1935... The Medellín Tragedy

[Jorge Finkielman <finki_1@xxxxxxxxx>]

  Que tal:

  Sixty six years ago Carlos Gardel died in a plane
crash in the Olaya Herrera airport in Medellín,
Colombia.

  A lot have been written about this accident and
conspiration and or plots have been fabricated which
some silly people (to say something polite) still try
spread.

  The only believable thing of this tragedy, which
took the life of 19 people including Gardel, Alfredo
Le Pera, Guillermo Barbieri and Angel Riverol is the
official version which surfaced, for the first time,
in the original wire from United Press International.

  It was a painful day for Argentina and Colombia.
Here a lot of homages were done throughout the entire
country. And an authentic feeling of grieve and tears
could be sensed, as it is pefectly documented.

  And of course, the best possible homage was provided
by no one elese but Gardel himself several days later
when Paramount Pictures released EL DIA QUE ME QUIERAS
on July 16, 1935. (Despite that I myself corrected all
the information about this picture on the Internet
Movie Database, they have never included this imporant
date, which I provided several times, for reasons
beyond my knowledge).

  But if Gardel's death was a terrible shock for
Argentina and Latin America, what happened in the
United States?

  The New York Herald Tribune said that he was "famous
as a tango singer as well as an actor".

  The New York Times stated that "his tangos and songs
captivated the masses".

  The Spanish language paper "La Prensa" says: "The
artistic story of Gardel is one of those rare cases of
a really phenomenal popularity. If we had to make a
comparison about the sympathy and popularity of the
Argentinean singer among Spanish language people in
general, we have to remember Rudolph Valentino".

  Musician Don Dean said that "nobady in the United
States equals the popularity of Carlos Gardel in
Argentina".

  Of course the shock was specially felt at Paramount
and they have to do something.

  In an official statement Adolph Zukor said that
Gardel was "the highest exponent of the Argentinean
song, and with his premature death, the singing art
lost a great artist and the film industry one of his
most valuable performers".

  Ernst Lubitsch wrote: "The passing away of Carlos
Gardel deprive us of great artist, internationally
known, in the height of his career. His absence will
be profoundly heartfelt in the professional world and
by the million of people whose songs and music
provided moments of happiness".

  Theodore Reed, who directed him (with Norman Taurog)
in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 say: "I am shocked and
sad because of the death of Gardel. When I worked with
him in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 I discover that he
was an excellent actor, a superb artist and a good
friend. I want to express my sincere sorrow to the
entire Latin America for this loss".

  There were similar statements from Norman Taurog and
Paramount vice-president, Henry Herzbrun.

  Finally, John Nathan, who was in charge of the
Paramount branch for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay,
said: "Many years of experience in Latin American
countries have demonstrated, beyond any doubt, that
ther have never been, in the entire History of the
light art of the World, an artst that have completely
achieved the admiration of million of people like
Carlos Gardel".

  Even today we still paid tributes to Carlos Gardel.
It is quite difficult to explain why he is still so
admired. But he earned that affection in his lifetime.
The prove is that his records are still succesful
after almost 90 years that the first one was made
available.

  Let's hope that his films would reappear in better
shape than in the horrible accesible prints

  And that the Hollywood studios never produce a film
about him.



  Saludos desde Peludópolis



  JORGE FINKIELMAN

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