00:00:00.579 - 00:00:23.780

In Hollywood, the Cortez. And when did you first meet them? Oh, I met him in 19. It must have been 1934 1934. And there was a, it was a little group made of the, of the family, you know, the father, the mother, the two sisters and

00:00:23.790 - 00:00:45.360

the two brothers and Lydia herself. She played the violin at that time. She played the guitar, her sister played the guitar, the mother played in violin, the father played a little triangle with a little cling cling, you know, and, uh, the brother didn't play that. There

00:00:45.369 - 00:01:03.790

would be singers and comedians. Very good comedians. Both Chapin. That's what we call it. Right. I had him, he and Juanita recreated quite a few of those comedy skips for me. And I'm gonna print them in the book. How long have you seen Juanita? Uh, I

00:01:03.799 - 00:01:17.580

saw her, I was there about, um, two months ago in San Antonio. What is she doing? She's doing well, you know, she doesn't want to get out of the house hardly at all. That's a shame. And I visited Maria also, you know, and she had just

00:01:17.589 - 00:01:36.510

broken her hip or Juanita is a pretty good too. Get back to your early. Did you grow up in San Antonio? Well, yes, I, I grew up, I was reared in San Antonio since I was 13 years old. Until as I was uh 18, then I

00:01:36.519 - 00:01:55.309

was, uh, I was hired by the Coca Cola company to play baseball for him at that time. Uh Coca Cola had a, a team called, uh, a Send Lot team, you know, not for commercial really, but for advertising, most of it, I played Dr Pepper, played

00:01:55.319 - 00:02:15.949

the factories and schools and they call it send off. And uh I was taken to um I was taken to Dallas, Texas. And uh so I, I made my residence in Dallas. I moved my family over there. My mother and my brothers, I moved to Dallas.

00:02:16.190 - 00:02:31.490

Were you a professional ball player? Well, not exactly a professional because the Coca Cola didn't have no professional ball team. It was just a club just to advertise the Coca Cola. Every time we finish a game. Uh there be, there was a big sign there and

00:02:31.500 - 00:02:46.929

Coca Cola was here. They used to take it on movies like a newsreel. They show it all over the, all over the years everywhere, show the whole game. And then at the end they, they show a sign they would say, and Coca Cola was here and

00:02:46.940 - 00:03:04.580

we used to travel in a big uh train car and of this big sign Coca Cola baseball club. Uh, and, uh, I stayed with him five years, uh, had a contract with them five years. They used to pay me $50 a week. But in that, at

00:03:04.589 - 00:03:22.729

that time, not even the president of the bank was getting that much money. It was, it was those times you remember, you know, you don't remember. But, uh, we're too young but I was, I'm 76 years old now. I was 76 years. And uh at that

00:03:22.740 - 00:03:43.660

time, I was in Dallas and uh my brothers were there at that time. Uh Lydia Mendoza was already very popular. Another, another, another man by the name of Cortez, Raul Cortez. He had a, uh he had a uh one hour of Spanish radio station in, in,

00:03:43.669 - 00:04:00.949

in San Antonio, Texas and it took Lydia to this radio station and she only had one hour time a day. And then from there that she went to the Bluebird Company to uh to uh record some. The first record that she ever made was Bluebird. And

00:04:00.960 - 00:04:21.410

at that time, uh she was so popular so popular in Dallas that uh every restaurant, every drug store. Where were you have a radio? You will hear her day and night really? And also there was a big radio station in uh not an Eagle Pass, Texas,

00:04:21.420 - 00:04:37.700

but I forgot that the other town next to Eagle Pass in Texas, in Del Rio, in Del Rio, in Del Rio. It was a big, strong, very strong, you can hear, they tell me you can hear this radio station all over the world. Do you remember

00:04:37.709 - 00:04:58.019

that? Well, I read about Doctor Brinkley. Doctor Brinkley was the owner of that. He used to advertise, uh, the Glans. He was transplanting glands, little pool, you know. Did you hear her live over that station or was it like? Yeah, she too, she too, she had

00:04:58.029 - 00:05:18.890

a program there of uh every day. And then this fell at somebody, not, not Brinkley, but another guy who uh rented uh some time for this station. He was advertising, he was selling uh Liam Mendoza's photos for $1. He says, mail me $1 and I mail

00:05:18.899 - 00:05:42.279

you a autograph picture of Lydia Mendoza. He made like a million dollars. He made rich. He was, he made Bridge because that come in the mail about the thousands every day. But the thousands and he, he read it but, but still didn't get nothing from them.

00:05:42.299 - 00:05:58.739

Did, did you, did you ever send for a picture? No, no, no, no, no, I didn't read. But uh when I was uh when I quit uh the Coca Cola company then uh I had much to do so I, I was uh I was looking around

00:05:58.750 - 00:06:10.350

to see what I can do. That's when I found her in San Antonio. And that's when I made a proposition to her to go out on the road How did, how did you do that? How did you, what did you say to her? Well, she said

00:06:10.359 - 00:06:30.959

it was all right. Her husband at that time was living, you know, the first, her husband and, uh, this is the second you met the 2nd 100 Fred. He's also, he, both of them were shoemakers and not the conscience. Anyway. Anyway, uh, I took her out

00:06:30.970 - 00:06:46.690

on the road and went to Dallas to play Dallas Houston. You just go with her or the whole family. No, the whole family, the whole family. Yeah. Yeah, the whole family. There was another sister, there was another sister who just play guitar. Her name was, uh,

00:06:46.720 - 00:07:05.440

g, I forgot the name. They called Panchita. Panchita who died in a car. That's right. She had, they had an accident coming in from Dallas. I wasn't there there. I was in San Antonio waiting for them and coming back. Uh, something happened. They had a big

00:07:05.450 - 00:07:18.899

wreck and she died and then she quit all of a sudden on account of that. She quit for, oh, I say about five years. She didn't do nothing. She didn't, she didn't want to go out on the road. She didn't do make records on nothing. She

00:07:18.910 - 00:07:35.850

just stopped working for five long years when you took them on the road. Could you somehow in your mind? Tell us how that went? What kind of car did you drive? How did you know where to go? Well, I uh I inquired from uh uh I

00:07:35.859 - 00:07:55.920

used to, first before I started with her, I start working with a man Mr Jimenez. He had the first uh uh distributing office of motion pictures, motion picture distributing office for Mexican pictures called Latin American Film Agency. This is the name I still use my name

00:07:55.929 - 00:08:15.209

for my company here because I'm now a distributor of picture. And I say, oh, you are. Yeah, I sell pictures, I buy pictures and I sell them to Mexico. Not, not exactly a distributor I think, but AAA broker. Yeah. And, and uh this man was in,

00:08:15.220 - 00:08:29.660

in Dallas, this man was in San Antonio, Texas with his office and he was uh a branch office of, of the main office was in, in, in, in El Paso, Texas by the Calderon, the Calderon. They used to be the producers of these pictures and buyers

00:08:29.670 - 00:08:45.799

also from all the independent producers in Mexico. In that time, they used to produce maybe three or four pictures a year. But anyway, the these pictures were still out of San Antonio and El Paso for the California and Texas and Arizona were all Latin people were

00:08:45.809 - 00:09:02.299

Mexican people. And I started with him, I worked, I worked for him for, for a while and uh then I learned where all these places were. All the little towns. Yeah, I worked there one year before I went out on the road with Lydia. So when

00:09:02.309 - 00:09:18.789

I went out, I quit this man because I didn't like to be, I never did like to be working for, for nobody, you know, for your own boy, boy. So I want to work as an impresario, as manager for the leader group, for the Mendoza group.

00:09:20.039 - 00:09:37.530

But uh she didn't wanna work, she worked for me uh six or seven months and after the accident, she didn't wanna work, she quit me. So I started work with other artists. That's why I have so many pictures. I started working with other artists that I

00:09:37.539 - 00:09:57.190

bring from Mexico. Personal appearances of Mexican movie, movie stars. I went to work on the road and I had a little office in San Antonio, Texas, the Houston building. All of a sudden one day here comes Lydia and her husband, her husband and they asked me

00:09:57.200 - 00:10:11.590

if I could take him out on the road because they, well, they needed to go out on the road and she got tired of doing nothing for five years. So by that time the people gotten forgotten about her. This was after the second war, was it

00:10:11.599 - 00:10:29.609

or? Yeah, this was about 40 years. All right. Right. Right. In the war, right. During the war, right. No, it was still after the war. It must have been 45 or something. Yeah. Yeah. And then I, uh, she asked me if I could pick him out

00:10:29.619 - 00:10:49.440

in the road again because she needed to go out her husband wasn't working then. And, uh, so I told her all right, I was gonna do my best because at that time everybody kind of forgotten about it. Mhm. But anyway, because they see the public thought

00:10:49.450 - 00:11:06.549

that Lydia was the one that got killed. Everybody thought that Lydia was the one. They didn't think it was a sister, but because she disappeared, she disappeared from the, from, from the stages from, from the public. So everybody thought that Leah was the one that died

00:11:06.559 - 00:11:22.830

in this accident. So when I got started to try to book her in the area that nobody would believe me. Oh, what's the matter with you? You're trying to, you're trying to fool everybody. Now, you, you, you get out the sister thinking Lydia, they, they wanna

00:11:22.840 - 00:11:42.260

have names so we don't want you. I had a big trouble. Lots of, lots of effort uh to, to put, put her on the eight again. But still I got her on, on V and the people responded and they, they saw that it was really her.

00:11:42.270 - 00:11:57.479

When they, when they hear her sing, she had a beautiful voice. I like to go once more way back when you first started picking her up back after in, in, in the thirties. You know, when I first met her, do you remember what kind of a

00:11:57.489 - 00:12:15.700

show they would put on? You know how it started? Well, at first, at first, uh the uh would open up the show with the two sisters singing Maria playing the guitar. She Juanita never did play at and in a singer but it was, it was real

00:12:15.710 - 00:12:33.780

country singing, real beautiful singing. Then after that, they came in the two comedians which it was Manuel and Chapin doing a little sketch together with Juanita. Juanita will happen on the stage. Also, Juanita will come out, the next number was Citta or out to sing by

00:12:33.789 - 00:12:53.239

herself. The old type of singing, you know, with a little crystal with a little uh mirror, you know, for everybody is I like this man here, the the old type of, you know, uh and, and then after, after that, while Lydia will close the show, Leia

00:12:53.250 - 00:13:03.739

would come out and close you up. But at that time, she didn't play the violin no more. She only played the violin when it was in the group while the other sister was leaving. The other sister was playing the guitar together with Juanita with uh Maria.

00:13:04.349 - 00:13:18.400

Where did you first see them on the plaza in, in the plaza in, in San Antonio? Could you, could you give me a description of what it looks like? You know, you know where the market is the Mexican market in, in re you know, you were

00:13:18.469 - 00:13:37.349

familiar with San Antonio, you know where the, where the uh the uh the uh the hospital is. What's the name of this hospital right in town? Uh I know it's just south of there, right across a plaza there. Big park in there. We call this park,

00:13:37.359 - 00:13:55.210

the plaza in Jar. This is an old, the rest park, but no more. I got another name. Uh uh And then there's a big, there's a big market there. Fruit market in the back of the fruit market. Now, all the trucks, they come in the morning

00:13:55.219 - 00:14:15.299

from everywhere with full of fruits, all kinds of vegetables. Maybe you notice it in the back of this market that, that place was open at that time. And around, around this open place around there was a lot of little tables and little restaurants like in the

00:14:15.309 - 00:14:32.210

open air. They say you enchiladas and tacos and tamales and all of that. You know, in this town, there was a lot of groups going around there singing for the public Creoles, duets or single men singing and you give you PP a head around. Well, the

00:14:32.219 - 00:14:48.570

Lian group was one of these kind of groups. You see, she would play in these restaurants around here and they will pass the head around. She was playing the violin. Very sweet music, very beautiful music, all type of wal waltzes, you know, fox trots and then

00:14:48.580 - 00:15:06.900

she sing. That's when the people got around her. When, whenever, when she started singing, when everybody put all the tables and come over to where the business was because that's where she was picked up by this uh Bluebird. Company to, to make records. And, but this

00:15:06.909 - 00:15:23.059

Cortez boy who's already died, even, usually the family would sing. But then when, when she sang by herself, people would really pay. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But at that time I just, I just follow her but I didn't do any business with her. I didn't talk

00:15:23.070 - 00:15:41.020

to her or nothing. I just, just admire her, like an admire. I was at that time working for this fellow with the distribution office in San Antonio, Texas. But um when she, when, when she, she didn't like this kind of work, she didn't like this kind

00:15:41.030 - 00:15:58.159

of work and the old man was getting old. Finally, he died, the old man. And then, uh uh that's when she started going out to certain places, certain places, restaurants, mostly restaurants like in Dallas and Houston, her husband would take her out. That's when I made

00:15:58.169 - 00:16:13.530

a proposition to her to go out with me. But then the accident came, then we stopped for five years. Can I ask you a personal question? Were you very fond of her? I mean, she was a very beautiful woman with me. She was strictly a business

00:16:13.679 - 00:16:32.820

at that time. I was married myself and, and uh it was strictly business. She heard her husband with her. She was, she was already married. She had this, she had three little girls already. You know, the girls, you know, the daughters. Yes, I met them too.

00:16:32.830 - 00:16:50.770

They put a picture of some of them. One of the, of course, they're all people now. They have got great Children and everything. But at that time she already had, uh, two girls, two girls and then she had another girl, 33 old. But, but, but, but,

00:16:50.780 - 00:17:04.380

but you like her music better than you did any of the other people you heard there? Sure. I used to like her singer very much. I used to and I used to bring uh big stars and I used to put her together with big stars from

00:17:04.390 - 00:17:30.189

Mexico. And everybody was astonished she would, everybody will admire her so much because they like the way she's singing. And uh and I never did. I, I was uh I was not uh smart. No to take her to Mexico because she, she was more popular in

00:17:30.199 - 00:17:46.930

the other side of Mexico, the frontier of Mexico and, and United States. She was more popular there than in, in, in her own tech and in her than on the side. Like for instance, in the state of Chihuahua, all the northern part of Mexico, she was

00:17:46.939 - 00:18:06.109

so popular. And the first time I noticed that is one time that I received a telegram from a fellow from Chihuahua asking me if Lydia Mendoza was available for a couple of days in Chihuahua. Then how much I wanted for, for just her? He didn't care

00:18:06.119 - 00:18:22.260

about the group or nothing, just her. But I told this I didn't even answer him because I thought we ain't got no business in Mexico. You know, he is our business. You know, I was, I was a fool. But finally this guy keep on after me

00:18:22.270 - 00:18:32.880

11 day, he called me on the phone to San Antonio. He found me there. I said, look, why don't you answer my telegrams? I said, well, I don't, we don't, I don't get the girl. We got plenty of work over here in the United States. More

00:18:32.890 - 00:18:50.859

than I can do guys. You gotta go to Chicago and uh up to New York and all those places. He says, look, I give you $5000 for two nights at that time, $5000 it was not enough and you had to break all the banks to get

00:18:50.869 - 00:19:06.689

$5000. You know, it was a lot of money. It was a fortune. I thought the guy was playing with me. I said, well, listen, he said no, I I can send you a draft right now. I can send you a check. I can, I can order

00:19:06.699 - 00:19:21.010

the bank. The commercial bank is not going to pay you $5000 any time you want to just send me a telegram saying yes, send me a telegram. So then I talked to her, I talked to her. Look here, this guy must be crazy. He's offered me

00:19:21.020 - 00:19:37.910

$5000 for two nights only. You not. The family said he said, well, let's get the money. I said, she says, all right, let's go. I said, no, let's get the money first. Let's get him because I still don't believe it. So I send this guy a

00:19:37.920 - 00:19:53.859

telegram. And the next day, the very next day they called me from the commercial bank. Banco commercial de San Antonio. Yeah, we got uh we got an order here to pay you $5000. So I went to, got the, got the money out at that time. I

00:19:53.869 - 00:20:10.790

was working with, I always, we work on percentage rate with you. See, we, we, we, we, we had a salary paid to, uh, the family and then her and I, we split the difference. See, we split the, the, the balance. We're making very good money. I

00:20:10.800 - 00:20:27.089

made enough money to educate my, my big boy in colleges and everything and she made enough money only only that her husband would just spend most of it all the time. You know, that's what I heard. Well, anyway, so let's don't talk about that. So we

00:20:27.099 - 00:20:40.810

go back to that. But did you, did you go then? Finally? Well, yeah, finally I tell him. So here here came the day that we had to go. My goodness. Well, I drove, I always had a brand new station wagon. I said, but we travel all

00:20:40.819 - 00:20:55.630

over. We used to travel in the station w so I took my station wagon, went out to Chihuahua, you know, before you get to Chihuahua before to go to the city of Chihuahua, because that's the name of the state, you know, but the city of Chihuahua

00:20:56.369 - 00:21:10.699

south must have been about uh 15 kilometers before we got to Chihuahua. We were stopped by the police. I thought it was immigration or something about paper, you know. So we stopped him and he said, come to Buenos side, get to one side. There was a

00:21:10.709 - 00:21:28.770

policeman there. They had a little tent, little tent and he said, uh Lia Mendoza. Yeah. All right. This is the city mayor of Chihuahua and I'm the chief of police and these are two and another. We, we are, uh we have a parade going, we, we

00:21:28.780 - 00:21:45.069

have a parade fixed for Lydia. But we want her to get dressed here in a little tent, put on her, her costume. You know, I was astonished myself. All right. So I told her what it's all about. She said, all right. So she dress like with

00:21:45.079 - 00:22:12.550

her costumes and everything. And then we, they put her on a truck, big beautiful truck, all with ribbons and flowers and in a big liia Mendoza. See, and I was in the automobile myself with the city mayor. I'm telling you. So when we got to the,

00:22:12.560 - 00:22:31.290

to the, to the, I thought, I thought, I thought la la, la, la luz, we uh when we arrived in the city, you know, we were surprised all the main streets. So many people waiting for her in the head arcs on the streets. Welcome Lydia Mendoza.

00:22:31.300 - 00:22:47.589

BM Benita Lydia Mendoza, welcome Lydia Mendoza. So then that's when I said, my goodness, I think I made a mistake. I charge $10,000 if I asked that guy for 10, he told me later on, he says, you, you don't know how to do business with this,

00:22:47.599 - 00:23:02.430

with this, with this woman. Mr Cortez, if you asked me for 10,000, I would have given to you. I'm telling you and the show was gonna be in the bull ring because it was not North Vegas. That was, and the bull ring was not, not big

00:23:02.439 - 00:23:19.540

enough. They must have had about 20,000 people that night there in the show, they had all the people in the show, you know, the artist, local artist and then her, the second night was the same. And then another guy came in from Torreon, Coahuila town in

00:23:19.550 - 00:23:33.849

the State of Coahuila, which his name is Torreon. And this guy came over and says, I want to have you gotten it for. Yeah, she's a, he says, why I give you, I give you a 50% of the gross. And I put her, put her two

00:23:33.859 - 00:23:49.680

days in the bull ring too in, in Torreon. Well, I say uh no, you give me some guarantee. Then I opened up my eyes. I was very easy to learn myself. I said, you give me a guarantee, so much money, a guarantee. And then, and then,

00:23:49.689 - 00:24:08.420

and then you give me 50%. So he said, all right, I forgot how much guarantee he gave me. But we went over to, to Rum for two days. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it was a big commotion to see her in town. And then, and

00:24:08.430 - 00:24:19.560

then, how much did you make that night? You know? Oh, I remember, I forgot we must have made about $10,000 something like that. That must have been a lot of people because they didn't charge. How much did they charge it? No, it was, no, it was

00:24:19.569 - 00:24:34.000

cheap then. I mean, 10 pesos, 15 pesos at $1 at that time it was eight pesos for $1 at that time. But then I opened my eyes. I didn't want to take and then they came over to see me from Saltillo, from Monterrey, from all the

00:24:34.010 - 00:24:49.050

border towns. I said no, no more business. We'll go back home, we'll go back home. We, we're going to organize something better than me. Why, why, why did you like it? There was, the hotel is not comfortable or no, no, no, it was very beautiful because

00:24:49.660 - 00:25:04.469

it was very nice. Everything was very nice, very nice. Same as the United States and a lot of places much better. But I didn't wanna do it because I, I think like, I wanna think about business. Now, if she is making so much money here, let's

00:25:04.479 - 00:25:19.689

go back home and think about it and organize a tour, real organized tour. Like, so we, we went back, I said, this is all we. No, we gotta go to Santino. No, no, no, let's go back home. We went back to San Antonio and organize a

00:25:19.699 - 00:25:35.989

tour through Monterey T PICO. But at that time I was visiting myself over here and I, I couldn't, I didn't go with her. I just had her over there and she went by herself with the, with the family, with the family. Her mother, her mother was

00:25:36.000 - 00:25:54.790

very wise for business. Yeah, she was, she was, she was. Lydia has always been quiet. Very quiet. She didn't know about number. She didn't know about that between her mother and her husband. They're the one that got all the money. She never knew how much she

00:25:54.800 - 00:26:12.000

never knew nothing but sing to play the guitar. But I guess that's why she depended on you. But here when I brought her here in Los Angeles, when did you first bring her? What do you mean? Yeah. I must have been in 1940. Must have been

00:26:12.010 - 00:26:28.420

in 1944 45 something like that. We play El Paso, Texas at the Colombia area one whole week. It was, it was probably after the war. The war was finished. Was it? Yeah, the war was finished. It was finished and then we came over to the Mason

00:26:28.430 - 00:26:45.790

Theater in Los Angeles at that time, they, they, there was not a million dollar was an American theater for American shows. You see? But Mr Frank Fau, who was the owner, I got his picture there, who was the owner of the California Theater and the Mason

00:26:45.800 - 00:27:05.510

Theater, you know, the Mason Theater was, you know where the Labor Department is now between 1st and 2nd streets in Los Angeles. There's a big building there called the Labor Department. That's where the old Mason theater was. Lot of Mr Frank F had 2500 seats. That's

00:27:05.520 - 00:27:20.810

what she played the first time. I'm telling you. That was a, that was a historical night, the night she opened it, it was so many people on the streets that the fireman had to take to come over and the police and they had to send some

00:27:20.819 - 00:27:36.530

soldiers because the people were just, they couldn't, they couldn't open the D A because they were afraid that they would burn the, the, the, the throw down the doors and everything. I mean, to tell you that it was not sure we couldn't play that that night

00:27:36.540 - 00:27:54.670

because of some, the commotion. It was not well organized. E even the owner of the theater didn't think he was, he was that much, uh uh that much popular. She was so much popular that she would bring people even from Tijuana. They came over to see

00:27:54.680 - 00:28:14.449

her from San Diego from everywhere, from everywhere from San Francisco. And they all try to get in at the same time. It was bad. The, the, the, the, the, the fireman with the big trucks. And I'm telling you it was something big and nobody, nobody ever

00:28:14.459 - 00:28:30.000

had, not even the big stores in Mexico here. Not even cantin, nobody. She was really sound, she was really something that was. Did the family come along with it? I brought the family. I wrote the whole show. We stayed there two weeks at the ma the,

00:28:31.430 - 00:28:48.750

oh, it was really, it was, she was really popular. Why was she so popular? Why did she? Well, on that out here? Well, she was popular everywhere. In Mexico City. They had a program, they had a program in the Xaw radio station at one o'clock in

00:28:48.760 - 00:29:06.069

the morning had two hours of playing only Lydia Mendoza Records. But uh nobody even wanted to put her in person in, in, she was not the type of Mexico City. She was the type of the people in the northern part of Mexico, the southern part of

00:29:06.079 - 00:29:23.260

Texas and United States. Chicago, Chicago everywhere. But her, her type of singing and her type of playing the guitar was not for the, for the center of Mexico. That's something else. I tried to get her in Veracruz. I tried to get, no, no, not in the

00:29:23.270 - 00:29:39.140

record. They didn't even know her over there. She was 22 countries Yeah, like two countries. Yeah. But, uh, but, but xeg, it transmitted all, all, all over Mexico. Did it. I mean, well, no, no, I mean, this is X, which one was it? XCWXCW in Mexico

00:29:39.180 - 00:29:55.060

City? That they're the one that had a program that, that's all, they had a program. She never went over there, like, she went one time, like a tourist but she never in Mexico. It was not her type, It was not the right type from Mexico City.

00:29:55.560 - 00:30:16.739

Like many, many people, many artists from Mexico City. They're not the type of the northern part of Mexico or like the northern part of Mexico. You know, Pulque pra pol or in the center of Mexico. The mariachis is different. Mexico is got different. Each state. You

00:30:16.750 - 00:30:33.670

find different food and different music in each state of Mexico. I want to. But anyway, but, but she finally did open the doors finally at the theater and she made the performance here. We here in Los Angeles. Oh, yeah. The next day it was all right.

00:30:33.680 - 00:30:51.670

The next day organized the lines, the lines, I mean to tell you it was around all the blocks around us since eight o'clock in the morning. How much, how much do they charge in those days to get 50 cents? Admission price? 60 cents. Yeah. Then, then

00:30:51.680 - 00:31:12.199

I had another emotion episode of her life. One time I took her to Tijuana. There were several uh Mexican artist that I took, it was a big show, big show. We could take a, are you familiar with the Mexican actors or the Cono Cono Unos Cono

00:31:12.689 - 00:31:32.780

Mante Toes. Well, anyway, I, I get this all these fellas, Emilio Tuero big show, big show for the benefit of the Red Cross in, in Tijuana. But I didn't care whether it was the uh the benefit or not. I say you give me $2000. So I

00:31:32.790 - 00:31:52.359

don't care about the benefits. I don't, we don't pay no benefits. I never did play. No, you pay me something will work. Then you advertise whatever you want. So they did, they did they give me $2000 for. So I took it at night, Emilio Tuero, which

00:31:52.369 - 00:32:11.380

I have a picture there with a big star, you know, biggest story from Mexico man and Las Hermanas Capuano, all a big, big show. Anyway, we started the show and everybody, everybody opened the show, the show went on very nicely and we leave Lydia Mendoza to

00:32:11.390 - 00:32:27.560

the list to the list. Really? That place was so must have been 35,000 people in the, in the bull ring. It was also the bull ring. See when they play in the bull rings, they also put seats in, in the, in the arena, in the arena

00:32:27.569 - 00:32:47.750

where the Bulls, they also put maybe 1000 seats more in there besides what they have in the grades. Anyway. It was funny, God don't mind what a night. Anyway, uh Everybody came out, you know, everybody came out and sing and everything, the time came for Varro

00:32:47.800 - 00:33:05.890

to come out. So I told her Comadre, let's go. I achieve my ka, you know, she baptized my, my daughter Kadre. Let's go. It's time for you. She said, I'm kind of afraid. There's so many people say, well, one more show. That's all. Let's go see.

00:33:05.900 - 00:33:20.599

At first when she, when she used to come out to sing, she was always needed a chair, sit down on a chair, you know, she hide her face because she was so ashamed of everything, you know. But I got her to play and sing, standing up

00:33:20.609 - 00:33:35.719

to hang on the guitar here with a little hook like everybody does and, and, and I got her to talk because she, she, I said you have to say hello to the public and say a few words to the public. So she learned all of that

00:33:35.729 - 00:33:51.109

from me and she finally done it very nicely, the people like that, you know? And that night by the time she come out, I took her said she never wanted to come out in those big places if I didn't take her by the arm myself because

00:33:51.119 - 00:34:06.449

she felt confident. So I took her the minute we got out from the dressing rooms to the arena when you go out to the big ring in, in the middle of the arena, all the people stand up, stood up. Can you mention about 35,000 people standing

00:34:06.719 - 00:34:33.509

up? My goodness. She got so excited she couldn't play. We got to come on, come out. Oh my God. I must have been something in her throat here like crying, you know, and, and I see the people applauding, you know, I never, they must have applauded

00:34:33.519 - 00:34:49.179

about 25 minutes standing up on the people. I can't do it. Compa I, so I had to take her back. We took her back to the resting room again and we got the most of the artist to play again. You know, when she rested. Look about

00:34:49.280 - 00:35:05.239

it. But what we're gonna do, we're gonna try to give the money back to the people here. Are there something when she finally got over? She finally got over it. And the second time when she went out and she died, she sang about, oh, she moved

00:35:05.250 - 00:35:22.090

to sing about 2530 songs. Yeah. Did she take a good drink before she got there? But she never did, she never did drink or smoke or not. I always used to offer a little drink of cognac or maybe tequila. I uh she just, she just got

00:35:22.120 - 00:35:39.959

herself, she got over it. She just got over. It was a big emotion. She never saw that before. People standing up. Amazing. Amazing. Right. Big Yeah. Big, big star like uh then there will never be another one. Never be another one. IC and she, she knows

00:35:39.969 - 00:35:55.550

all these songs. That's the other part that really always baffled me. They're all in her head. She doesn't need a sheet. No, no, no, no, no, no, she don't know. No, she, no, she don't know. She just, uh, hear a song. Her most popular song was,

00:35:55.560 - 00:36:13.879

uh, you know, Malory Malory, she must, uh, she must have recorded that song maybe 15 or 20 times and with different 20 companies because she, she recorded for every company you name it. She recorded, she must have recorded about 1000 records. I'm gonna have a single

00:36:13.889 - 00:36:28.350

record. I'm gonna have a listing of them in, in the book. I'm trying to get the whole, at that time. You know, there was no, it was just one song on each side of the record, you know, like now they have 10 or 12 songs, different,

00:36:28.780 - 00:36:46.689

different thing now. Yeah, but you still didn't wanna go back to Mexico after all those amazing successes. No, I, yeah, I sent her, I sent her to the, to the frontier to s to Monterey to, she went back to Chihuahua again. She, she made some tours

00:36:46.699 - 00:37:01.629

but I didn't want III I couldn't go with her. I just booked her myself, but I couldn't go with her because I was busy here with the, with this other company. At that time, the big pictures came in like Rancho Grande or upon Ciano, the big

00:37:01.639 - 00:37:15.489

Mexican pictures and I had to, I had to be with the company because I had a big job. They had a big job but they never wanted her in any of those movies in Mexico. They, they, they never asked her. No, not in the movies. No,

00:37:15.500 - 00:37:27.060

I tried to put her in the movies but, uh I talked to Raul Diana, which is my picture over there with him. He was one of the biggest producers at that time. He says no contest. What can I do with it? She don't know how to

00:37:27.070 - 00:37:42.040

talk. She don't know how to act. I mean, she's, she's so timid. She's so bashful. She's so, yeah, she was no good for beaches. No good for beach. But this was it that, or forgive me for using this word. Was it porque a pha, is that

00:37:42.060 - 00:37:57.959

a part of it? Huh? No, no, not only for that. A lot of pos, uh, that have been done very good in, in the Mexican theater in the Mexican movies. But she just inherited, she, she was, uh, very bashful. We better go Sosa again. It still

00:37:57.969 - 00:38:14.689

is you? Yeah, she's, she, she don't hardly talks, you know, but a, a at that time when she started, it was worse. Uh, but now she comes over here to see me once in a while, once in a while she comes over and she's around here

00:38:15.570 - 00:38:31.649

and then, uh, she comes over to the house. Yeah. Or we, we, when we go to Texas, I get to see her. I call her and we go to San Antonio very often. I call her on the phone to Houston and she's not there. I find

00:38:31.659 - 00:38:52.379

her. We keep in touch. We keep in touch by mayor when you first picked them up and you traveled around, mostly around Texas. Or where did you know around mo, mostly, mostly Texas, Arizona and California. That was sure thing every year. How did you know places

00:38:52.389 - 00:39:10.159

where to stay or where to get good. I knew everything and we miss it. We never miss a day. Even sometimes I had to pay three towns in one night. Yeah. Like here we used to play, like, uh, San Francisco. San Jose Salinas the same night.

00:39:10.729 - 00:39:27.139

Yeah, I used to travel and at that time it was harder to travel because, uh, there were no free weights. Like now, took a lot of people ask me about those. Uh, because I'm the, I'm the oldest, uh, the oldest emperor scenario that in the Mexican

00:39:27.149 - 00:39:47.850

business there is. Yeah, the, the oldest one. And sometimes they ask me and I make phone and says, ah, we used to have a small, little narrow roads. We used to fight with Indians to get through. But, I mean, did, did you ever have any bad

00:39:47.860 - 00:40:03.659

experience? I know that a lot of Anglos, you know, didn't treat people of, of, like, no, I never did. I even when we went to work in, in the west, we used to play the West Texas like LBO San Angelo. Those were the bad places. Always

00:40:03.669 - 00:40:19.639

the bad places. And we, I used to take her over there during the uh picking cotton season. A lot of people, a lot of money. Not now because now they pick cotton with machines, but then it was all, but then it was all by hand especially.

00:40:19.649 - 00:40:33.409

And we used to make place we used to get uh to live in, in, in. We used to stay, um, about three weeks in Lubbock, Texas. And every night we pray a different town every night. Come back to sleep in Lubbock and come back to sleep.

00:40:34.179 - 00:40:50.090

She would cook rollover so we would cook. Oh, yeah, she makes, she used to make the finest flour tortillas I ever tasted in my life. And uh during the day we didn't do nothing. He would go out at seven o'clock at night to certain towns around

00:40:51.649 - 00:41:09.060

up to Amarillo. And I play a lot in Colorado too, Denver, Colorado and some, some places around Colorado. We used to play all of that too, but mostly in Texas in West Texas. And that's where they had a lot of discrimination. You see restaurants where they

00:41:09.070 - 00:41:23.860

say no Mexicans allowed no, no negros allowed no colored people and no dogs. No at that time. But I make sure that uh I make sure that I didn't have to go in those places. We didn't have to go in those places. This was more in

00:41:23.870 - 00:41:41.600

West Texas. Most in West Texas. Not so much. No, no, nothing here in California. Not Texas and West Texas around, around. No, nothing around San Antonio. Not in the Rio Grande Valley. No, there was no discrimination there because most of the people there are Mexican anyways.

00:41:42.870 - 00:42:02.850

No, it was no discrimination. But, uh, towns like close to Eagle Pass. I forgot the name of this town. Oh, that was bad. There was a president of United States that was born in this lockdown. It's on the highway. Like coming from San Antonio to Del

00:42:02.860 - 00:42:16.209

Rio into Eagle Pass. It was this town. Oh, it was, that was bad. II, I used to go play there but we used to come from San Antonio and go back to San Antonio the same night. Do you remember what happened there? No, no, nothing ever

00:42:16.219 - 00:42:29.989

happened to us. Just to nothing. It was to other people. See nothing ever happened to us because I was pretty careful I would put on and, and not to visit those places where I see the signs and all of these places. I would put a cry

00:42:30.149 - 00:42:46.250

on and that's the reason she, I used to put all these, all my people in a tourist court in tourist courts where they had kitchenettes. We used to cook our own meals. And that way we keep from being in trouble. Yeah. So, so you, you really

00:42:46.260 - 00:43:02.610

sometimes live in a separate world? So that, I mean, yeah. So, did you ever think about it? It make people feel so strange. I mean? Oh, yeah, we had, like, I used to see a lot of things that, that I like, I mean, but what could

00:43:02.620 - 00:43:20.280

I do? It was, uh, a lot of people used to go work there. A lot of, uh, movie stores, they would run out of restaurants. Nice people. There was another, another fella by the name of Antonio Badu. You remember Antonio Badu? I had a picture of

00:43:20.350 - 00:43:36.510

you big movie star. Big one. The biggest one I ever had in Mexico. Still living. He's still living. We went in the restaurant just because we wanted to go. We stopped at the best hotel. The hotel was all right. The hotel was all right. Stop in

00:43:36.520 - 00:43:56.800

the best hotel. He was making personal presents with me over there to come around. And uh we saw a big sign right across the street from the hotel. Big, nice, beautiful restaurant. No Mexicans or color, admit it. Where was this in? What town in Lubbock? Lubbock,

00:43:56.810 - 00:44:15.129

Texas. That was the worst one of all la Mesa, Texas, San Angelo, all those places. So I told him, let's go in here, let's go and see, see how it is. So, all right, let's go. We're dressed up very nice, you know, here. So we got

00:44:15.139 - 00:44:30.979

in, we sat on the table, we order a big steak, nice food. They serve us very nice and everything in the way or anything else. No, no, go. We talked, we stayed at about an hour and nothing happened. We got the bill. We left the tip,

00:44:30.989 - 00:44:48.989

we got out and paid as, as we were going out. I told the, the cashier, I thought, I thought you say no Mexicans around, you know, no, allow me, But we're Mexicans and we show her our best support. I said, look me, my goodness. You don't

00:44:49.000 - 00:45:11.459

look like us. You're making a mistake all the time. It's so we had a, we had a good time. We had our left, we had our left, we were just performing but that was it. But uh nowadays. No more. No, no more. No more. Huh? So

00:45:11.469 - 00:45:28.199

that, that's it. I mean, what can I tell you? Yeah. I'd like to get a little bit more. I'm gonna have to turn this thing over uh for new tape because were you at some of the recording? Two of us if you, if you don't mind

00:45:28.209 - 00:45:48.800

a little bit more because I'm just really intrigued by, let me call my work. Mhm How did, how did you get your nickname? Doctor Nomal? Yeah. Did she tell you that? No, she didn't but I like to know but, but she, she called you that. Yeah,

00:45:48.810 - 00:46:03.520

she did see that man over there. That man over there. You see that two men over there walking up there. Yeah. Yeah. The next one is Lana Turner. See, I'm with Lana Turner. Well, then you see the two men there. Well, one on 111 of the

00:46:03.530 - 00:46:23.169

greatest comedians that ever was in Mexico. Uh huh. Before Cantinflas he drowned, he was drowned and he was swimming in the Chapala Lake and he was drowned. What was his name? Uh, Carlo Lopez. El Chalan. Chalan Rancho Grande la Rancho Grande Riano. He was a big

00:46:23.179 - 00:46:38.540

comedian. See, are happy with it. He's the one that name Me Doctor. No, because I compose a song. I composed a song by El No. So I used to sing it myself and the end of the year to pick up my guitar, you know, like, yeah.

00:46:38.560 - 00:46:53.729

Yeah. And I used to sing in Nopal for fun, you know, and then do it very simple. But then he named Me Doctor. No, he used to kind on a kind of song. Did, did you ever take part in the show kind of you there? That

00:46:53.739 - 00:47:15.129

was made by a famous guy. The caricature. It was made by, by a very famous caricature in Mexico. Uh What was the name? Huh? Cro cro Alvarado. Alvarado, I mean to Yuma. He, he, he put the, the, the, the pre prepare the, the Cactus there. Oh,

00:47:15.139 - 00:47:31.820

yeah, Doctor Cactus. Why did he put those feet on you? Yeah. Well, I was a catcher. See that one over there. That's another from another guy in San Antonio who made a drawing on me sitting down in the, in the, in the cactus. Yeah. That's a,

00:47:31.830 - 00:47:45.500

that's a cute one. It's a cute one and that's what the song is all about is. If you don't love me, I'm gonna sit down in a cactus. Hm. Uh, that, that's the reason that's the story. Did, did, did you have anything to do with them

00:47:45.510 - 00:48:04.239

getting these jobs on this, on these radio programs for Laboratorio Maya or something like that? No, you don't know anything about that. I don't know, maybe that was severe because she said that they broadcast for a long time over some stations for laboratorio Mayo. What was

00:48:04.250 - 00:48:21.959

that? I think out of Tijuana, but I'm not sure. Uh Mr Ham, maybe they took some records of her but I don't even know. You don't know what I put in my room. I know that. Uh, and, uh, I'm so, I think in, in the, in

00:48:21.969 - 00:48:36.939

the beginning, did you like any of the other musicians you heard in San Antonio? Like Santiago Jimenez or, or the Che, I used to like him. I, I used to like Santiago Jimenez. There was several, several good, uh, singers and, and comedians and actors. Uh, and

00:48:36.949 - 00:48:52.159

everybody wanted to work for me with me but I, I never had time. I, uh, when I go out with Lidia, I, it's, it's three or four months I die uh, yeah, they said they would only travel about six months, then they would go home again

00:48:52.169 - 00:49:09.159

and stay. They would like one time we was playing and this, this, this, this is, this is really funny. One time we was playing in a little town called Sonora in Arizona where they copper mine. So there are people there and I was out in the

00:49:09.169 - 00:49:23.250

lobby while, while Lydia was singing on the stage, I was out in the lobby getting ready for me to count the money and check up because we had to leave for another town. The next day I was talking to the manager there standing up, you know,

00:49:23.260 - 00:49:40.290

waiting for the show to be old. When here comes an old woman hit me with an umbrella in my head and it broke, broke my head, blood came out and everything I was taken to the hospital and I was uh I was uh 33 stitches in

00:49:40.300 - 00:49:58.919

her because she really hit me with this umbrella with the, with the handle of the umbrella. You think to have some I don't want you. She says that she was cursing me. He says you should be ashamed bringing making the the name of a people who's

00:49:58.929 - 00:50:18.439

already dead. Lydia Mendoza is in heaven now and you bring somebody else her thinking it was showing us that it was her. You should be ashamed and she keep on hitting me with this umbrella of she's still thinking that there was no lya. See. Oh, God.

00:50:19.169 - 00:50:42.750

Things like that happen many times. How did you convince her? Oh, I didn't, I couldn't convince her. They took me in an ambulance. It was all bloody, all bloody here and everything. She'd be ashamed. She's bringing somebody else here. Ask her sister. That's when I was

00:50:42.760 - 00:51:01.330

five years. She healed from people. Yeah, many things when the sisters pretty popular too. Yeah. The sisters were very popular too to do it. It was a very good dot They were. Maria was a very good musician. She played the piano. Very good on the stage.

00:51:01.340 - 00:51:17.080

She would play the piano. She would play the piano for, for, for her sister. When she was singing all by herself. The play is what we call the play. She was singing the play then or when, uh, uh, or when, uh, uh, Manuel would come on

00:51:17.090 - 00:51:31.810

the stage to put up a comical dance or something. She would play the piano. She was our pianist. We had everything in the group. We had everything in the group. Yeah. She's a good pianist, played by ear, everything by ear. She never took place. 11. Did

00:51:31.820 - 00:51:44.370

the mother take part in the show at all? By the time at first, not in the show. No. But when, when they were singing in this, in this park, in this plaza that I'm telling you in the market. And that's when she, she, she used to

00:51:44.379 - 00:51:58.199

play the mandolin. Did you ever hear them sing together? The mother and, and Lydia, or? Yeah, I heard him sing together when they were, when they play in this place. You know, I used to go every night to see him. You did when I was in

00:51:58.370 - 00:52:15.300

San Antonio. I used to go every night. You must have really enjoyed all. Sure. Yeah. Like everybody else, like everybody else. Oh, sure. I enjoy very much, very much. Yeah. Yeah, I like her. My mother, my mother knew her very good and she used to love

00:52:15.310 - 00:52:40.090

Lydia Mendoza. Every new record that will come out in the market and sell like, like hot cakes right away and I will buy one for my mother right away. Oh, yeah. Sure. Sure. Everybody like her. Yeah. And then, uh, a lot of composers would get, get,

00:52:40.100 - 00:52:58.959

uh, to looking for her all the time because everybody wanted, uh, for Lydia to sing their songs. You see, like for this one over here, let's see that, that one over there. See that group, the three there, I'm one that fella sitting down. I don't even

00:52:58.969 - 00:53:20.939

remember who he was. But the other one over here on this side, that's, that's the famous Lorenzo Barce Lata. Yeah. He's a composer. Maria Helena Rancho Grande. All those, huh? No, I don't know the Rancho Grande. Nope, he's a composer Guadalajara. No, Rancho Grande. That's the

00:53:20.949 - 00:53:36.060

composer Maria Elena Rancho Grande, one of the biggest, uh, composers of Mexico and he would come to you and I have that. He, when he died, he left me, his guitar sitting up over there and then he would come over here to work for me and

00:53:36.070 - 00:53:50.310

he would talk to Lida Mendoza and he gave, he gave her many, many songs. I was wondering where she got, how would she learn them? Do you know how she would learn? A lot of times she would, I would get her a record, a new record.

00:53:51.060 - 00:54:13.010

Mhm Recorded by somebody else. She will hear the record and she has such a beau beautiful memory in here that uh she learned it right away. She still does, still does. Amazing, amazing, amazing woman. Yeah. The whole family was very musical. Yeah. Um I wish you

00:54:13.020 - 00:54:31.179

could think, think of another story like those when. Yeah. Well, it was, it was uh many stories but not, not very many because it was a family. You see, it was a family. We travel nice. We talk about nice things. She never liked to joke or

00:54:31.189 - 00:54:51.610

she never, she was a quiet woman but, but her sister, Juan Juanita was pretty good jokes to her. No, she was very, she was one, very vegetable. All of them. Very quiet. Everybody because Andrew now seems to be a real, he's a real outgoing guy. And

00:54:53.250 - 00:55:06.719

what is he doing? Uh He works for the bus company in both of them. Both of them. I thought Manuel already. Retired from the bus company. I think he's supposed to retire next year. I think the last time I saw him he told me it was

00:55:06.729 - 00:55:20.590

just one more year and I quit, I think Andrew works as a, as a mechanic. No, he takes care of some of the, uh, stations. He, he, he, you know, the outlying bus stops keeps the plants in order and stuff like that. Did you talk to

00:55:20.600 - 00:55:36.429

them? Oh, yeah. Did he tell you about me? They told me they all talked about, you know. That's right. You were really a family. It was, it was in that way, a very traditional thing, sort of. It wasn't just that there was another man here from

00:55:36.439 - 00:55:53.669

Washington from the University of Washington. He tried to ride here and he wrote, he tried to write something about Lydia Mendoza and he did, he sent me some and he came here with me too asking me a lot of questions. And, uh huh, I said, all

00:55:53.679 - 00:56:07.520

right. And then, and then he sent me from this from the University of Washington. He sent me this, this writing that he made with or he didn't make it. Could, could I possibly see it? Would you have, I don't even know what I have to remember

00:56:07.610 - 00:56:32.500

his name because that's the only other person they mentioned to me that was writing something about her. A professor at Washington. He was a, no, no, no, no, no. Washington. Washington. DC. Yeah. Yeah. He was a professor of, uh, Latin costumes or something, something like that.

00:56:33.179 - 00:56:50.820

But then there was another one in San Antonio, Texas. But he still lives there. He was recording all the history of Liga mendosa and he called me many times. I told him, well, I can go get special for that. Uh, the next time I'm in San

00:56:50.830 - 00:57:06.010

Antonio, I'd be glad to do it. So, one time I went to San Antonio, I stayed the whole week with him and Lydia was that the man who did some programs for Kcor. Uh They told me about that. He really got something. He's really, he's got

00:57:06.370 - 00:57:28.290

some, oh yeah, he really got the whole thing because Lee and I were sitting all the time, hours and hours every day. He really was doing a very wonderful job. Uh I don't know what to get those tape. Was he at Trinity University? These men? No,

00:57:28.300 - 00:57:44.620

II, I really don't remember the name of the university. I really don't remember the ni ni Como. I, I, it is a long time ago and I must have something around but I, I don't even know where, you know, I don't know, I didn't pay much

00:57:44.629 - 00:58:04.600

attention to him because uh he was uh mixing Lydia with other people, you know, not, not only with her, but he was trying to figure with a lot of people from Mexico, a lot of arts concerts and this and that was it a film? No, it

00:58:04.699 - 00:58:29.520

sounds like it sounds like Manuel when we bring. Oh, Professor Carlos B Hill. Carlos Hill, University of Washington Department. 20 Department of History. Seattle, Washington. In Seattle. You're right. You got it here a whole, he has a telephone if you want it. Yeah. Could you give

00:58:29.530 - 00:58:49.969

me the phone number? You can just tell it to me in, in, into the machine is ok. Oh, yeah. All right. This is, uh, uh, his phone number is area code 20654357. Wait a minute, wait a minute. A lot of times I have to use my

00:58:51.709 - 00:59:21.159

5790 and 4865880. Seattle Washington, right? Uh Carlos BB like a boy Hill Gil. Mm. You know something, I hate him over there on the Gil, I think. Yeah. Yeah, that's the, that's the one she told me about. All right, besides him. Is this the only guy

00:59:21.169 - 00:59:43.459

in San Antonio? Uh, that's about it. Yeah. Um, but this guy in San Antonio really got something. He's really got something but we really made it. We really went at it. Yeah, that's a a, I think we learn everything. She, yeah, she's the one that taught

00:59:43.469 - 01:00:00.750

them everything. Apparently. So small woman and she would not like them. I don't know what they got those vegetable, um, good because she was not vegetable. She was real frank and she would talk and say, oh, come on, let's go see him. If she wanted to

01:00:00.760 - 01:00:16.820

go see the president, she'd see the president. Yeah, she was not vegetable. Another what she would she call herself Leonora or Leonor. Leonor? Just no a on the, or Leonor. And they have a daughter and she has her own Leonor. You know, Lydia has a daughter

01:00:16.830 - 01:00:29.909

by the name of Leonor. But I was ok. I was, uh, you didn't know the, the husband that well, the father, I guess he died in 38. No, he died right away now. I didn't know him very well. I didn't know him very well. I saw

01:00:29.919 - 01:00:42.770

him so I played this little triangle, you know. But, uh, but you didn't get to meet him. I didn't get to meet him. He died because they told me a lot, you know, that he was really sort of, he had a hard time trying to make

01:00:42.780 - 01:00:55.239

a living, you know, and he was never able to find a job here in the United States. Really? And they said that's why he kept drinking more and more, you know, he was a really alcoholic very much. But I was wondering about if you could pin

01:00:55.250 - 01:01:07.449

it down for people just to get an idea of, you know, they say, well, she made a lot of money and they say, well, no, she spent it all. But what sort of money would, would you, would she make on a, on a average theater, let's

01:01:07.459 - 01:01:23.054

say a Friday night in, in Laredo or, or, well, she would make her part to even rent for herself. She would, uh, maybe 100 100 and $50 which in those times I'm telling you it was a lot of money. And then you also said you paid

01:01:23.064 - 01:01:38.550

the family a certain salary. Yeah, we, from, from the, from what I get from the years I used to get 50 60% of the groceries. They will pay for everything, advertising, everything the dealer will pay for everything. We just pay our expenses first. We take out

01:01:38.560 - 01:01:54.780

the cost of the expenses, the traveling expenses like gasoline, something happened to the station wagon or something. We should never know because I, I kept a new station wagon every six months during normal life. Every six months, I will go get a new one, the old

01:01:54.959 - 01:02:13.189

one. And, uh, I never really had no trouble in the highway or nothing. Got a flat tire, nothing, nothing. But we would take out the cost of the, the station. We like oil and gasoline and keeping it clean or something like that. We take out the

01:02:13.199 - 01:02:34.020

cost of the, of the hotel expenses for the whole group hotel or tourist cor whatever we stop. And then we take out from the girls. Also the salaries we give, uh, the two sisters, the, uh, the two boys with small salaries like something like $5 a

01:02:34.030 - 01:02:50.879

day. $10 a day. But, and then from where it was left we go 5050 for a night. So she'll make pretty good. Uh, well, from the whole week I would say in, in average, in average, in the small towns I'm talking about like, when we go

01:02:50.889 - 01:03:11.389

to the Rio Grande Valley in Edinburgh or mcallen, Texas far west, like all those places she would, uh, come out. I, I would say, oh, I would say 5 $600 a week wish in those times. Big, real big money. Not, not little money. It was big

01:03:11.399 - 01:03:27.530

money because the biggest salaries in those times was $6 a week. 7 $10 a week. You remember? How old are you? Well, I'm 52. But, oh, yeah, I remember I was, I was in another toy story. Yeah, that was, I was born in Europe actually. See,

01:03:27.540 - 01:03:41.129

I was born in Germany. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it came here after the war. I've been in Germany. Uh, my wife and I have been in Germany many times. I buy a lot of pictures from, from Munich. Oh, really? Uh, and two years ago we spent

01:03:41.139 - 01:03:58.709

New Years and Christmas in, in Munich. Oh, really? Huh. Yeah. And, and then you, you have been involved with motion pictures here at all that are made for Spanish artist. Like, no, I, I produced two pictures myself in Argentina. In Argentina. Really? Yeah, there's a, there's

01:03:58.719 - 01:04:13.639

a picture one that, see that's where I am with the girls there. And then in the color picture that's, that's from the House of Love, which I produced myself. And then there was on the, on the top over there and I see uh yeah, that one

01:04:13.649 - 01:04:31.239

over there, I see that uh drawing the drawing. That's another one. The ho the House of Madame Lo lo sexy pictures. I made two in, in Argentina. I made very good with. They probably sell well. Yeah, they, they still sell and they steal it, distribution, steal

01:04:31.260 - 01:04:47.030

a distribution in the United States and Mexico and all over Latin America. And uh I mean, very good. I don't want to get involved with that. It's too much work. I don't like to work on your chair. I'm sure. I don't know. But, but did, did

01:04:47.040 - 01:04:59.729

you, did you travel through the Valley with him once down to Edinburgh every year, every year, every year, every year by the time? Uh But, but, but, but you, you, you were never there when they made all those hundreds of records like they recorded for all.

01:05:00.320 - 01:05:18.610

No, I don't remember that in San Antonio. Only Falcon. She went by herself. She had to record with Falcon with the Ramirez brothers. One of them had died already. Yeah. The one who, who wrote songs Beautiful. I used to make most of his uh most of

01:05:18.620 - 01:05:35.459

his uh no, not most of his, some, some of his songs had my, my my words. Oh, really? Oh, you also wrote songs? Yeah. I wrote songs. I write poems and songs and all that. Are there any of them that live here recorded or not? No?

01:05:35.969 - 01:05:58.830

Yeah. She recorded one. She recorded a, uh, no, I forgot the titles. She recorded several of several. Yeah. Oh, my God. But, but, but you never, uh, checked into how little, or how much they got from these records because I know they were and they like

01:05:58.840 - 01:06:15.820

cut cakes. But I don't, I don't know, they never get very much. You can't do everything I can do it. I, I was very busy with her tours. Always keep me day and night busy, busy making telephone calls and trying to arrange the tour because you

01:06:15.830 - 01:06:29.054

had to arrange a tour to go one way you see and come back the other way, not jump from one place and you, you, you kill yourself then like, if you're gonna play San Antonio and then play Los Angeles and then go back to, no, no,

01:06:29.064 - 01:06:43.114

no, no, you have to come down straight, you have to book yourself back from, from San Antonio. Coming down all the Ri Rio Grande to El Paso and then from Arizona, Make Arizona. If you wanna go to New Mexico, you can go to New Mexico, which

01:06:43.125 - 01:06:56.439

we did many times. One of the last tours that I made with her was in New Mexico. The less tours and then we come this way to Los Angeles, we go back the other way you had to arrange. So you have to keep working all the

01:06:56.449 - 01:07:15.060

time and trying to arrange II I know that she recorded with, for example, Narciso Martinez or, or Beto Villa. Do you, you do you know she never did Villa was very popular but he had his own, he had his own orchestra but you never traveled with

01:07:15.070 - 01:07:31.330

them. Sort of like, No, no. The only people, the only local people, the only local people that I ever worked with was the A Mendoza. All my, all the rest of them I had, I had, I had 5000 people working for me. 5000 actors from all

01:07:31.340 - 01:07:46.229

over the world. I mean, when his spanic are from Spain, I used to bring from Argentina from Central and South America, working from Mexico or from United States. Only Lidia Mendoza. That's all. I never didn't work with nobody else. Oh, I had it one time. I

01:07:46.239 - 01:08:09.020

had the, uh, Los Los, uh, II, I, I'll do it of an accordion and guitar. Uh, lo Los, uh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they work for me. I was the first one. I got him out of mcallen, Texas. Really? Yeah, because I was wondering that

01:08:09.030 - 01:08:24.129

was certainly that they are eternal. They are tenants but not, they're not the same ones, the, the, the songs and because the, the, the first ones they can't even sing. No, they're old, but it's the same ones. Eugenio Abrego and, and, and, well, as a, you,

01:08:25.450 - 01:08:46.200

no, no, no, no, no. The old ones. Oh, yeah. They must be my age. They are, they are, they almost not quite Thomas Ortiz. Well, no, I don't think they're that old but they were probably a little bit younger than you were. They were probably about,

01:08:47.189 - 01:09:03.290

yeah, they're still going. Oh, yeah. But they're sort of retiring, I think in Mexico they say they say that I'm so old that I was a waiter in the last supper, you know, something because I'm the last one. I'm the last one in the movie stores

01:09:03.299 - 01:09:19.560

and everything. I'm the last one no more. The one have passed away. Yeah. Yeah. Pedro Men, dad is gone. Jorge Negrete is gone. Cantinas is the one, but he's 65 years old and, but he's, but the oldest one too. And that guy there, Ramon Pereira. See

01:09:19.569 - 01:09:44.669

how young he is there. Well, he's 91 years old now. Yeah. They say that he was, uh, the referee between, in the fight of David and Goliath. Where did you grow up? Oh, I think you said that when you were 13, you came to San Antonio.

01:09:44.680 - 01:10:01.410

What was it when I was 13 years old? In 1921 1921. My father got killed in the revolution in Mexico. And, uh, yeah, he was with the Federal Army and they shot him in a little town close to Saltillo, Aguan, Nueva. He's buried there. And then

01:10:01.419 - 01:10:18.629

uh my mother uh she came over to San Antonio with the rest of the kids, five boys and one girl. I was the oldest. I was born in a little town in, in, in close to Monterey by the name of Galiana Nuevo Leon. All my brothers

01:10:18.640 - 01:10:33.859

were there on the place. No, two of them were going to do was she, was she able to bring any property with her or, or no, we don't bring that. She was so lucky. See, the government, the president of Mexico gave her 11,000 pesos. Silver pesos

01:10:33.870 - 01:10:46.879

are the big ones at that time. And we had all, we were all the key. When we come across, we had all these specials around our pockets and the little bags and everything. 11,000. Can you imagine in a bag in a, in a briefcase, in a,

01:10:46.990 - 01:11:00.790

in a canvas bag. She had I had one. So we came across the border. So, so, so, so, so you actually had a little money to start 11. That was a lot of time. But what happened? She put it in a Mexican bank in San Antonio

01:11:00.799 - 01:11:15.029

by the Banco de Mayo Banco Mayo. At that time, the banks in the United States, they had no, no Federal Reserve uh uh they were not insured. No, there were no insurance. See, Roosevelt was the one that they closed all the banks and had an insurance

01:11:15.259 - 01:11:34.839

with the, with the reserve, with the Federal Reserve. So this bank, my mo my mother deposit all this 11,000 pesos in this bank and the next month after she deposit made a deposit, the bank was closed, was broke and she lost every penny on every penny

01:11:34.850 - 01:11:49.609

of it. How did you make them? Well, we have to go to work. I used to, I, I went to work right away in a year. We selling candies and, uh, selling my brothers and everything. So we had to do it after school before school. Yeah.

01:11:49.620 - 01:12:02.450

And, and then you, you, you really like baseball and you became pretty good at that. Well, you know, when I was little, I used to play with a little, uh, uh, funeral home, Gonzalez funeral home. And he had a club. He was a baby, he had

01:12:02.459 - 01:12:17.370

a club. So he, I used to play with him every Sunday gave me 50 cents to play with him every Sunday from there. They picked me up the Coca Cola. People went like scouts, you know, and then I went, talk to my mother about it and

01:12:17.379 - 01:12:28.089

I said, all right. So I had to travel, I went to New Orleans. I used to go to Kansas City. I used to take me to Kansas City. We were in New Orleans by train, everything by train. But you see, so you sort of became the

01:12:28.100 - 01:12:40.240

star of, of your family in a way. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm the oldest one. Yeah. You was a man of the family then. Yeah. Years old. I didn't get to go, I didn't get to go to school very much. Maybe I went a couple of years

01:12:40.250 - 01:12:53.970

or so. In Mexico. When I went to school there was no schools during the revolution, there was no schools at all. So, I was 13 years old. I barely knew how to write my name because my mother used to teach me whatever I knew my mother

01:12:53.979 - 01:13:12.990

teach me. She made me read a lot of books when I was older. Uh I, I picked up here and there, you know, but I like, I like Germany very much. Uh The, they always spent Christmas and New Year two years ago in Munich. That's where

01:13:13.000 - 01:13:34.250

the business is in Munich. I guess a lot of the film, a motion picture. That's what it is. Munich do the Germans making. Uh I was brought here by Mr by Mr Frank FP. Papa. Uh I was brought here. Uh Let me see. Now, let me

01:13:34.259 - 01:13:56.169

see in 1940. What do you mean? 46? That was the same time that you brought Lydia and in the family. I already quit with Lydia. Why did you quit with her? Where mostly the boys didn't wanna go out no more, you know, Manuel. He's like very

01:13:56.180 - 01:14:19.709

much the work of being at the all the time. No future, you know, I don't blame him both the fact that they were, like, second fiddle. The boy was a big, and they were, they were the feelers, you know. Yeah. Yeah. But then, and then, and

01:14:19.720 - 01:14:38.299

then I was offered a good job here managing the million dollar theater and the MA theater and they had five Frank Fox had five theaters at that time. He had the Roosevelt theater, had the Monterey at the California theater at the Ma, no, four years. No.

01:14:38.310 - 01:14:57.029

And the Mayan, the Mayan. Yeah. And I was managing the five year myself. And, uh, so I stayed with him 22 years. Oh, is that right? Were, were you in charge of hiring the, the live talent or live talent and the workers and all everything, the

01:14:57.040 - 01:15:10.569

whole thing? He, he was never there and he had only one son, which is old now. He's, uh, he calls me put every day. Only one son he had, he's 52 years old now. Yeah, we just, uh, spoke with him actually before I came over here,

01:15:11.200 - 01:15:30.509

you know, I had a little talk, I talk to him every day. He, like my son. Apparently he said, he spoke to you. That's crazy. He always says you're the only manager. Yeah, sure. So how did you decide what kind of talent to, to book into?

01:15:30.979 - 01:15:49.660

Well, that's mostly, that's mostly the work of an impresario. So you got to know what the, what the people like to see in pictures, in motion pictures and also in life talent, you have to more or less know what the lawyer wants and what the printer

01:15:49.669 - 01:16:03.919

wants or the shoemaker wants or the carpenter wants, you have to know you gotta be sure. Otherwise you're gonna lose a lot of money and a lot of time. So that comes by itself. See that comes right by nature. You know, like a producer. When he

01:16:03.930 - 01:16:22.040

makes a picture, he's gotta know more or less what the, the gross of the public gonna like, you don't, if you're gonna make pictures for you to like, you're not gonna make nothing because you might, you know, like myself, I only like one director and one

01:16:22.049 - 01:16:35.720

producer in the United States and Johnny Casarez, he is my idol. I, I, if it was me, I would buy all these pictures and I will see all these pictures all the time because he's the only one that knows how to make real good pictures in

01:16:35.779 - 01:16:51.009

United States and all over the world. But he makes very few and his pictures are not commercial. They are pictures and, but I don't, I don't, I can't buy pictures too for me, I have to buy for the, for the, for the other guy, you know,

01:16:51.020 - 01:17:07.839

for the, for the sweeper, for the shoeshine boy, for people would go, the people who pay for to go there, which are the common people, you know, the work and the laborers. This is what you got in your mind, in your mind all the time. A

01:17:07.850 - 01:17:22.580

lot of people, for instance, I had a, a friend of mine who went to, to eating to buy a picture from Mexico. He's a, a big, uh, distributor, but he bought 15 pictures that he liked himself. Went to Mexico. Nobody liked him. He lost a lot

01:17:22.589 - 01:17:41.180

of money, lost a fortune. Couldn't do that. And I guess Mexico isn't going to change. I mean, I always wonder, aren't they going to get tired of the Ranchero movie? No, no, never, never will, never will. Here, you know, the westerns are gone in the United

01:17:41.189 - 01:18:05.365

States, they will come back, the western will come back. Like there was a, there was a, a AAA beautiful, a beautiful uh Cuento Como Cuento Iles, a story like a problem is and, and this is a, a company, a company of dramatic company. You know, this

01:18:05.375 - 01:18:23.430

traveling around in Mexico, traveling around in the country in the area, you know, playing here, playing there. But it was so very this empresario used to real fine place for the country people. They're no good. You have to, like I said, you have to find something

01:18:23.439 - 01:18:40.180

that people like where you go. But he had only in, in, in his uh in his program, he only had the big, big uh uh dramas, you know, crying and they don't like that. They like that in Mexico City maybe or Monterey or in New York,

01:18:40.189 - 01:18:57.709

you know, Broadway, all of that, you know. All right. So nobody would go. He, every night he hit a new, a new town. All we're gonna do here, we're gonna do here. Very good because here is so big, so beautiful when nobody go 15 or 20

01:18:57.720 - 01:19:12.419

people, you know, and he keep on, he, they were hungry, didn't have no money to travel no more. So they hit a big town in the state of Chihuahua and he said to the to the actors, he said here we gonna make a lot of money.

01:19:12.649 - 01:19:28.720

So we have enough to eat tomorrow. Everybody will really share. So everybody will be happy because you see how beautiful the is, is. So that night they advertise, they went out in the streets to advertise, you know, back in a parade tonight tonight. The big j

01:19:29.069 - 01:19:43.240

alright, that night, eight o'clock in the at night it was only five people. Well, let's wait a half an hour more, maybe, maybe some more coming in, you know, they look through a little hole in the curtain, you know, there's always a little hall where you

01:19:43.250 - 01:20:02.350

look around. So, all right. So they waited half an hour, two more came in. So they had to get started, they had to open up the curtain, you know, and they started the show and he told him he said, don't be afraid these people will like

01:20:02.359 - 01:20:15.080

the show so much. They will talk tomorrow, they will bring 1000 people tomorrow and they will, we get a full deal tomorrow because these people are gonna like the show. We're doing the same show tomorrow because they're gonna like it. They're going to advertise, you know,

01:20:15.089 - 01:20:31.799

that's the best advertising that is, you know, when you talk to another guy or something. So I said, well, all right. So that night I eat hamburgers. Nothing you think? Hoping that the next night? So the next night, what happens? Only one man right in the

01:20:31.810 - 01:20:43.629

middle of the year. Big fat man sitting down there waiting for the curtain to go up, you know. So they looked to the little old, he said, what's the matter? Where's the people? Is the only one man over there? You tell him to go home. We

01:20:43.640 - 01:20:58.879

can't go to work with it. Oh, no, we had to be ashamed. We had to be, we would be ashamed if we don't put on the show for this, this guy paid to come in. So he's entitled, he's entitled to give for us to give, to

01:20:58.890 - 01:21:12.100

give him uh uh the uh the program. He's entitled to see the, the program, whether we go hungry or not. That's it. He, he's not, he paid the admission price. So we, we go to work. All right. So we go to work. So they put on

01:21:12.109 - 01:21:24.660

the whole show. Yes. For this guy he applauded like uh in the intermission of he got and smoke and come back and sit down in the same place, you know, and then at the end of the show, they, they used to put what they call the

01:21:24.669 - 01:21:41.390

grand finale. They, somebody will recite, somebody will sing somebody that's precise that a gift to the public. One of the actors went to the, to the manager of the show, you know, to the head of the show of, of the, of the company and tell me

01:21:42.640 - 01:21:56.209

you go down there and give this guy his two pesos. Tell him to go home. We, we don't wanna go out there and sing and, and, and recite for this only one guy tell, he says, you're right. I'll go and talk to him. So he went

01:21:56.220 - 01:22:09.979

and told him, hey, did you like the show or beautiful show? I like it very much. I enjoyed very much. He said, well, look, I wanna give you these two pesos with and, and you go home because the, the, the boys don't wanna work no more.

01:22:10.540 - 01:22:22.229

They don't wanna, they want you to go because they, they, they are too tired and they don't wanna sing no more. So you take your two pesos and go home. He says, no, I'm the one that's waiting for you to go home. I'm the one that

01:22:22.240 - 01:22:44.810

sweeps to theater da They like to die. It happens, it happens all the time. You know, when you go out in the road. Oh, boy, you gotta take out something that people, like. Did you ever have any real bad nights when just nobody showed up or

01:22:44.879 - 01:22:56.089

not? With Lydia? I had it with other people. I hate it with other people. With Lydia. Was always, how did, how did, how did you promote it? Did you do that part too? Like, go to radio stations and, and, well, yeah, we go to the radio

01:22:56.100 - 01:23:12.109

station. Sometimes. Not all the time. I would call like one week before I will arrange for my tour. One week before I call the, the start calling the, the, hey, I'm coming with Lia Mendoza next Wednesday. I'll see you next Wednesday. All right. So then I

01:23:12.120 - 01:23:30.509

had a printing shop in, in San Antonio who would make me some window cards and s and bills. Uh and then I will give this print of the orders that you send to the Granada theater in, in Fresno, California, send him 50 window cards and send

01:23:30.520 - 01:23:44.310

him 1000 handbills. So he, he does that. He already had the form made for the whole thing. He only, the only, he have to just print the, the head, the head of the, the name of the year and the date. That's all. See the restaurant was

01:23:44.319 - 01:24:00.919

already made. They do now with uh they know now with the, with the, with the photo, they don't make no, no more cuts. They, they used to make lead cuts. Remember now, they don't do that. They use photograph everything. It's easier now and cheaper. No. So

01:24:00.930 - 01:24:17.339

it was usually by placards over here in the windows in the window, window card with black cards. And then, uh and then he will start advertising on the radio program. So he, he was there in his town. He would pay for the whole thing himself. He

01:24:17.350 - 01:24:36.319

will, the print shop will send them everything cod collect. Uh And then uh but a lot of times we get there on time for the, for the program, we, we'll go to the uh I never let uh Lydia sing in the, in the, in by radio.

01:24:36.330 - 01:24:52.669

Only talk, say hello to the public. I'll wait for you tonight and hear and all of that. Mhm But, but they, they, they would play a record for her to her. But we, we talk on the radio, tell, tell the public who we wanna be there.

01:24:53.919 - 01:25:05.569

Oh, but a lot of people like, like when you went through the value, for example, Edinburgh, all those places. Did they always have theaters or did you sometimes have to go in the car park or? No, I never played no car park. The only car pass

01:25:05.580 - 01:25:29.700

I played was in Robert Town, Alice Robstown and Furious. And King King, Kings Kingsville, those big, big huge tents. They were owned by a man by the name of uh Stout Jackson who used to be the strongest man in the whole wide world he was in,

01:25:29.709 - 01:25:46.939

even in the believe it or not book, he, he will raise in his back, five bales of cotton, but she was £2500 in his back and he was strong that they call him his. And when I met him long time when I was working with him

01:25:46.950 - 01:26:06.930

for the motion pictures on the road, I met him in Corpus. He, he had a, a sideshow Ooo on a carnival. He had a sideshow uh like he would hold up an automobile with his back and doing a strong ai and he had his nice little

01:26:06.939 - 01:26:21.180

tent, nice little tent which hold about 8000, 800 seats, something like that. And I told him, I said, hey, would you like to go in the, in the show business and in the motion picture business, what can I do? He says, well, you, you must be

01:26:21.189 - 01:26:35.020

getting tired of lifting things and you know, you, you, it's gonna be what you gonna do then with the, with the tent. He said, I don't know. He said, why don't you go in there? Why don't you set your tent over here on, on Rossow, Texas,

01:26:35.750 - 01:26:51.169

set your tent over there and uh buy a couple of projectors more uh projectors and have somebody to show them and I'll give you the picture, I'll, I'll send you the motion pictures on a percentage basis. And he took the idea right away. He talked to

01:26:51.180 - 01:27:07.620

his wife and to his son and, and, and, and they, they closed the show right away because he was very tired of her. He would get a, he would, he would have a, you meet him. You know, he, he'd have it in his pocket. The big

01:27:07.629 - 01:27:30.459

nails, number eight, big nail nails is as wide as the finger, you know, and he rapped up his, his handkerchief around him. He give it to you as a souvenir. He was getting tired of that. I see him. Oh, that's great. So, you know, the next

01:27:30.470 - 01:27:46.089

time I was around there, he already had his tent put up in, in, in Roberts Town, Texas in empty space that he found there. He already bought these two went to Dallas and bought these two projectors. They were I projectors which were very good at that

01:27:46.100 - 01:28:04.549

time. Portable. No, 35 millimeter, 35 millimeter. I have a 16 there that I wanna sell to somebody. You know, somebody came over here and sold me a 1600. I had to tell you I never used so. So he already had the projector. Yeah, he had a

01:28:04.569 - 01:28:19.709

thing and I gave him a picture. I give him a picture. He made so cool charge. Only 25 cents. A mission price was a Mexican picture. Mexican picture. Yeah. Uh He was Chu Roto. I remember the title of the picture and he done so good. And

01:28:20.000 - 01:28:38.390

I told him II I was just gonna show you, uh, 35%. Well, I believe that night he made about $1000 that night, which is $250 for, for the, for the motion picture. $750 for him. He was, he was so happy, he forgot about the nails and

01:28:38.399 - 01:29:03.310

about the whole shoes and calling up a train like that. He used to be very strong, very strong day here. Put that a day. There you go. All right, wait, then very smart guy. Then I went back to San Antonio. I told my boss over there,

01:29:03.399 - 01:29:16.390

Mr Jimenez. I already opened up another place. My job was to try to open up places where they show it because the, the, the, the, the area didn't wanna show the Mexican pages. They didn't care for the Mexican pictures. They didn't know what, what they were

01:29:16.399 - 01:29:35.609

losing. Yeah. So then this guy, he had some money saved already and he bought another tent and he opened up a tent in Alice, one in five fur and one in King in King. Uh what's the name of Kingsville? Kingsville, Kingsville. That was a big one.

01:29:36.080 - 01:29:52.109

But when the time went by, he done so good all the time. Then when the time went by, he made these tents theaters, big theaters, but like a tent only, only the, the, the top was made out of asbestos and, and, and wood and everything. But

01:29:52.120 - 01:30:07.240

it wasn't in the, in the form of a tent and he was right. He said the people, they like, they like to go to a tent. They like to go to the circles, the people, the, the, the lower people, you know, the big cotton pickers and

01:30:07.250 - 01:30:22.069

all of that, they don't like to be a nice theer. They like to go for that kind of speed and we eat and everything you put on the floor and he was right. He was right because after that a lot of people opened up big, nice,

01:30:22.169 - 01:30:36.509

the, like the Robin Rowley Dire, the circuit in Texas, they opened up in nice areas for the Mexican people. They didn't have no business. They want a tent. They were still still, he, he passed away already. So the car parks were still pretty popular. They were

01:30:36.520 - 01:30:49.250

all in those places. Yeah. And in Mexico, a lot of car parks were around the car. Uh huh. Uh, after the harvest time in this place, you know, a lot of car parks with a lot of beer. I love those car parks. I wish I had

01:30:49.259 - 01:31:04.100

one myself. And, and, and then you actually went with Lydia to his tents and every year, not only every year, but every six months he used to call me. Hey, Cortez. Come on, bring Lydia. Goddamn it. I say. All right. We used to make a lot

01:31:04.109 - 01:31:15.490

of money in those tents. A lot of money on those on those nights when you had Lydia, she was just by herself or did you have some other? No, no, no. We always had a family and when the family didn't want out when they were going

01:31:15.500 - 01:31:34.450

to school or something like that, I'll get me some, somebody else, I'll get me, somebody else like, uh, another girl, you know, that would show her, her legs like a, we had something, you know, I used to tell Comadre, why don't you show something just for

01:31:34.459 - 01:31:55.819

fun? You know, she didn't want to do that one. Ok. Oh, that's great. Yeah, we had a nice time. It was a nice. Mhm. It's, it's a nice, uh, it's a very beautiful episode in my life. Uh, yeah, for years and years. That's very nice. Very

01:31:55.830 - 01:32:13.910

nice. Very nice. Very good. I mean, pretty good living. I don't show it myself and you obviously enjoyed the music and the persons involved. And it must have been a really satisfying I enjoy very much. Every day. It was, every day was a holiday for all

01:32:13.919 - 01:32:27.700

of us. We used to, we used to have a good time going on the road, going on the road. I'm too old now. Otherwise I'll be on the road now with somebody. I say I like it. I, I was, uh, I was on the road all

01:32:27.709 - 01:32:50.229

the time all the time. I used to wear, put on 100,000 miles in six months in one station wagon. I used to buy two station once every year a year. Oh, yeah. Sure. That was my life. That was my, my tool to work with. And, uh,

01:32:50.740 - 01:33:06.350

Villa Mendoza was quite a show. Quite a show. Yeah, she was made for that. She was born for that. Uh, I understand that. She still brings in a lot of people somewhere she can sing no more. She should quit. Now, of course, she can still sing.

01:33:06.529 - 01:33:21.500

Yeah, she can still, she can, I mean, her voice has gotten heavier but she can still sing her, she can play that big guitar though. Yeah. She lost a lot of guitar. She, she, they steal her big guitar from her. I know they ST steal it

01:33:21.509 - 01:33:34.665

from her now. No, but I think she really enjoys performing. I mean, I think she'd be bored if she has to quit. I mean, she stayed, she is, but the few people that can play those, those type of guitars, very few people can do it. I

01:33:34.674 - 01:33:51.879

think she's the only one in the Mexican field. I think she's the only one that play a 12 string guitar. It's hard only to tune. The, the, the, the guitar is hard. Not many people. I think she's the only one a lot of were here. The

01:33:52.069 - 01:34:09.129

Mendoza. The La Londra. I named her the La Londra de La Frontera actually. Yeah. Iii, I put her name for the, for the advertising purposes. Why did you come up with Lara. Well, because la, la, a Londa is a bird that sings so beautiful. You ever

01:34:09.140 - 01:34:23.540

heard of Alondra sing? So that's why I say Alondra de La Frontera from the frontier, from the border town, from the border. Alondra from the bird is on the border. You know, because she was born in, I don't even know what she was. She was born

01:34:23.549 - 01:34:45.609

in Houston, in Houston. Right. I, I didn't know, you know, I thought she was in San Antonio all the time. Her father worked on a railroad at the time. Um, but she, she was the one, she used to play the violin real good. Yeah, the violin.

01:34:46.379 - 01:35:01.660

You, you, you didn't meet any of those people who made those Bluebird records to, uh, like there was a Mr Oberstein, I guess, was one of them. No, I never, he never met. The met didn't prove that had nothing to do with she and she didn't

01:35:01.669 - 01:35:16.250

ask you for your advice on. Yeah. She's always asked me, you know, a, they called me last night from somebody from somebody. They want me to go make a record. All right. Cool. Well, you can go on, well, I'll make your record but, like, with my

01:35:16.430 - 01:35:31.009

own, but she feels that she could have made all kinds of money from that. But she signed a contract, giving her her wrong because that was before she met you. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Ok. When she first made that record. You see her father was given

01:35:31.020 - 01:35:48.259

the option, either either you take $50 for this record or royalties. And the father said, take the money. You see, and she said she would have probably made a lot if she would have. Oh yeah, acceptance see that guy that, that, that uh composer there who

01:35:48.270 - 01:36:06.479

is Lorenzo Marcela when he made Maria Helena in Rancho Grande. He was so poor. He was singing in the saloons with his guitar. You know, hey, Jack, can I sing your song? Yeah. And he would take a drink or take two sayings or five sayings. I

01:36:06.490 - 01:36:24.709

don't know. He was singing like that. Where, where was this in this, in Mexico, in Mexico City. So he take this and then he composes two songs one night and he took him to the music company. The, the name of the music was uh he had

01:36:24.720 - 01:36:43.600

a German name still. Is it still, it still is. They're the ones that own. Most of the old songs of the Mexican songs is German Company Paper. No, no, no, no. Uh Mr Pier. All right, I'll, it'll come soon says I wanna, I wanna sell these

01:36:43.609 - 01:36:56.640

two songs. So they played my piano. He had already, he didn't know notes, he didn't know music and that he had to take him to somebody who write the piano part obviously. So he take me, well, we don't wanna buy, we can't buy, nobody wants to

01:36:56.649 - 01:37:14.640

hear the waltzes now because they were waltzing. Maria. Maria is a waltz. Nobody wants to do one. It's another era now. Oh, give me 5050 pesos for both of them. I wanna have to eat 50 pesos. Can you make? Oh, no, no, no, no, I don't

01:37:14.649 - 01:37:29.779

want it. We give you a percentage basis. We give you a contract for 15 years and we give you on royalties basis if you want to. But can you advance me something on the royalty? Well, maybe I could give you 10 pesos. So that's what they

01:37:29.790 - 01:37:46.959

did. They made a contract for 15 years on royalty basis and give me 10 pesos in advance. He had to take it. Wasn't, wasn't he lucky? Wasn't he lucky? And especially the widow. She's a big millionaire now in dollars she makes every three months, she get

01:37:46.970 - 01:38:07.399

a check from, uh, the Pier Music company, New York International. Pier International or something like that. Yeah, they're the one who handle most of the Latin music. She gets a check every three months for at least from 60 to $100,000 every three months. And that's cheap.

01:38:07.629 - 01:38:27.009

I saw a check the other day. She showed me a check the other day for $25,000. Only from Japan, only from Japan. Can you imagine? Yeah, that's whats not like Juventino Rosas, you know Juventino Rosas who wrote maybe the most beautiful waltz that ever was written

01:38:27.759 - 01:38:47.149

in the whole world that was over the waves. All right, Juventino Roses. He was a very poor musician by the violin and he composed this waltz and took it, took it to this company and they give him 15 pesos for it for the outright for night.

01:38:48.529 - 01:39:03.950

And that's all he made on his, on his beautiful was 15 pesos. He died of hunger in a little Cuban town. He went to Cuba to play in a circle with his violin. And finally he got tuberculosis for being hungry and he died when he died.

01:39:04.379 - 01:39:21.720

Then the president of Mexico who was PV at that time brought his ashes to Mexico with the big honors and everything. But when he's already dead, you can't live on that. That's what he made with over the waves. Yeah. That's sad. Actually. On AM Hombre though.

01:39:21.729 - 01:39:37.379

You don't know anything. Exactly. You see, it was recorded before Lydia. I have the first recording of it, but there's no composer credit given on it. It's by a woman named, um, is that I never knew. I never knew. Yeah. And she said that she heard

01:39:37.390 - 01:39:53.540

it at a, at a theater. Her, her father took her to, in Monterey. I used to hear that she was a kid. I see. I think it's, I don't know where it came from. Yeah. That's a strange thing. And it's certainly one of the few really.

01:39:56.549 - 01:40:16.700

I think it's, yeah, I think it, but at that time it was one of the few songs that spoke from a woman's point of view. But, you know, that pretty strong. And she, it, with a little funny, funny, funny way of singing it. She almost cried

01:40:16.709 - 01:40:36.629

every time you see me. Hm. She was, she came with him many times with the, I brought her to the ma theater then to the million dollar, about five or 10 times, 10 times. He came over about a million dollars of the year, every year, every

01:40:36.640 - 01:40:53.410

year. Yeah. But he was small, Frankie. Well, he don't remember nothing because he was small going to school. He didn't give a damn about three years. And that he was born with a silver spoon in his hand. He's got more money. Well, look just the million

01:40:53.419 - 01:41:09.189

dollar building. How much would that be worth our all that belongs to him? Uh huh. Well, but he seemed to have an interest in the, in the business to some degree. I don't know. Not very much. He never did like it. He, he, he always had

01:41:09.200 - 01:41:23.120

a lot of money. He always, he don't give a damn. So, you mean you were really the one who was doing all the work? I was looking at everything and everything. He was just very little dreadful. It, a lot of times I asked him, you're lazy.

01:41:23.240 - 01:41:39.109

Goddamn it. Why don't you do something? He said, what the hell do you want me to do? What am I gonna do with? So, much. Uh huh. Yeah. So I'm getting mad at him now. You lazy. Goddamn it. So, you, you booked the theater win for

01:41:39.120 - 01:41:58.359

your, this was all about 2025. What are you starting? Win from? What was it? When did you start doing this? Yeah. No, for the, for the million dollar? Oh. Must have been in 1945 46. Right, right after the war, right after the war. Nothing before the

01:41:58.370 - 01:42:11.399

war. Before the war. I was working for the Calderon's. I was in New York. They sent me to open up the area in the Middle West. Which color, that's a film distributing company. Yeah. The Calderon, I just wrote a letter to one. Were they related to

01:42:11.410 - 01:42:31.680

the Calderon who had this record shop here in, in Los Angeles. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Let's see. Now, maybe you're talking about somebody else because there was another Calderon here. One of the, there was three brothers, Rafael Jose and uh the one who was here, head

01:42:31.689 - 01:42:49.404

of furniture store and record shop. That's Mauricio Mauricio. That's the one we're thinking of. That's the one. All right. That's the uncle of the famous Calderon boys. He was the brother of Rafael Pepe. Uh huh. They both everybody die already. I just wrote a letter to

01:42:49.415 - 01:43:05.950

Perico. This one I wrote to Perico. This one in Perico, Calderon. He's the oldest of the boys and he's in Cuernavaca now live, retired in Cuernavaca. Lots of money. Lots of money. They own 100 and 25 years in the state of Chihuahua. But they were always

01:43:05.959 - 01:43:25.279

in the film business always. Uh huh. Well, no, when they got started on both Pepe and Rafael, they were working for the railroads in Chihuahua. They were conductors from Juarez to Chihuahua. They were the conductors. Each train. Mauricio was a telegraph operator. Mauricio was a telegraph

01:43:25.290 - 01:43:40.169

operator. That's right. Then he came over, he's the one who came over here and open up a little furniture store. Yeah. Yeah, but it was, I mean, it wasn't so little I don't think no later on because I mean, he sold almost every Spanish language record

01:43:40.189 - 01:43:58.720

that he even, even though he was, he was the one that furnished the money for the for the other two bros to get started in the show. They opened up a little theater in Juarez called uh Still on Still Open called the uh Al Casa casa.

01:43:59.259 - 01:44:23.040

You remember he grew up in El Yeah. Well, I in Juarez in, in Cine Plaza in the CASA is Prime cil the circuit name of it. Circuital. Casa is 100 and 25 all the way from Juarez to para all the area belong to them. Now they

01:44:23.049 - 01:44:38.040

have rent to the government. See, but they receive a lot of money for rent those places. They're very rich people, very rich. But, but, but you don't know of any direct relatives that are still alive of the Mauricio Calderon. The Mauricio. No, I know the relatives

01:44:38.049 - 01:44:54.479

or, or, or the, or the Pepe and Rafael here I, I wrote later today. You want to address or you too? Yeah, for your purposes. He was also saying that the, the, there was a brother in law and he had, uh, the, what's his name? Uh,

01:44:54.490 - 01:45:30.839

Gustavo Costa who for years worked for the Colombia P as in and he, uh, let's see, I roll it today. I believe it was the box. 1674 Cuernavaca Morelos 1674. Vaca Morelia more, more more. It's so good like your business because only one reason because you

01:45:30.850 - 01:45:45.350

pay cash, you don't get credit or nothing. You go to the box office and you pay cash, no credit card. No, nothing you pay. I think it's nothing in terms. I guess that was back then too. There was like the grocery stores where you had to

01:45:45.430 - 01:46:00.750

try. Still you have to, well, and now the markets don't do it. They don't do everything now, but still they accept checks and they accept the credit card, lots of money. But the show business when you go to the box office, you better have your cash

01:46:00.759 - 01:46:20.509

money or, or you employee, right? So that's why it's good. See, no credit. That's great. When you make a picture, everything is you got to have everyone in the bank first. Otherwise the, the the union won't give you one work 11 man or another. Do you

01:46:20.520 - 01:46:38.779

know how we can reach Gustavo Costa? Yeah, I know how to reach when I met him long time ago. He was a manager of the Latin Department in the Colombian Records in New York. And, and, and what, what was his name? That was a Costa. Uh

01:46:38.790 - 01:47:02.009

huh. And this was way back in the early twenties or no? Uh, oh, I met him in 19. No wonder they say I was a, waiting on the list. Was the, was the full prohibition on yet or? Yeah. Yeah, she was, it must have been 19.

01:47:02.020 - 01:47:31.859

0, goddamn it. Wow. Man, they still had the mule horses, uh, horses, uh, street cars in New York. I'm talking back. I don't believe that. Well, that's right. It's not only Azteca and one other film company, isn't it? Well, as many seven now, but it used

01:47:31.870 - 01:47:47.540

to be only Azteca. It used to be another one pretty strong, which is Gustav Gustav Mummy was that mommy was pretty strong too when he died and his sons sold to a, and they're owned by the government, by the Mexican government or they owned by the

01:47:47.549 - 01:48:08.779

government. Now, the distribution and the Dire, and most of the Dire in Mexico belong to the government and also the distribution. Mhm. They own about, uh, I would say they own about 1500 a year in Mexico. Ok. La Cadena Dior Pero was still, uh, in United

01:48:08.790 - 01:48:23.580

States. They own the distribution. They don't have another area here. They want to have distribution but they have several offices. They have an office here. They have office in San Antonio and the buildings and everything belongs to them. They had one in Chicago, one in Denver,

01:48:23.790 - 01:48:53.220

one in New York. Uh, when we got started when it was only, only three pictures. What were those pictures? Yeah, it was, uh, it was, uh, one on was uh com Chor Roto Ma the Martin Gat to La Llorona. And that was it at the beginning.

01:48:53.470 - 01:49:14.580

I have, I have a couple of books of uh their catalogs of the Mexican motion pictures since they made the Silence because the first talk, it was Santa. It was made by the Calderon's Calderon made the first talkie in Mexico, which was Santa directed by, by

01:49:14.589 - 01:49:41.890

Antonio Moreno. Remember Antonio Moreno a movie star here from your Hollywood. They took him to Mexico to, to direct Santa. That was the first talkie and who were 1919 30 1932 1932. And the, the star of that picture still living here in Hollywood. She is the

01:49:41.899 - 01:50:04.089

wife of Paul Connor who is uh for Paul Conner is the best agent or actor agent. The big man in Hollywood. I forgot her name. Did they, did they use the music right away in the, in the movies or when, when the talk started? The, the

01:50:04.100 - 01:50:22.990

first uh the first uh the very first uh music they used was by the uh Rodriguez brothers. The Rodriguez brothers were from Los Angeles. They had a, they had, his, their father had a, a bakery store, a baker. Pan de Huevo, Pan Mexicano here in the

01:50:23.000 - 01:50:41.959

neighborhood. And the boys used to be a baker. What did they play guitars? No, they didn't play nothing. They just engineer for music to, to, well, they did the technical, the technical thing about the, about the, uh uh putting the music in the pictures. I see

01:50:41.970 - 01:50:59.810

how they were, the engineer. Um But what sort of musicians would they use? Orchestra? All, all kinds, all kinds they use mariachis. All depends on the picture. Uh All depends on the picture and they use the orchestra, even the symphony orchestra from Mexico or whatever uh

01:50:59.950 - 01:51:15.890

record musical. Most of us are all, all, all recorded already. Did you ever meet Lucia Reyes? She worked for me many times. I had a lot of pictures with her. But, uh that was from the back. I, I told you I love her. Oh, Lucia Rey,

01:51:15.990 - 01:51:32.189

sure. She worked for me was she got one of the first big grand. Yeah. Not only one of the first, the first, she was the first, uh never been compared, never been equal. But I was altogether different than Leia Mendoza. The, the voice was different. She

01:51:32.200 - 01:51:51.009

would holler all when she was a Mexican holler and she used to be an opera singer. Yeah. But she like, uh, Ranchero and he made, she made more money singing Ranchero than opera. So she quit. But she was a regular opera singer. She used to break

01:51:51.040 - 01:52:08.220

the glasses in the window. You know, when you go with the note high with the high notes, I wanna see that on commercials. She was quite a woman. She was quite a woman too. She was very loved by everybody and she can sing and I, I

01:52:08.229 - 01:52:29.500

hate to lose all her pictures of beautiful pictures that I had with her, Raul Diana. I had some groups with her uh Pedro Galindo, another famous composer in Mexico. Still living. Pedro Galindo composer. Very beautiful song. La Malana. Yeah, he's a big producer in Mexico now.

01:52:29.509 - 01:52:49.430

A lot of money too. Yeah. They see in the motion picture business. Everybody is rich except me. What happened? Everybody's made a lot of money with the mushroom. You can't go wrong with the, with the, with the, with the mushroom picture business go wrong. Everybody has

01:52:49.439 - 01:53:02.750

made a lot of money and they got their own everything and I think it hit me but it's easy to spend a lot of money, but I'm the happiest one of them all. So I can, I can assure you that. Uh yeah, but you're really interested

01:53:02.759 - 01:53:26.180

in it. And I travel, my wife and I had travel like see see that man over there ss A slo the famous commentator of Mexico and he, he, I, he talked to me 45 minutes on television on his program, 20 Benti Cuatro. And he, the first

01:53:26.189 - 01:53:42.560

thing he asked me, he told me, he says, uh, I understand you have traveled a lot. I said, yeah, quite a bit. Says where, which place have you been? I told him, why don't you ask me which place I haven't been. That's it. I've been in

01:53:42.569 - 01:53:58.120

the top of the world, I've been in, in everywhere. So it's been a good life for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like traveling. Uh, I hope I still do some. We're still planning my wife and I plan another trip. Ok, somewhere. But we've been everywhere. We've

01:53:58.129 - 01:54:16.049

been all the way to, all the way up the, uh, the, uh, Chinese wall, all the way up to the end, to the very end we've been to. Oh, you name it? I mean, I, talking about you in the beginning. I hate to bring it up

01:54:16.060 - 01:54:28.919

again. But the brothers told me about it that, you know, they felt Lydia had a lot of money, but really her first husband sort of squandered it all. And, well, there's many things. Do you know any kind of a person like to talk? Ok. You don't

01:54:28.930 - 01:54:47.870

want to talk about it. So I'll just ok. But you can, it was something like that. I hate to talk about the, that's right. I will, I will let them because they told me quite a bit and I tell you, especially Manuel, he will tell you,

01:54:48.169 - 01:55:13.000

Manuel go very good with, with his brother in law on a kind of that. So, so he would, he would talk, I, I don't like, like they asked me, they asked me about Maria Felix. I'm over there with Maria Felix. 20 years ago. I quit the

01:55:13.970 - 01:55:32.410

road show business and then I went into the motion picture business. When I went to the motion picture business, I started selling pictures in Mexico. And that's uh when the old man Frank Fowl died in 64. 0, is that what did it that changed? Well, a

01:55:32.419 - 01:55:49.629

little later on, but a year later on, why did you leave the business? Well, I was, I was tired, I was tired of staying in one place all the time. Yeah, but I was making lots of money. Good big salary and percentage and I was the

01:55:49.640 - 01:56:04.299

only one, but I got so tired. I got so tired that I, every day I wanted to quit. So finally there came the day that I say goodbye. You mean you had to be in that office all the time and going to Mexico to book up

01:56:04.310 - 01:56:30.359

actors in Mexico City here, Mexico City here. Uh I did take over the, started doing the booking for, for a while. Then he rented the place to metropolitan area and then go to Delgado, started doing, go to the Delgado. He done pretty good. Uh huh. He

01:56:30.370 - 01:56:48.359

done very good with this horse still doing. I haven't seen El Gordo for a long time. He's very different to mine. He respects me very much when he sees me. Hello, Professor. I love Maestro. Right. Right. And, and, and, and with the, um, um, there was

01:56:48.370 - 01:57:05.589

another one, Narvaez Oscar, Narvaez, San Antonio. He worked for me. He worked for me on the road about four years. Yeah. Uh, Gordon never worked for me. I just, every once in a while I see him on the road with some shows. But, uh Oscar, he

01:57:05.600 - 01:57:22.979

did work for me for four years. I send him out with groups, you know, but then I got so tired, I got tired because there's a lot of work, uh, working with, uh, with people, you know, people, especially people, the people, sometimes they're very funny, they're

01:57:22.990 - 01:57:36.600

very different. They think they're somebody, sometimes it goes up to the head, you know, you can't hand them and I couldn't stand that no more. Got the time when, when I told him, oh, forget it. I went to Mexico to sell pictures. I got, went to

01:57:36.609 - 01:57:54.169

New York and I got a company who gave me seven old pictures of, uh, reissues, what we call reissue. I went to Mexico and saw them right away, came back. So then I started, I started a very good business, a very good business. Very good business.

01:57:54.180 - 01:58:09.250

Yeah. Yeah. I wish I can teach somebody, we try to teach somebody to do it for me but they can't, they, they don't get the, you have to see in this kind of image you have to begin together with the, you have to be a waiter

01:58:09.259 - 01:58:27.729

in the less opera or something like that, I guess with the record business is about the same. You know, you have to know a lot of people, a lot of changes, I see a lot of changes around and everything before you can get to the, to

01:58:27.740 - 01:58:49.680

the real business, the real, knowing what the people want. That's the main thing, right? That's probably it. Yeah, that's the successful one. Otherwise I quit. Oh, and then for a while there's still a lot of people come here to, for me to give me some advice

01:58:49.810 - 01:59:10.779

and, you know, especially the distributors, the, the new, these new offices here, this for distribution business there has been, uh, so I give him the best advice that I can. I say that you have to, you have to be careful. That's all it is to it

01:59:10.790 - 01:59:29.240

now, especially nowadays, you know, nowadays, uh, the people is not like the old times, there were lot of romance to everything in, in the old days. Lot of romance in the music, in the motion pictures, big drama, beautiful, the air is, there was romance in the

01:59:29.250 - 01:59:55.990

air. Everything nowadays is dancing with your ass in the streets if you can. That's a good one and all of that stuff. See, so it's entirely different. Something that, I don't know myself, all I can tell him is be careful now what you're gonna, you study

01:59:56.000 - 02:00:11.490

your public, whatever you see, all the publics, all the towns are different, whatever you are, you have to, whatever you want to establish your business, you have to study your people, your public, then you give them what they want and that's, you can't go wrong about

02:00:11.500 - 02:00:26.580

that. When, when, when, when you were traveling with the Mendoza family, did you ever have trouble collecting the money or somebody robbing you and stuff? You never had any trouble? I knew, I knew, I knew whenever they want to rob me, they, they were, they would

02:00:26.770 - 02:00:39.549

try to do it with me, do it with somebody else. I know how many seats you gotta be in. I don't know how many people is in here and that's what you're going to report to me. I never use any checkers or anything. I never did

02:00:40.540 - 02:00:57.009

ever, ever, I treat everybody. See, the main thing about this kind of business is Frenchy friendship. You got to, you got to win the friendship of the owner of the VRA. So he won't steal from you. You have to go nice about him. Tell him, you

02:00:57.020 - 02:01:12.649

know, you, you don't wanna be the lawyer, you know, with, with a checker and they hate to have a checker and they're gonna steal the money anyway, whether you have a checker or not, see they wanna do it. So the main thing is to everybody knows

02:01:12.660 - 02:01:28.620

me around uh like uh say one time, one time they came, this fellow here who was one of the biggest producers of pictures in Mexico, Ramon Pereira. He made a picture about Christ for the crucifixion of Christ. And he came over to San Antonio and brought

02:01:28.629 - 02:01:43.240

a print to this picture to show it to Don Rafael Calderon and myself. We were in San Antonio at that time. So he showed the picture to us in the National Theater which was a Mexican. The at that time, we see the patient. Yes, all ourselves

02:01:43.270 - 02:01:57.080

and Ramon Pereira and called Calderon and myself. And uh we show the, we show the picture at the end of the page because it was, it was a rotten. It was not good. Picture was not good. The tough time, you know, at the end of the

02:01:57.089 - 02:02:12.310

picture, he told Mr Calderon, how you like it? He was trying to sell it to him, how you like the picture? Oh He said, it's all right. You should put a little Mariachi in, in the behind the cross of Christ. So they play a little Mexican

02:02:12.319 - 02:02:33.270

music on it and make it a little happier. There you go in Marito in El Calva pa. Then another time, another producer came over to San Antonio and Frank Faus was very awkward. He was very funny man, very smart, very wise. He know he was a

02:02:33.279 - 02:02:54.779

great operator, senior, great operator, great man. Nice be very noble man. He would take his shirt off his back and give it to you if you need it. And another producer came over to show us a picture, one of his country style pictures. So we saw

02:02:54.790 - 02:03:11.640

it, Mr Frank F. How do you like it? You like it? Do you want to buy it? He says, yeah, look, you should have put Ramiro Cortez in there because they, they know him better in the United States than your actress because we were the funny

02:03:11.649 - 02:03:37.129

guy and then another guy came over one time show us a picture. It was nothing good for nothing. Mr Fran. How you like it is always I like it very much. He needs one cut in the middle. He was a, it must have been that you

02:03:37.140 - 02:05:29.870

have to deal with all your los. It is so no decal I see. Is it the wan? Yeah, me. Oh That is. They said yeah, this she I come in the one and so I Yes, well

02:05:31.109 - 02:07:14.240

and in I Yeah one your funny. Say guessing. Yeah. So trust me a kid. Bye. Look at it. So that's out of the jungle. He lets try go on me. You can be they where we No.

02:07:22.740 - 02:08:47.350

Oh That's make Yeah. Oh Yeah. Yeah. What? Yeah. Low skin. The La Morena. He gonna let me smoke a year. So this, so Las Palomas, Pendennis Abu, I, why you three again? Yeah.

02:08:51.680 - 02:09:13.930

Oh, yuck. Well, blue skin the.