La Abadia de Berzaro
By Ignacio Bilbao
June 25, 2022
Mari Luz Galicia was going for star. This is
demonstrated by the fact that, in the decade in which she was active as an
actress, she worked under the orders of filmmakers such as Edgar Neville, Fernando
Fernán Gómez or Juan de Orduña, sharing the screen with authentic legends of
the time such as the Mexican Dolores del Rio, the Italians Vittorio de Sica and
Walter Chiari, or, in a more local key, Fernando Rey, José Luis Ozores, Aurora
Bautista or Fernán Gómez himself. Duende and
mystery of flamenco (1952), The evil Carabel (1956), Las
de Caín (1959) or the precursory diptych of the emergence of the
European western formed by The revenge of
Zorro (1962) and Riding towards death
(El Zorro) / The Shadow of Zorro (1962),
are just some of the classics of our cinema in which the Madrilenian took part
playing leading roles. However, despite having everything in her favor,
her environment was not conducive to her. First her father's reticence to
her artistic concerns, and then the interference of her husband, the producer,
director and screenwriter Eduardo Manzanos, ruined her brilliant future,
cutting short her career. her prematurely. This is how she explains it to
us in the following interview in which we review her film career.
Her
debut as an actress came in Duende and mystery of flamenco under
the command of none other than Edgar Neville. How did she get into this
movie?
One
afternoon my father tells me: “Your mother has asked me to buy her some things
for the house. Come on”. And I stayed on the Gran Vía with
him. Then a strange coincidence happened. I walk past Chicote, and I,
apparently, was a very cute girl who attracted attention, even though she was
only fifteen at the time. Edgar Neville was at one of Chicote's tables
and, seeing me pass, he got up. "I'm going to go after that girl who
walks very well." In short, I got to where I had agreed with my
father, which was in a very good men's store that was on the corner of Calle
del Clavel. When we see each other we kiss and in this Edgar Neville
appears and says to my father: “But, Paco, who is this pretty girl that she is
giving you these kisses? How lucky you are, son of my life!” My
father, a little angry, replied: "She's my
daughter!" “Mother of my life. If I came to know that you have
such a beautiful daughter, we had not left the friendship, "Neville
replied. “We have never left friendship. What I see is that you are
still very expensive”. They stood there talking for a while and Neville
explained to my father that he had seen me walk past him and, since he was
going to make a film, he had seen something in me. “I have seen her very
serious and very thoughtful and I have said to myself: I am going to follow
her. What is my surprise when I see that she is kissing the best friend I
have ever had. You imagine what a coincidence. I had no idea that my
father knew Edgar Neville, who was a very interesting character. What I see
is that you are still very expensive”. They stood there talking for a
while and Neville explained to my father that he had seen me walk past him and,
since he was going to make a film, he had seen something in me. “I have
seen her very serious and very thoughtful and I have said to myself: I am going
to follow her. What is my surprise when I see that she is kissing the best
friend I have ever had. You imagine what a coincidence. I had no idea
that my father knew Edgar Neville, who was a very interesting
character. What I see is that you are still very expensive”. They
stood there talking for a while and Neville explained to my father that he had
seen me walk past him and, since he was going to make a film, he had seen
something in me. “I have seen her very serious and very thoughtful and I
have said to myself: I am going to follow her. What is my surprise when I
see that she is kissing the best friend I have ever had. You imagine what
a coincidence. I had no idea that my father knew Edgar Neville, who was a
very interesting character. What is my surprise when I see that he is
kissing the best friend I have ever had. You imagine what a
coincidence. I had no idea that my father knew Edgar Neville, who was a
very interesting character. What is my surprise when I see that he is
kissing the best friend I have ever had. You imagine what a
coincidence. I had no idea that my father knew Edgar Neville, who was a
very interesting character.
Neville
went on to tell my father that he had seen some gyrations and a way of walking
that had led him to think that I danced. "Tell me. Of course she
dances”, my father replied. “I am going to make a film in which the best
are going to dance: Antonio, Alejandro Vega, the outfit that Pilar López was
wearing… So I want to see your daughter. I'm going to Malaga and she can
come with me and, if you want, too”. "Yes, I'm going too, because I
don't leave my daughter alone with you," he replied jokingly. In the
end my brother [the set designer] José Luis [Galicia] also signed up to come. Filming
began in Malaga and Neville made me dance for him. He asked me: “Do you
dance por soleares?” "Of course. For soleares ,
for alegríasand for what you ask me. I dance
everything. I dance Albéniz, Triana, de Bretón… From Spanish musicians,
everything”. Then he explained to me that a guitarist was going to go to
the hotel where we were and he was going to tell him to play to see me
dance. "Let's see what comes to mind," he told me. He
pissed me off. "My God, what if I start dancing and I do it wrong or
he doesn't like me?" He thought. But the truth is that he was so
confident that I think I did very well. "Phenomenal! Tomorrow I
will come with Antonio. You put on the same skirt, I want you to dance in
front of him, let's see what he says”. I couldn't sleep that
night. But what is it that when you know something and have studied it,
when you have to prove it, the truth comes out. So when he saw me Antonio
he said: “Olé! I'm taking this girl." His representative came
and wanted to hire me, but what happens in families. My father
said: “Where do you go, if you don't know English and you're not of legal
age? You can not go away." It was hard for me to
cry. Antonio told me that they were going to spoil my career, because my
thing was dancing. But of course, I had to obey my father.
I
understand then that your father did not like you to dance...
No,
my father didn't like it. He recognized that he danced well, but the truth
is that he didn't like it. For example, once we had to go to Seville,
because my father had to discuss a topic with one of his clients, and there
were many good artists and dancers there . Of course, I
was a kid who was fifteen years old and that world seemed wonderful to me and I
went crazy looking at one and the other. Piquer was there and encouraged
me: "Come on, sing!" But my father told me not even to think of
singing, much less dancing. However, I don't know who came and insisted
that I dance. Total, I started to dance and you can see that they
applauded me a lot. But seeing it, my father said: “I don't like this
environment at all. Let's go to the hotel."
Another
anecdote also happened to me. Here came, nothing more and nothing less,
than Leonide Massine, who had premiered The Three-Cornered Hat with
music by Manuel de Falla and sets by Picasso. Regla Ortega, her dance
teacher, called me to tell me that a very old Russian man who was very
important and wanted to see girls who danced well had gone. Apparently, he
had gone to several academies and had not stayed with any. “So, baby, come
on. Let's see if this Russian likes you”, she told me with her gypsy
accent. When I arrived and saw that it was Leonide Massine, I couldn't
believe it. "Let's see, what are you going to dance?" She asked
me. “For soleá", I answered. After seeing me dance,
he kept saying: “I want to dance with you! You're coming to London with
me, I've been to all the academies in Madrid and I haven't seen anyone I like
as much as I like you. I see you as a girl with a lot of temperament, but
at the same time you are elegant and don't mess up the
dance”. Apparently, Carmen was going to mountin Covent Garden
and the Spanish part that has the work wanted me to do it. But then my
father showed up and he said not London or anything. Because, of course, I
had to go alone by contract, because my mother had also told me that she was
not the “artist mother”. And my mother was good, and that she loved
dancing. Then Leonide Massine called me by conference call and I told her
the truth: that she was having difficulties, because she was not of legal age
and my parents did not authorize me to go to London. And that has been the
fate of my artistic career; I have had in my hands the power to do
important things, but then I have not been able to do them. I am pleased
to have had very good reviews, yes.
Yes.
Cesáreo González made me a contract that I think was for two years. But
something happened that did not happen. There was another producer who got
involved and spoiled my contract with Cesáreo. And things stayed like
this...
Was
that other producer Eduardo Manzanos?
Exactly.
[Continued on Friday July 8, 2022]
No comments:
Post a Comment