderas to work on improving his English for one month before performing a screen test opposite Irons. Banderas learned his lines phonetically and worked with a dialect coach during pre-production and filming. Although Warner Bros. loved Irons's screen test, Glimcher thought he

1680-455: The Castillo brothers' car veers off the road and into a tree. Cesar, in the back seat of the vehicle, is barely hurt, but Nestor, who was driving the vehicle, is killed. To honor his brother's memory, a devastated Cesar opens his own small club. Delores pays him a visit and asks him to sing "Beautiful Maria of My Soul". Arne Glimcher , an art dealer based in New York City and a fan of mambo music , learned that his longtime friend Oscar Hijuelos

1740-870: The East Asian, mathematics, and general sciences sections remained in Low; those too would eventually be relocated elsewhere. In 1974 the library became, along with Harvard Library, Yale Library, and New York Public Library, a founding member of the Research Libraries Group . As of 2020, the Columbia library system contains over 15.0 million volumes, its collections including over 160,000 journals and serials, six million microfilms, 26 million manuscripts, over 600,000 rare books, over 100,000 videos and DVDs, and nearly 200,000 government documents. The library's collection would stretch 174 miles end-to-end, and

1800-602: The Last World , was published in 1983, and won the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters . This novel follows the life of a Cuban family in the United States during the 1940s. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love , received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction . It was adapted in 1992 into the film The Mambo Kings , starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas , and as

1860-667: The Professor of Languages and the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy." In order to slow the hemorrhaging of books from the library's collections, it was restructured in 1817 and 1821, when it was placed under the control of the college's president and then board of trustees , respectively. Beginning in 1817, the youngest professor of the college would serve as the librarian, including physicist and engineer James Renwick , astronomer and geologist Henry James Anderson , and adjunct professor of classics Robert George Vermilye. The first full-time librarian appointed by Columbia

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1920-654: The Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (RECAP), which includes the New York Public Library and the library systems of Harvard University and Princeton University . The system is participating in the Google Books Library Project . The libraries in the Columbia system include: The first recorded librarian of the Columbia Libraries was Robert Harpur , a professor of mathematics at King's College who

1980-894: The Spanish language and, therefore, my roots." He attended Corpus Christi School in Morningside Heights, and public schools, and later Bronx Community College , Lehman College and Manhattan Community College . He studied writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976) under Donald Barthelme , Susan Sontag , William S. Burroughs , Frederic Tuten , and others. Barthelme became his mentor and friend. He practiced various professions, including working for an advertising agency, Transportation Displays Inc. , before taking up writing full-time. Hijuelos started writing short stories and dramas while working in advertising. His first novel, Our House in

2040-432: The character as well". Annabella Sciorra was originally cast as Delores, but left the production due to a scheduling conflict. The role then went to Dutch actress Maruschka Detmers , who was cast just two weeks prior to filming. Detmers appears in her American film debut. In securing the rights to use footage from I Love Lucy , Glimcher convinced Desi Arnaz, Jr. to portray his late father Desi Arnaz . To prepare for

2100-648: The college received directly from Oxford University , at the request of President Myles Cooper , a copy of every book published by the Oxford University Press . The King's College collection would largely not survive the American Revolutionary War . In 1776, College Hall was commandeered by the New York Committee of Safety to be used as a military hospital and instruction was suspended, in preparation for which

2160-673: The contents of the college's library had been deposited in the New York City Hall . Only six or seven hundred items from the King's College library were recovered following the war, and only 111 remain in Columbia University's collections today. Following the war, the newly renamed Columbia College's library was rebuilt and grew over time through gifts, deposits, and purchases; by 1863 it owned nearly 15,000 volumes. Valuable acquisitions during this time period included

2220-468: The custom-made wardrobe. The production first shot scenes at Ren-Mar Studios , the former site of Desilu Productions . The location was used to recreate the living room and Tropicana nightclub sets from I Love Lucy . Lucille Ball's appearance from the 1952 episode "Cuban Pals" was intercut with the newly shot footage. The Ambassador Hotel was used to recreate the Palladium Ballroom ,

2280-499: The early 1950s, Cuban brothers and musicians Cesar and Nestor Castillo flee from Havana, Cuba after getting into a violent dispute with the mobster owners of a club where they performed. Eventually ending up in New York City , the brothers work at menial jobs while attempting to revive their musical careers. At a nightclub where Cesar briefly crashes the act of mambo star Tito Puente , they make new friends and connections, as well as meeting cigarette girl Lanna Lake, who falls quickly into

2340-430: The early 1950s, the story follows Cesar (Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Banderas), brothers and aspiring musicians who find success and stardom after fleeing from Havana , Cuba to New York City to escape danger. The film marks Glimcher's directing debut, and features Banderas in his first English-language role. Glimcher acquired the film rights one year before the novel was published and hired Cynthia Cidre to write

2400-444: The enterprise". In The Philadelphia Inquirer , Roger E. Hernandez criticized the film for its portrayal of Cubans. Hernandez wrote: "The main problem here was the accents. The characters were supposed to be Cuban, but, with the exception of salsa star Celia Cruz , none sounded it". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times criticized Glimcher's direction, writing in his review, "...when it comes to directing dramatic sequences, he

2460-713: The estate and library of Joseph Murray to the university, then known as King's College . Valued at around £8,000, it was the largest single philanthropic gift made in colonial America. In 1763 the college received over 1,000 volumes from Reverend Duncombe Bristowe of London, through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts . Among its early gifts, the college recorded that "Sundry gentlemen at Oxford gave books, whose names are in them", and in 1772

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2520-471: The film "runs on pure emotion", and "celebrates the mysterious power of a music that can make you feel like dancing and bring you to your knees". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the film's "story is as old as the movies, but The Mambo Kings is so filled with energy, passion and heedless vitality that it seems new, anyway". Ebert and his colleague, Gene Siskel , gave the film

2580-452: The film prior to its theatrical release: "I've seen the movie twice, and I loved it the second time. The first time I couldn't get into it. I was watching for too many details, I guess. But now I've seen it a second time, and I think it's great". The song "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" received a Best Original Song nomination at the 65th Academy Awards . It was also nominated at the 50th Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song , and at

2640-712: The film with Warner Bros. and France's Le Studio Canal+ , with the German-based studio Alcor Films enlisted as a co-producer. Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas were Glimcher's ideal choices for the roles of Cesar and Nestor Castillo. Assante had appeared in a number of films but had not yet broken out as a major star. Banderas, an established Spanish actor, had moved to Los Angeles , California , hoping to make an international debut with his first English speaking role. Warner Bros. wanted to cast Jeremy Irons as Cesar and Ray Liotta as Nestor. Both actors had received critical acclaim for their respective performances in

2700-400: The instruments their characters use in the film. Assante practiced on drums, preparing for a scene in which his character plays a musical number with Tito Puente. Banderas worked to mimic the correct posture and finger placements for his character's trumpet performances, while the actual playing was performed by Arturo Sandoval . Executive music producer Robert Kraft used existing music from

2760-592: The library designed by Charles C. Haight was completed in 1883. From 1883 to 1888, Melvil Dewey , the creator of the Dewey Decimal Classification and a founder of the American Library Association , was the chief librarian at Columbia, where he also founded the world's first library school in 1887. As librarian, Dewey reorganized the Columbia Libraries, unifying them under one efficient administration and creating

2820-416: The role, Arnaz, Jr. dyed his hair black and wore an ID bracelet, ring and pin, all of which had belonged to his father: "I wasn't trying to look exactly like him. It was more about getting his essence and mannerisms". In an effort to re-create the mambo world of the 1950s, Glimcher cast musicians Tito Puente and Celia Cruz in supporting roles. Principal photography commenced on March 18, 1991. The film

2880-580: The script. The film was rejected by several studios, and after an unsuccessful pre-production at Universal Pictures , the project moved to Warner Bros. The production was allocated a budget of $ 15.5 million jointly financed by Warner Bros., Le Studio Canal+ and Regency Enterprises . The film was shot on location in Los Angeles , California , with principal photography beginning in March 1991, and concluding after 50 days. The Mambo Kings premiered at

2940-404: The studio's president Tom Pollock to financially back it with a low budget. Before production could begin, Pollock insisted that footage from the television series I Love Lucy be a key part of the film. Following Lucille Ball 's death in 1989, Glimcher contacted her children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. , requesting the rights to use footage from the television series, but was denied by

3000-433: The two siblings. Shortly after, Universal dropped the film due to budget disputes. In 1990, Glimcher wrote a letter to Arnaz, Jr., asking that he reconsider, and the two men reached an agreement. The project was picked up by Warner Bros. after Glimcher met with the studio's president Terry Semel . Semel then introduced Glimcher to producer Arnon Milchan , whose production company Regency Enterprises agreed to co-finance

3060-529: Was affiliated with Duke University , where he was a member of the faculty of the Department of English for 6 years before his death. In addition to the 1990 Pulitzer Prize, Hijuelos received an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in 1983, the year he published his first novel, Our House in the Last World . In 1985 the novel received the Rome Prize , awarded by the American Academy in Rome . In 2000, he received

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3120-575: Was appointed in 1763 to "make a catalogue of the Books that now are and hereafter may belong to the Library... and also that he be accountable for the said Books." Following the Revolutionary War, during which the library was largely destroyed, the role of librarian would fall on college professors in rotation: in 1799 the board of trustees "Resolved that the care of the Library be committed to

3180-674: Was born in Morningside Heights, Manhattan , to Cuban immigrant parents, Pascual and Magdalena (Torrens) Hijuelos, both from Holguín , Cuba. His father worked as a hotel cook. As a young child, he suffered from acute nephritis after a vacation trip to Cuba with his mother and brother José, and was in St. Luke's Convalescent Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut for almost a year, eventually recovering. During this long period separated from his Spanish-speaking family, he learned fluent English; he later wrote of this time: "I became estranged from

3240-542: Was growing quickly, and the Low Library would soon not be enough to accommodate its entire collection: in 1904 the Columbia University Libraries held around 400,000 books, a number which would swell to more than a million in little over two decades. Butler Library , currently Columbia's main library, was built 1931 in and funded by a $ 4 million gift from alumnus and philanthropist Edward Harkness . Following its opening in 1934, only special collections , Columbiana, and

3300-497: Was made with a budget of $ 15.5 million, and shot on location in Los Angeles, California, which doubled for scenes set in a 1950s-era New York City . Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus shot the film using Arriflex 535 cameras. For the film's visual style, production designer Stuart Wurtzel was influenced by 1950s photographs and the 1955 film Mambo Madness . Costume designer Ann Roth used vintage textiles to create

3360-557: Was rarely outwardly political." When "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" was published, he corresponded with author Tom Miller: "I did this reading at Union Square B&N [Barnes & Noble] the other night, with a friend of mine providing music-- it kind of worked pretty well -- but it so happens that I mentioned your book, 'Trading with the Enemy'-- in the context of how charmed I was by the fact that you were carrying MKs ['The Mambo Kings'] with you while traveling through Cuba and that you had met

3420-562: Was re-released on February 1, 2000, and features a remix of the Puente song "Ran Kan Kan" performed by Olga Tañón . and an alternate version of "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" performed by Banderas and Compay Segundo . A remastered version of the soundtrack was released on June 30, 2017, by the record label Varèse Sarabande . AllMusic 's Al Campbell awarded the soundtrack four stars out of five and praised it for "providing an excellent introduction to Latin music". Warner Bros. originally planned

3480-512: Was released on VHS and laserdisc on September 2, 1992, and on DVD on August 17, 2005. The DVD includes an unrated version of the film that restores a deleted scene. Other features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and an audio commentary by Glimcher. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes sampled 29 reviews, and gave the film a score of 79%, with an average score of 6.6 out of 10. The film received mostly positive reviews. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that

3540-426: Was writing a novel relating to the latter subject. After reading a manuscript of Hijuelos's novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love , Glimcher purchased the film rights in 1988, one year before the book was published. He also appointed himself as director, believing that he was the only person capable of successfully adapting the book to film. Glimcher later hired Cuban-born screenwriter Cynthia Cidre to write

3600-585: Was wrong for the part and insisted on Assante. The director felt that Assante had brought both charm and seductiveness to the role of Cesar, and the studio relented. Cathy Moriarty was the only actress that Glimcher considered for the role of Lanna Lake, based on her performance in Raging Bull (1980), where he explained that decision: "I wanted a woman rather than a girl. I wanted a character who had lived, who had scars, who had beauty and dignity. I thought of Cathy's life, and I thought of how it worked for

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