Tango Time Machine — Tango Decoder

Fiorentino's Farewell Unfolds (March-June 1944)

Some months ago Michael Lavocah and I were discussing Francisco Fiorentino's departure from the Troilo orchestra. When exactly did Fiorentino announce his intention to leave the band, and when were his final performances? One of Michael's sources had fixed the date in March, 1944, after Carnaval, but I was pretty sure I'd seen some ads for the Troilo/Fiorentino/Marino trinity much later—well into the month of May, I thought. I was going to collect all the Troilo ads from that period, and Michael and I were going to evaluate the results. I did collect the ads, but for some reason, the two of us never got around to the evaluation.

Sunday 5 March 1944. Troilo played the last night of Carnaval at the Círculo General Urquiza with vocals by Fiorentino and Marino . The next day, 6 March, is a likely date for Fiorentino to have given his final notice.

Saturday 26 March 1944. Troilo/Fiorentino/Marino at Club Atlético Barracas Central. Fiorentino continued to appear with the orchestra during this period. He made his final recordings with Troilo four days later.

Recently Michael brought the matter up again, mentioning that his source had placed the date of the split, and Fiore's farewell appearance with the orchestra, on March 6, with a farewell show at Boca Juniors. (The closing number is said to have been Fiore's own composition, Pa' que seguir, "Why Go On?", previously recorded with Troilo in 1942.) That account didn't sound quite right to either of us.

Saturday 29 April 1944. Troilo/Fiorentino/Marino at Club Social y Sportivo Buenos Aires.

7 May 1944. Troilo played Tibidabo beginning April 17 and continuing through the month of May with Fiorentino and Marino at the mic, as this ad and an earlier ad attest ("actua todas las noches"). That's Osvaldo Pugliese's older brother Alberto on the right. His orchestra played earlier in the evening, during the cocktail hour ("vermouth") and Saturdays at 23:00, presumably to allow the Troilo orchestra to play its Saturday-night gigs in the barrios.

First of all, March 6 was a Monday, an unusual night for a football club to hold any dance, let alone an event so momentous as the final cortina of one of tango's greatest binomios. (Most of the big sports-club dances were held on Saturdays or Sundays, though a few were on Thursdays or Fridays.) Furthermore, no such event was advertised in the pages of the El Mundo Dance Guide.

Sunday 14 May 1944. Upper panel, Goñi at Círculo Almagro. Below, Troilo/Fiorentino/Marino at Racing Club.

Second, the Tango Time Machine archives give proof of numerous Troilo/Fiorentino appearances during the months of April and May. One of them, at the Tibidabo nightclub on the Calle Corrientes, was a nightly gig that began on April 17. Tibidabo ads during the month of May promise performances by Troilo with Fiorentino and Marino every night of the week. Fiore may have given notice in March, but his farewell performance, whether at Boca or somewhere else, must have come sometime near the end of May.

Another invaluable source, as always, is discography. As Michael pointed out, Fiorentino's final recordings for Troilo were cut on 30 March (Tabaco, Temblando, and a duet with Marino, the milonga El desafío). In April, Troilo recorded only two numbers, an instrumental tango, Piropos, and Tres amigos with Marino at the mic. The orchestra didn't record at all in May. Then, in June, Troilo went back into the studio with Cristal, Siga el Corso, La vi llegar, and Naipe, all with Marino vocals, plus Rosendo Mendízabal's timeless tango El entrerriano.

 

Thursday, 25 May 1944. Troilo/Fiorentino/Marino at Boca Juniors.

By studying the ads shown here and correlating the data with known recording and radio dates, we can form an idea of the likely sequence of events surrounding Fiorentino's departure and his subsequent solo bid.

Saturday, 27 May 1944. Troilo/Fiorentino/Marino at Club Rivadavia. This may have been the last tango for Troilo and Fiore.

Fiorentino almost certainly gave notice sometime between March 5 (the day of the band's appearance for the final night of Carnaval at the Círculo General Urquiza) and 30 March, the day of his final recordings with the band. Sixth March is certainly a date worth considering, because it comes at the very end of the Carnaval period, a time when people typically start making plans for the coming year.

Giving notice on 6 March would have allowed Fiorentino and Troilo time to record any new songs they'd rehearsed together. After 30 March, there would be no recording dates, no radio appearances, and no new songs to rehearse, leaving the singer's days free for rehearsals with a new orchestra during all of April and May.

Fiorentino's final advertised performances with Troilo were on Thursday 25 May at Boca Juniors and Saturday 27 May at Club Rivadavia. His first advertised date with Goñi's orchestra seems to have been on Sunday 4 June at the Prince George Hall. I'll confirm that date during the coming weeks.

 

17 June 1944. Following Fiorentino's final farewell, Troilo returns to Radio El Mundo with six songs and Marino at the mic.

As for the singer's formal despedida, farewell performance, if there was one: It may indeed have been at Boca Juniors, as the source suggests, though it would almost certainly have been on 25 May, not 6 March, for he appeared that night at Boca Juniors.

It seems likely that there would have been some sort of farewell observance two nights later at Club Rivadavia gig, as well. But I am guessing that the real farewell party would have been on Fiore's final night at Tibidabo, the boozy, smoke-filled cabaret where he and Troilo had musicalized the night shift throughout much 1943 and '44, leaving behind the echoes of a thousand and one enchanting three-minute performances.

Fiorentino's first advertised appearance with the Goñi orchestra was on Sunday 4 June at the Prince George Hall. "Sensational!"

As I write, I'm wondering if I didn't miss an ad for the Tibidabo despedida. Tibidabo's display ads usually appeared on a page preceding or following the Dance Guide, so I may have overlooked it. I'll check on that and let you know.

[Many thanks to Michael Lavocah for his encouragement, guidance, and collaboration in conducting this research.]

Postscript (31 December 2015)

I've checked the ads for May and June, and I don't see any formal despedida for Fiorentino at Tibidabo or anywhere else. I did find another appearance with Troilo, though, on June 8, four days after his first advertised show with Goñi. I've added it at the right, below.

 

 

 

 

 

Fiorentino's last advertised appearance with the Troilo orchestra was at the Club Indiano on 8 June, four days after his first appearance with Goñi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life of Laurenz, Radiolandia 1937

D'Arienzo upstaged by his singers...!

In an earlier post, I wrote about the increasing prestige of the orchestra singer during the period 1943-44, and its reflection in the pages of the El Mundo Dance Guide. First Vargas went solo (though it didn't last long), followed by Castillo, Rufino, and Fiorentino. By the end of the year 1944, Podestá, Berón, and a few others would do the same. All of them received extensive exposure via the medium of newspaper advertising.

As if in reply to all this hoopla surrounding the solo singers, several of the well established orchestras began to feature their singers more prominently in advertising.

An admired solo vocalist like Rufino fronting his own orchestra might have been a very exciting prospect, but that didn't mean that a top orchestra like Troilo's or Di Sarli's need suffer by comparison. On the contrary. Especially when those orchestras, which by their very nature enjoyed top-notch musical direction, also boasted very fine singers of their own.

It is sometimes said that Juan D'Arienzo valued the role of the singer and the lyrics somewhat less than his compeers. His choice of songs and lyrics did not highlight the singer's gifts nearly so much as those of Troilo, Di Sarli, or Demare, and he sometimes chose works that were, from a lyrical standpoint, inferior or in questionable taste (e.g., El Hipo, El tarta, Sepoñoporipitapa, Giuseppe el crooner, Che existentialista, etc). Thus, it was with great interest that I found the accompanying July 1944 ad for a show at the famous Chantecler cabaret (or "dancing" in the euphemistic parlance of this period). To my knowledge, this was the first time that the faces of either Echagüe or Mauré were seen in the pages of the Dance Guide. I'm fairly certain it was the last, as well.

You see—or so the ad subliminally admonishes the reader—not only Castillo, Rufino, and Fiorentino are singing stars in their own right! Look at Alberto Echagüe and Héctor Mauré! They are well established stars with a long history of public acclaim, a lot of great performances under their belts. And both singers have their own orchestra, too: the "supremely popular" one directed by the great Juan D'Arienzo, The King of the Beat. You can have the best singers and the best orchestra together in one act. No need to choose between one or the other.

And, oh yeah, I forgot to mention: Don't forget the Chanteceler's headlined "Modern Review" floor show, "The Invasion of the Beautiful Girls." Guys, your girlfriend might be eager to see one of those male crooners make love to the microphone, but we know what you really want.

You see? You can have it all!

Lucio Demare Splits from Irusta and Fugazot (1937)

Here's an interesting 1937 article on the breakup of the Trio Argentino. By 1940, Demare's orchestra was one of the most successful típicas in Buenos Aires, a constant presence in the dance halls and on Radio El Mundo. Irusta went on to a successful film career and Fugazot pretty much dropped off the radar....

"This news will come to the reader as a real surprise. For fifteen consecutive years they've worked together with season after season of popular success. For years and years their names appeared on marquees of top theatres in Europe and Central and South America. Precursors of the great success that our tango music was to achieve in every corner of the world—from whence they drew their biggest fans—Irusta, Fugazot and Demare were always a magnificent unit, touching cultured audiences and earning popular acclaim in many different countries. They were held at the same level of admiration, perhaps even higher, outside of Argentina than among us ourselves.

"That's why this separation comes as such a surprise, capping a body of a work that made their names a household word. Now officially announced, it is decided, furthermore, that Irusta and Fugazot will appear on Radio Belgrano, forming a duo accompanied by four guitars, with a repertoire totally different from what they've been developing until this moment, since they will dedicate themselves exclusively to criollo themes.

"As for Lucio Demare, there are contradictory reports about his future course of action. While some say with certainty that he will join Francisco Canaro's orchestra, other credible rumors say that he is currently preparing an orchestra of his own that he will direct according to his own artistic approach and that he'll debut it at the microphone of a major radio station.

"In any case, although these rumors haven't identified the causes of the breakup of the popular trio, it would come as no surprise if it had been influenced by the lyrical orientation of the trio, which, though they may previously have gained resounding success among discriminating audiences, has not managed to achieve the intense and widespread popularity to which Irusta and Fugazot aspire. Time, soon enough, will reveal the reason for the split."

[Radiolandia, April 1937. Translation, Tango Decoder.]

 

Then and Now: Racing Club with Ricardo Tanturi

30 May 1943 (right): The massively popular football organization Racing Club proudly invites dancers to its new annex (the single-story structure at the left in the illustration) at Nogoya 3045 and a "stellar" show featuring the típica of Ricardo Tanturi and the jazz of Osvaldo Novarro. Running a professional football club was an extremely capital-intensive endeavor. Dances were a valuable source of additional revenue that kept many clubs out of the red, allowing them to expand and diversify their activities.

This large, fancifully illustrated ad was prepared by the Argañaraz publicity agency.

June 2015 (below): Racing Club's annex and its three-story headquarters are visible in this view from Google Maps, but the annex seems to be on the verge of conversion into a block of shops. I'll visit later this month. I hope to have a look at the club's archives from the 40s.

 

Carlos Di Sarli Spins "The Wheel of Tango" (Pt. 2)

"Fans fight their way toward the entrance to attend the sensational debut of singer Roberto Rufino with his grand orchestra, an incident that clearly confirms the success that was expected from the very beginning." 6 May 1944.

"Round and round it goes and where it stops, nobody knows!"—The Amateur Hour radio show, 1934

[View Part 1 of this article.]

Carlos Di Sarli's music is inimitable, but "The Wheel of Tango" and its surrounding publicity were not. On 3 May, 1944, Roberto Rufino, "The Actor of Tango," appeared in a remarkably Di Sarlian ad (second photo, right) speaking directly to his audience, thanking them for their "show of sympathy" during his debut at the Palermo Palace, referring to it as La Cita del Tango, Tango's Big Event: "For that is what we may call this important event that remains like a memory that cannot be erased." Rufino, who had until recently been the voice of the Di Sarli orchestra, was attempting to usurp the voice of the maestro himself.

In his master's voice. Rufino's "Di Sarlian" ad describes his debut a "Tango's Big Event." 3 May 1944.

And that clever strategy of picturing the Di Sarli fans who had been turned away from the sold-out shows at the Marabú? The Palermo Palace took a similar, but much more upbeat approach. The ad depicts Rufino's excited followers mobbing the club's entrance, eager to buy tickets for opening night. Seen from a high angle, they look upward, into the camera, expressing their gleeful anticipation of the musical triumph they are about to experience. To our eye, it seems that Rufino and the Palace had bested Di Sarli at his own game. We leave it to the reader to form his or her own judgment.

(Note: As in the Marabú photo, we see few if any women in the Palermo Palace crowd. One may speculate that since women were admitted free at the Palace, they were also spared the inconvenience of waiting on the ticket-buyers' line.) 

"Osvaldo Pugliese and his orchestra thank the public who came the Bar Argentino last Wednesday and must present their excuses to all those who, on finding the gates shut for having exceeded the capacity of the hall, had to remain outside the bar. They also offer their profound apologies to their colleagues and friends Demare, Troilo, Rodríguez, Washington Bertolín, Tanturi, Salgán, Fiorentino, Marino, F. Sassone, F. Pinto, Clauso, etc., to whom they were not able to attend with the deference that they would have liked given the crush of the crowd."
[View closeup of the guests.]

On May 14, the management of the Bar Argentino ran a similar ad to publicize the debut of Osvaldo Pugliese and his orchestra. There, we see what purports to be an interior view of the venue. Seated in the foreground are a group of Don Osvaldo's invited guests, his colleagues and friends Demare, Tanturi, Troilo, Salgán, and several others; behind them is ranked the mass of the audience. The tone of the ad is apologetic, not only to those members of the public who couldn't gain entry, but to Don Osvaldo's famous friends, whom, the ad says, he couldn't entertain as he would have liked because of the huge crowds.

Di Sarli's competitors did not stop at copying his advertising strategies, however; they also copied "The Wheel of Tango" itself. In mid-June, two months after the first spin of The Wheel, a copycat contest entitled "My Best Tangos" began to appear on Radio El Mundo on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 10:35 p.m. The orchestras of Angel D'Agostino, Juan D'Arienzo, and Ricardo Tanturi were the initial participants. Followup ads in the El Mundo Dance Guide featured a ranked tally of listeners' votes just like those in earlier ads for The Wheel. ("My Best Tangos" was sponsored by the Mejoral cigarette company, which had been Di Sarli's sponsor for The Wheel of Tango when it premiered in May....)

The Wheel of Tango on Radio El Mundo. "Today at 7 p.m. Carlos Di Sarli and his orchestra return to Radio El Mundo to play the most Argentine music in the land. And at 8:30 you'll hear news of the sensation that is sweeping Buenos Aires: The Wheel of Tango."
2 May 1944.

Undaunted by these obvious imitators, Di Sarli and his Wheel kept on rolling. On 2 May it was presented on Radio El Mundo, and on 17 June it appeared at the Inclán social club in the staunchly working-class southern barrio of Parque Patricios. Additional rounds of The Wheel were held at Marabú, too, with new songs and new winners.

Rufino continued to hold court at the Palermo Palace for eight successful weeks, to be replaced by his fellow singer-soloist Alberto Castillo on July 1. The pages of the El Mundo Dance Guide don't tell us how long Osvaldo Pugliese kept up his overcrowded appearances at the Bar Argentino, but he and his orchestra remained very active on the sports-and-social-club dance circuit for the rest of the winter and beyond.

Inclan Social Club, Parque Patricios. Di Sarli presents The Wheel of Tango "with the powerful and inimitable voice of Alberto Podestá." 17 June 1944.

The Wheel of Tango kept on turning, turning, not for Di Sarli alone, but for all the Actors of Tango... Viewed through the lens of the El Mundo Dance Guide, the autumn of 1944 truly was a Big Event in the history of tango.

TO BE CONTINUED...