87-715: María Guadalupe "Lupe" Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, singer, and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Vélez 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
174-483: A low-budget B picture , it was a hit with audiences and RKO re-teamed her with Errol and Woods for the sequel Mexican Spitfire . That film was also a success and led to a series of Spitfire films (eight in all). In the series, Vélez portrays Carmelita Lindsay, a temperamental yet friendly Mexican singer married to Dennis "Denny" Lindsay (Woods), an elegant American advertising executive. The Spitfire films rejuvenated Vélez's career. Moreover, they were films in which
261-672: A "lady", while fellow Mexican actress Dolores del Río projected herself as sensual, but elegant and restrained, often hailing from aristocratic roots. Vélez hated del Río, and called her a "bird of bad omen". Del Río was terrified to meet her in public places. When this happened, Vélez was scathing and aggressive. Vélez openly mimicked del Río, ironically making fun of her elegance. Vélez 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 well documented. In retaliation, Vélez would perform wicked impersonations of
348-711: A Latina headlined for eight movies straight –a true rarity. Lupe Vélez was Hollywood's number-one Latina by this time, and producer-director Mark Sandrich asked her to headline a live stage show in Ensenada, Mexico. This was in preparation for the Hollywood Victory Caravan tour, and the March 22, 1942 show featured many of the Caravan participants: Laurel and Hardy , James Cagney , Desi Arnaz , Lucille Ball , and Joan Bennett , among others. Vélez emceed
435-494: 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, Vélez 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 with Jimmy Durante in
522-714: A brother, Emigdio. The Villalobos were considered a prominent, financially comfortable family in San Luis Potosí. According to Vélez's second cousin, they lived in a large home, and most of the male members received a college education. 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, where Vélez learned to speak English and dance. She later admitted that she liked dance class, but
609-462: A child out of wedlock. Fregoso believes that in the final year of her life, Vélez exhibited signs of extreme mania and depression. Fregoso goes on to speculate that Vélez'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 Vélez's death, he interviewed her at her home, and she confided in him that she
696-470: 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 Vélez. Vélez's off-screen behavior blurred
783-496: A decade for films to adapt to sound and return to the level of artistic quality of the silents, which they did in the late 1930s when the Greatest Generation came of age. Many great works of cinema that emerged from this period were of highly regimented filmmaking. One reason this was possible is that, as so many films were made, not every one had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with
870-455: A divorce. Vélez 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, Vélez announced she had ended the engagement and kicked Ramond out of her home. On the evening of December 13, 1944, Vélez dined with two friends,
957-401: A good script and relatively unknown actors. This was the case with Citizen Kane (1941), directed by Orson Welles and regarded as one of the greatest films of all time . Other strong-willed directors, like Howard Hawks , Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra , battled the studios in order to achieve their artistic visions. The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw
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#17327806466511044-438: A photographed play in that the events seem to exist objectively and that cameras only give us the best view of the whole play. This treatment of space consists of four main aspects: centering, balancing, frontality, and depth. Persons or objects of significance are mostly in the center part of the picture frame and never out of focus. Balancing refers to the visual composition, i. e., characters are evenly distributed throughout
1131-531: A raise. She then joined the Teatro Principal , but was fired after three months due to her "feisty attitude". Vélez 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
1218-607: A second time and was granted an interlocutory decree. That decree was dismissed when the couple reconciled a month later. In August 1938, Vélez filed for divorce for a third time, again charging Weissmuller with cruelty. Their divorce was finalized in August 1939. After the divorce became final, Vélez began dating actor/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
1305-490: A series created to capitalize on her fiery personality. Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, Vélez'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 . Vélez died at age 36 in December 1944 of an intentional overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal . Her death and the circumstances surrounding it were
1392-520: 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 , with Edward G. Robinson (1930). In 1931, she appeared in her second film for Cecil B. DeMille, Squaw Man , with Warner Baxter , and in Resurrection , directed by Edwin Carewe . In 1932, Vélez filmed The Cuban Love Song (1931), with
1479-463: A small role in the comic Laurel and Hardy short Sailors, Beware! She advanced to the ingenue role opposite Charley Chase in Roach's two-reel comedy What Women Did for Me (1927). Later that year, she did a screen test for the upcoming Douglas Fairbanks full-length film The Gaucho . Fairbanks was impressed by Vélez and he quickly signed her to a contract. Upon its release in 1927, The Gaucho
1566-528: A vacation to recuperate and while he was boarding the train, Vélez showed up at the station and fired a pistol at him. After her breakup with Cooper, Vélez 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, Vélez met Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller while
1653-513: A young Chinese woman. In the Western film Wolf Song , directed by Victor Fleming , she appears with Gary Cooper . As she was regularly cast as "exotic" or "ethnic" women that were volatile and hot-tempered, gossip columnists took to referring to Vélez 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
1740-472: Is a chain of cause and effect with causal agents – in classical style, events do not occur randomly. Time in classical Hollywood is continuous, linear, and uniform, since non-linearity calls attention to the illusory workings of the medium. The only permissible manipulation of time in this format is the flashback . It is mostly used to introduce a memory sequence of a character, e.g. , Casablanca . The greatest rule of classical continuity regarding space
1827-414: Is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking that first developed in the 1910s to 1920s during the later years of the silent film era . It then became characteristic of American cinema during the Golden Age of Hollywood from about 1927, the advent of sound film , until the 1960s (perhaps till 1972, when Dolby Stereo was introduced). It eventually became
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#17327806466511914-561: Is ambiguously defined. To some, it began with The Jazz Singer , which was released in 1927, when the Interbellum Generation came of age and increased box-office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. To others, the era began in 1929, when the silent age had definitively ended. Most Hollywood pictures from the late 1920s to 1960s adhered closely to a genre — Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, and biopic (biographical picture) — and
2001-482: Is object permanence: the viewer must believe that the scene exists outside the shot of the cinematic frame to maintain the picture's realism. The treatment of space in classical Hollywood strives to overcome or conceal the two-dimensionality of film ("invisible style") and is strongly centered upon the human body. The majority of shots in a classical film focus on gestures or facial expressions (medium-long and medium shots ). André Bazin once compared classical film to
2088-457: Is particularly noted for her influence on on-screen performance techniques. Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation , also starring Gish, was ground-breaking for film as a means of storytelling – a masterpiece of literary narrative with numerous innovative visual techniques. The film initiated so many advances in American cinema that it was rendered obsolete within a few years. Though 1913
2175-492: The American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history. As of 2024, Sophia Loren ( 90) is the only living star. Other surviving figures who were nominated for the list include Ann Blyth (96), Claire Bloom (93), Rita Moreno (92) and Margaret O'Brien (87). Delia Maga%C3%B1a Delia Magaña (February 2, 1903 – March 31, 1996)
2262-533: The Edison Trust to make films independent of the manufacturing monopoly. Films worldwide began to noticeably adopt visual and narrative elements which would be found in classical Hollywood cinema. 1913 was a particularly fruitful year for the medium, as pioneering directors from several countries produced films such as The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith), Ingeborg Holm ( Victor Sjöström ), and L'enfant de Paris ( Léonce Perret ) that set new standards for
2349-420: The cross cut , which establishes the concurrence of action in different locations. Jump cuts are allowed in the form of the axial cut , which does not change the angle of shooting at all, but has the clear purpose of showing a perspective closer or farther from the subject, and therefore does not interfere with temporal continuity. Classical narration progresses always through psychological motivation, i.e., by
2436-460: 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 Vélez, simple and natural Lupe. If I'm happy, I dance and sing and acted like
2523-411: The "photographed play" style by creating an imaginary 180-degree axis between the viewer and the shot, allowing viewers to clearly orient themselves within the position and direction of action in a scene. According to the 30-degree rule , cuts in the angle that the scene is viewed from must be significant enough for the viewer to understand the purpose of a change in perspective. Cuts that do not adhere to
2610-414: The 1920s), who revealed that shortly before Vélez's death, Cooper called her and screamed that he was going to kill Harald Ramond for impregnating Vélez. Slatzer claimed that Bow told him that she never believed Vélez's baby was fathered by Ramond, and that she was convinced that Vélez had attempted to get Ramond to marry her to protect Cooper's reputation. Biographer Michelle Vogel speculated that if Cooper
2697-480: The 30-degree rule, known as jump cuts , are disruptive to the illusion of temporal continuity between shots. The 180-degree and 30-degree rules are elementary guidelines in filmmaking that preceded the official start of the classical era by over a decade, as seen in the pioneering 1902 French film A Trip to the Moon . Cutting techniques in classical continuity editing serve to help establish or maintain continuity, as in
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2784-538: The Mexican vedettes Celia Padilla, Celia Montalván, 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 Vélez perform, recommended her to stage director Richard Bennett (the father of actresses Joan and Constance Bennett ). Bennett
2871-597: The Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. Vélez made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Mexican actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her explosive screen persona was exploited in successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked while appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films,
2958-487: 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 Vélez's "chambermaid" Juanita found her the next morning. Despite the fact that his version of events contradicts published reports and
3045-710: The United States and around 240 in her native Mexico. Magaña's first movies were silent films . She later appeared with such film stars as Pedro Infante and Mario Moreno , who went by the screen name of Cantinflas. Fox Film producer Robert J. Flaherty spotted Magana at the age of twenty. He was in Mexico City working on a motion picture. Among her numerous movies are El Hombre malo (1930), Cascarrabias (1930), Besame mucho (1945), Immaculada (1950), La Nina Popoff (1952), Los chiflados del rock and roll (1957), Satánico pandemonium (1975), Esa mi Raza (1977), and Lagunilla 2 (1983). Her last appearance in films
3132-465: The all-comedy-cast film Hollywood Party , where she has an egg-breaking routine with Laurel and Hardy . Although Vélez was a popular actress, MGM Studios did not renew her contract. Over the next few years, Vélez 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
3219-478: The back of the note, Vélez 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 Vélez's death, Harald Ramond told the press that he was "so confused" by Vélez's suicide, and claimed that even though the two had broken up, he had agreed to marry Vélez. He admitted that he once asked Vélez to sign an agreement stating that he
3306-400: The bathroom" or even get off her bed after having consumed such a large amount of Seconal . This barbiturate is noted for being fast-acting even in small doses, and Vélez's death was probably 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 Vélez had vomited. In 2013,
3393-529: The comedian Fanny Brice . Brice was taken with Vélez and later said she had never met a more fascinating personality. She promoted Vélez's career as a dancer and recommended her to Flo Ziegfeld , who hired her to perform in New York City. While Vélez 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 Vélez's screen test and hired her for
3480-509: The company in March 1925. Later that year, Vélez starred in the revues Mexican Rataplan and ¡No 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, Vélez left the revue after the manager refused to give her
3567-480: The coroner's ruling that Vélez committed suicide to avoid the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, some authors have speculated 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 Vélez was known for her defiance of contemporary moral convention, and that it seems unlikely that she could not have reconciled having
Lupe Vélez - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-460: The dual role of a Broadway star and her visiting twin sister, and offers the viewer a rare chance to hear Lupe Vélez's actual speaking voice. She plays the visiting sister with her customary, exaggerated Mexican accent, but plays the actress with her own, gently inflected voice, betraying only a trace of an accent. In 1943, the final film in the Spitfire series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event ,
3741-493: The era saw their careers abruptly end due to heavy accents or voices that recorded poorly. Studio executives predicted that Vélez's accent would probably 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 Vélez's sound career was established. With the arrival of talkies, Vélez appeared in
3828-470: The fact that De Córdova was married to Mexican actress Enna Arana with whom he had four children, Vélez 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 Córdova to "cook ... and keep house". Vélez ended the engagement in early 1944, after de Córdova's wife refused to give him
3915-434: The film as a form of storytelling. It was also the year when Yevgeni Bauer (the first true film artist, according to Georges Sadoul ) started his short, but prolific, career. In the world generally and America specifically, the influence of Griffith on filmmaking was unmatched. Equally influential were his actors in adapting their performances to the new medium. Lillian Gish , the star of film short The Mothering Heart ,
4002-416: The film industry itself, with the height of the studio system . This mode of production, with its reigning star system promoted by several key studios, had preceded sound by several years. By mid-1920, most of the prominent American directors and actors, who had worked independently since the early 1910s, had to become a part of the new studio system to continue to work. The beginning of the sound era itself
4089-467: The first narrative films in the mid-late 1890s, filmmakers have sought to capture the power of live theatre on the cinema screen. Most of these filmmakers started as directors on the late 19th-century stage, and likewise, most film actors had roots in vaudeville (e.g. The Marx Brothers ) or theatrical melodramas. Visually, early narrative films had adapted little from the stage, and their narratives had adapted very little from vaudeville and melodrama. Before
4176-609: The first publication of a police photo of Vèlez's body on the floor of her bedroom was published. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Vélez has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2017, artist Emilio Borjas's sculpture in honor of Vélez was placed in the Garden of San Sebastian, the neighborhood where the actress was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Bibliography Classical Hollywood cinema Classical Hollywood cinema
4263-475: The following year, where she signed with RKO for the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy High Flyers (1937, featuring some of her celebrity impersonations). Vélez 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 Vélez and fellow cast member Libby Holman . Holman also
4350-472: The frame. The action is subtly addressed towards the spectator (frontality) and set , lighting (mostly three-point lighting , especially high-key lighting ), and costumes are designed to separate foreground from the background (depth). The New Hollywood of the mid-1960s to early 1980s was influenced by the romanticism of the classical era, as was the French New Wave . These were recognized on
4437-439: The greatest of glee" that he found Vélez's volatility wonderful when he recounted to her an occasion where Vélez became so angry with him that she took her shoe off and hit him with it. After dating Remarque, Vélez was linked to boxers Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey . In 1943, Vélez began an affair with her La Zandunga co-star Arturo de Córdova . De Córdova had recently moved to Los Angeles after signing with Paramount. Despite
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#17327806466514524-522: The illusion of realism – that is temporal linearity and spatial continuity. By the early 1910s, when the Lost Generation was coming of age, filmmaking was beginning to fulfill its artistic potential. In Sweden and Denmark, this period would later be known as the "Golden Age" of the film; in America, this artistic change is attributed to filmmakers like D. W. Griffith finally breaking the grip of
4611-611: The line between her onscreen persona and her real personality. After her death, journalist Bob Thomas recalled that Vélez 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. Vélez's temper and jealousy in her often tempestuous romantic relationships were well documented and became tabloid fodder, often overshadowing her career. Vélez
4698-414: The most powerful and pervasive style of filmmaking worldwide. Similar or associated terms include classical Hollywood narrative , the Golden Age of Hollywood , Old Hollywood , and classical continuity . The period is also referred to as the studio era , which may also include films of the late silent era. For millennia, the only visual standard of narrative storytelling art was the theatre . Since
4785-497: The musical revue Strike Me Pink . She was reunited with Durante in three 1934 movie comedies, Palooka , Strictly Dynamite and, most famously, Hollywood Party . That same year, Vélez was cast as "Slim Girl" in Laughing Boy with Ramón Novarro . The film was quietly released and largely ignored. The few reviews it received panned the film, but praised Vélez's performance. She had more success with her brief appearance in
4872-505: The notes, and that she had intended to kill herself. On December 22, a funeral for Vélez was held at the mortuary at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Among the pallbearers were Vélez's ex-husband, Johnny Weissmuller, and actor Gilbert Roland . After the service, Vélez's body was sent by train to Mexico City, where a second service was held on December 27. Her body was then interred at Panteón Civil de Dolores Cemetery. Despite
4959-510: 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 , " The Good Son "; referred to in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons ; and mentioned in the song "I Wanna O.D." by the Demolition Doll Rods . Vélez's biographer, Michelle Vogel, points out that it would have been "virtually impossible" for Vélez to have "stumbled to
5046-526: The popular Spanish Mexican vedette María Conesa , "La Gatita Blanca". Vélez debuted in a show led by Conesa, where she sang "Oh Charley, My Boy" and danced the shimmy . In 1924, Aurelio Campos, a young pianist and friend of the Vélez sisters, recommended Vélez to stage producers Carlos Ortega and Manuel Castro. Ortega and Castro were preparing a season revue at the Regis Theatre, and hired Vélez to join
5133-735: 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 Universal Studios like Resurrección (1931, the Spanish version of Resurrection ), and Hombres en mi vida (1932, the Spanish version of Men in Her Life ). Vélez found her niche in comedy, playing beautiful, volatile characters. In February 1932, Vélez took
5220-478: 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 too 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
5307-404: The press. Vélez reportedly inflicted scratches, bruises, and love-bites on Weissmuller during their fights and "passionate love-making". Vélez often targeted fellow actresses whom she deemed rivals, professionally or otherwise, a habit which began back in her vaudeville days and continued in films. Vélez's image was that of a wild, highly sexualized woman who spoke her mind and was not considered
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#17327806466515394-517: The relationship with Ramond, she planned to go to Mexico to have her baby. Kinder said Vélez soon changed her mind after concluding that Ramond "faked" the relationship and considered having an abortion. The day after Vélez'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 Vélez had written
5481-590: The release of such classics as The Wizard of Oz ; Gone with the Wind ; The Hunchback of Notre Dame ; Stagecoach ; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ; Destry Rides Again ; Young Mr. Lincoln ; Wuthering Heights ; Only Angels Have Wings ; Ninotchka ; Beau Geste ; Babes in Arms ; Gunga Din ; The Women ; Goodbye, Mr. Chips ; and The Roaring Twenties . The visual-narrative style of classical Hollywood cinema, as elaborated by David Bordwell ,
5568-452: The same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films ; Alfred Newman worked at 20th Century Fox for twenty years; Cecil B. DeMille 's films were almost all made at Paramount Pictures ; and director Henry King 's films were mostly made for 20th Century Fox. Similarly, actors were mostly contract players. Film historians note that it took about
5655-533: The scene. The book states after Vélez arranged to meet Ramond, decorated her room, and dressed in a negligee, her ingestion of the barbiturate Seconal was either to calm her nerves before meeting him, or a failed dramatic gesture to scare him. The book also suggested the baby was fathered possibly by Cooper, not Ramond. Vélez's death was recounted by Kenneth Anger in his book Hollywood Babylon , and has become urban legend . In Anger's telling, Vélez planned to stage an elaborate suicide scene atop her satin bed, but
5742-500: The show as well, addressing the audience of 2,500 Mexican servicemen in Spanish. In addition to the Mexican Spitfire series, she was cast in other musical and comedy features for RKO, Universal Pictures , and Columbia Pictures . Some of these films were Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (with Leon Errol, 1941), Playmates (with John Barrymore , 1941), and Redhead from Manhattan (1943). The last film has Vélez playing
5829-518: The silent-film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of December 14, Vélez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, said that she 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
5916-408: The subject of speculation and controversy. Vélez was born in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz , and his wife Josefina Vélez, 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
6003-570: The two were in New York. They dated off and on when they returned to Los Angeles, while Vélez also dated actor Errol Flynn . On October 8, 1933, Vélez and Weissmuller were married in Las Vegas. There were reports of domestic violence and public fights. In July 1934, after ten months of marriage, Vélez filed for divorce citing "cruelty". She withdrew the petition a week later after reconciling with Weissmuller. On January 3, 1935, she filed for divorce
6090-455: The visual style which would become known as "classical continuity", scenes were filmed in full shot and used carefully choreographed staging to portray plot and character relationships. Editing technique was extremely limited, and mostly consisted of close-ups of writing on objects for their legibility. Though lacking the reality inherent to the stage, film (unlike the stage) offers the freedom to manipulate apparent time and space, and thus create
6177-681: The will of a human character and its struggle with obstacles towards a defined goal. This narrative element is commonly composed of a primary narrative (e.g. a romance) intertwined with a secondary narrative or narratives. This narrative is structured with an unmistakable beginning, middle and end, and generally there is a distinct resolution. Utilizing actors, events, causal effects, main points, and secondary points are basic characteristics of this type of narrative. The characters in classical Hollywood cinema have clearly definable traits, are active, and very goal oriented. They are causal agents motivated by psychological rather than social concerns. The narrative
6264-513: The women she disliked at Hollywood parties. She made these imitations part of her comic repertoire, exaggerating the facial and vocal mannerisms of Greta Garbo , Marlene Dietrich , Fanny Brice , Gloria Swanson , Katharine Hepburn , Simone Simon , and Shirley Temple . Lupe Vélez 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
6351-420: Was a Mexican film and television actress, singer, and dancer. Although she started as a silent film actress, Magaña became best known for her comic supporting roles in her later years. For her 60 years in the film industry, as well as for contributing to the American cinema, Magaña's name and handprint are preserved in the sidewalk outside Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. She made 14 films in
6438-403: Was a global landmark for filmmaking, 1917 was primarily an American one; the era of "classical Hollywood cinema" is distinguished by a narrative and visual style which began to dominate the film medium in America by 1917. The narrative and visual style of classical Hollywood style developed further after the transition to sound-film production. The primary changes in American filmmaking came from
6525-555: Was a hit and critics were duly impressed with Vélez's ability to hold her own with Fairbanks, who was well known for his spirited acting and impressive stunts. Vélez 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, Vélez appeared in Lady of the Pavements , directed by D. W. Griffith and Where East Is East , playing
6612-463: Was greeted by ten thousand fans. The film La Zandunga directed by Fernando de Fuentes , co-starring Mexican actor Arturo de Córdova , was a critical and financial success and Vélez was slated to appear in four more Mexican films. She instead returned to Los Angeles and went back to work for RKO. In 1939, Vélez was cast with Leon Errol and Donald Woods in The Girl from Mexico . Despite being
6699-483: Was heavily influenced by the ideas of the Renaissance and its resurgence of mankind as the focal point. It is distinguished at three general levels: devices, systems, and the relations of systems. The devices most inherent to classical Hollywood cinema are those of continuity editing . This includes the 180-degree rule , one of the major visual-spatial elements of continuity editing. The 180-degree rule keeps with
6786-495: Was irritated by the attention Vélez 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 Vélez punched Holman 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, Vélez
6873-399: Was looking for an actress to portray a Mexican cantina singer in his upcoming play The Dove . He sent Vélez a telegram inviting her to Los Angeles to appear in the play. Vélez 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
6960-460: Was only marrying her to "give the baby a name", but claimed he only did so because he and Vélez had had a fight, and he was in a "terrible temper". Actress Estelle Taylor, who was with Vélez from 9:00 the previous night until 3:30 the morning Vélez died, told the press that Vélez had told her of her pregnancy, but said she would rather kill herself than have an abortion. Beulah Kinder, Vélez's secretary, later told investigators that after Vélez broke off
7047-487: Was otherwise a poor student. Vélez 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 Vélez as her stage name. Their mother introduced Vélez and her sister Josefina to
7134-467: Was pregnant with Gary Cooper's child (by that time, Cooper was married to socialite Veronica "Rocky" Balfe ). According to Slatzer, Vélez said that Cooper refused to acknowledge the child, believing that Harald Ramond was the father. After Vélez 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
7221-429: Was released. By that time, the mistaken-identity scripts and situations had been repeating themselves, and the novelty of the series had begun to wane, but Vélez's energy and Errol's clowning never flagged. Vélez co-starred with Eddie Albert in a 1943 romantic comedy, Ladies' Day , about an actress and a baseball player. In 1944, Vélez returned to Mexico to star in an adaptation of Émile Zola 's novel Nana , which
7308-481: Was straightforward with the press and was regularly contacted by gossip columnists for stories about her romantic exploits. One such incident included Vélez chasing her lover Gary Cooper around with a knife during an argument and cutting him severely enough to require stitches. After their breakup, Vélez 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
7395-484: Was the father, his rejection of Vélez and their child, coupled with the idea of having to raise a child alone, may have sent Vélez "over the edge". In the 2002 book Tarzan, My Father , Johnny Weissmuller, Jr., recounted the events surrounding Vélez'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, Vélez's business manager, who called his friend and Beverly Hills Police Chief Anderson to
7482-437: Was well received. It would be her final film. After filming wrapped, Vélez returned to Los Angeles and began preparing for another stage role in New York. Throughout her career, Vélez'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
7569-404: Was with Gary Cooper . Vélez and Cooper met while filming 1929s Wolf Song and began a two-year relationship that was passionate and often stormy. When angered, Vélez 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 Vélez. With plans to marry him gone, she spoke to
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