Marilia 30s, 40s & 50s: May 2015

Celly Campello and her brother Tony are introduced by Radio Dirceu's MC Marcelino Medeiros; Santucci sits back at his drums.

Rodolfo Sproesser on Christmas Eve 1960 - 24 December 1960.

'Os Acadêmicos de Marília' at Christmas 1960: Makoto, Antonio Carlos, Tika Sasazaki, Irineu Parizzato & Rodolfo Sprösser.

Radio Dirceu MC Marcelino Medeiros looks on while Cauby Peixoto swings accompanied by Marilia musicians; from right to left: Higino B. Canales at the accordion; Rodolfo Sproesser at the rhythm guitar and Santucci at the drums.

Cauby Peixoto earlier on the stage of Radio Dirceu de Marilia on 22 April 1960; drummer Santucci looks on (through dark sun glasses) while the announcer speaks on the microphone.

Higino Bernadino Canales aka Gino on the accordion with an earlier combo usually known as 'conjunto regional'; this is probably Regional Deodato & Stefanini.

This is an even earlier photo having Domingos Canales (Mingo) on the accordion plus Ueda (wearing glasses) just behind Mingo and Kawaguti on the right wearing a white suit.

Nelson Fukai wrote at FB: o japonês do meio, conforme Regina Perpetuo, era o professor Ueda, que na rua Cel. Galdino, vizinho da sapataria que havia na esquina com a rua 24 de Dezembro, tinha um misto de escola de língua-japonesa e escola-de-ballet. Era um tipo intelectual e nas horas vagas passeava de bicicleta pela Avenida Rio Branco. O de terno branco, à direita, me parece ser o prof. Kawaguti, músico e pintor. Lecionou durante anos da sua casa na rua Arcoverde entre a rua 24 de Dezembro e a Santo Antonio. Com o prof. Kawaguti aprendi a dedilhar o violão; minhas irmãs aprenderam a tocar violino e banjo. Em 1960 formou um grupo de instrumentistas e cantores que se apresentava na cidade. Em 1967 mudou-se para próximo do Colegio Sagrado Coração de Jesus.

Rodovaldo Romano & his trumpet

Rod playing solo

Regina Aparecida Perpetuo writes at FB about Rod's passing away - 4 September 2018 - mais uma estrela musical se junta aos que partiram antes. Passaram-se muitos anos, mas eu nunca me esqueci de você, Marcão, na orquestra Sentimental Boys, tocando 'Oh my papa'.

Theatro São Luiz, owned by Empreza Cinematographica de Marília in an ad at 'Correio de Marília' announces the projection of Cecil B.De Mille's 'Cleopatra' with Claudette Colbert playing the title-role on Saturday, 25 May 1935. The Hollywood super-production opened in New York on 16 August 1934. On 1st May 1935, Cine São Luiz showed Raoul Wash's 1933's 'Sailor's luck' (Sorte de marinheiro); on 2nd May, it showed 'We're not dressing' (Cupido ao leme) a pre-Code screw-ball comedy with Carole Lombard & Bing Crosby (26 April 1934); on 4 May it showed RKO's 'Son of Kong' (O filho de King Kong) which opened in the USA on 22nd December 1933; on 5 May 1935, Cine São Luiz showed 'Baby, take a bow' (A queridinha da família) with Shirley Temple (opened in the US on 30 June 1934); on 6 May it showed a pre-Code crime-film, UFA's 'The Crosby case' (Quem matou o Dr. Crosby?); on 7 May 1935 it showed 'Gold' (Ouro), a German science-fiction flick which was hailed as 'bigger than 'Metropolis'); on 8 May 1935, Cine São Luiz showed MGM's 'Hell below' (Além do inferno) with Roberto Montgomery, Walter Huston & Jimmy Durante, which opened in the USA on 9 June 1933; on 9 May 1935, it showed Randolph Scott in Paramount's 'Last round-up' (Último assalto); on 12 May 1935, it showed Richard Barthelmess in 'Massacre' which opened in the US on 20 January 1934.

Marilia-SP in June 1962 had two movie-theatres.

Cine Sao Luiz showed pictures every day at 2:00, 7:30 and 10:30 PM. On Sundays, Cine S.Luiz's sessions were at 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00 and 10:00 PM.

On week-days Cine Marilia's only session started at 7:00 PM - on Tuesdays and Fridays it had a 2nd session starting at 9:00 PM. Cine Marilia's sessions were half-an-hour earlier than Cine S.Luiz's for a reason: the same 'national-complements' made up of Brazilian newsreels, trailers and short documentaries were shown first at one cinema (at the corner of Avenida Sampaio Vidal and rua Campos Salles) and then rushed off to the other theatre (S.Luiz) on rua 9 de Julho to be projected once again.

Fourteen-year-old Mauricio Diniz who used to work as a factotum at both cinemas told us how he got hold of those just-projected-reels at Cine Marilia that were as-hot-as-fire, put them on a trolley and hushed them down Rua 9 de Julho to get to Cine S.Luiz on time for them to be projected again at 7:30.

As Marilia is located 500 km away from the capital-city of Sao Paulo it wasn't able to get TV signals broadcast from the metropolis that only reached a 90-km-radius around it. So the only way of nightly entertainment for Marilienses - apart from going to church, visiting relatives and friends or staying home to listen to Rio de Janeiro radio stations or the 3 local broacasters - was to go to the movies. And Marilienses went to the movies in droves. Both theatres were usually packed nightly.

Going to the movies in Marilia in 1962 - and up to the advent of TV - was almost like a religious ritual. People would meet neighbours, acquaintances and even relatives at the cinema. They waved to each other nodding their heads just before the lights went out. Some people started relationships at the movies, others ended long-engagements and so on.

Marilia, being a small city in the 1950s and 1960s with around 60,000 inhabitants had only 2 regular movie theatres which regularly packed to capacity almost daily. Maybe Mondays were not so hot but Sundays were their best day starting at 1:00 PM with a double-featured session plus a serial for kids who stamped the grounds of the theatre when the bell sounded announcing the start of Sunday's programme.

Actually, there was smaller outfit called Cine Juventude Católica located on Rua Sergipe, a side street running on the side of Sao Bento's Cathedral but that had an erratic programming and its premisses were really modest and the quality of film-projecting was not the best.

As to the movie-programming Marilia was a typical small city market. Few of them were first-release but most of the flicks were 'reprises'; films already seen a couple of years back. Some - like 'Brutalidade' (Brute Force) was 15 years old. Brazilian films - 'O palhaço, o que é?', 'Quanto mais samba melhor' and 'Com a mão na massa' - were shown almost on a weekly basis maybe to comply with a Federal law that made it compulsory for theatres to show a certain amount of local production yearly.

Japanese films were more numerous than Brazilian - maybe 3 Jap flicks a week - because there had been a huge Japanese migration to that part of the State of Sao Paulo. Marilia was a magnet for people of Japanese descent who lived in rural areas or next-door towns and cities.

Italian and French films were quite prominent then. Mexican films were still popular circa 1962. They were actually living their onset because Brazilian society would suffer a new process of Anglo-Americanization soon after the April 1964 coup d'etat.

June 1962 monthly film programme posted at Facebook's Memoria de Marilia by Cirilo Tosin.

Programação do Cine Marilia de Junho 1962 – Sessões diárias às 19:00 e 21:00 horas.

4 (2ª) - ‘Vicio maldito’ (Le désordre et la nuit) 1958 – Jean Gabin (18 anos)

5 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘O modelador de almas’ (Piel canela) 1953 – Sara Montiel (18 anos); 2ª sessão: ‘Historia da Policia Japonesa’

6 (4ª) – ‘O palhaço, o que é?’ – Fred & Carequinha – produção nacional 1960

7 (5ª) – ‘Mercadora de felicidade’(The matchmaker) – Anthony Perkins 1958

8 (6ª) 1ª sessão: ‘Madrugada de sangue’ (Os 5 ladrões) – Ralph Zumbano 1956 (filme nacional) 2ª sessão: filme japonês

9 (Sab) ‘Crepúsculo de uma paixão’ (Middle of the night) – Kim Novak - August 1959 - (18 anos)

10 – domingo vesperal: ‘Galope selvagem’ (Strange gamble) 1948 – William Boyd (14 anos)

10 – domingo à noite: ‘Marcados pelo destino’ (Tiger Bay) 1959 – John Mills (14 anos)

11 (2ª) – ‘Sanha diabólica’ (Curse of the undead) 1959 – Eric Fleming (18 anos)

12 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Quanto mais samba melhor’ – Cyl Farney – filme nacional (16 anos) – 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Os duelos de Shingo’ (Shingo Nijuban Shobu) 1961 (10 anos)

13 (4ª) – ‘Dilema de um médico’ (The doctor’s dilemma) 1958 – Dirk Bogarde e Leslie Caron (14 anos)

14 (5ª) – ‘A cucaracha’ 1959 – Maria Felix e Pedro Armendariz (18 anos)

15 (6ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Foguete errante’ August 1959 (Have rocket, will travel) – Três Patetas; 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Ladrões engraçados’

16 (Sab) – ‘Sem familia’ (Sans famille) 1958 – Pierre Brasseur e Gino Cervi

17 - domingo vesperal: ‘Foguete errante’ – 3 Patetas;

17 – domingo à noite: ‘Os cossacos’ (I cossachi) – Edmund Purdom 1958 (14 anos)

18 (2ª) – ‘Gangsters em fúria’ (The Bonnie Parker Story) – Dorothy Provine & Jack Hogan (1958)(14 anos)

19 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Férias em Majorca’ (Brevi amori a Palma di Maiorca) 1959 – Belinda Lee e Alberto Sordi; 2ª ssessão: filme japonês

20 (4ª) – ‘O nosso homem em Havana’ (Our man in Havana)1960 – Alec Guinness e Maureen O'Hara (18 anos)

21 (5ª) – ‘A bela adormecida’ (Sleeping Beauty) 1959 – desenho de Walt Disney colorido

22 (6ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Porto de furias’ (Sea Fury) 1958 – Stanley Baker (14 anos); 2ª sessão: ‘Chuji, o justiceiro’ (14 anos)

23 (Sab) – ‘Furia negra’ (King of the wild stallions) 1959 – George Montgomery

24 – domingo vesperal: ‘Furia negra’ – George Montgomery

24 – domingo à noite: ‘Peregrino da esperança’ (The Sundowners) – Deborah Kerr e Robert Mitchum (1960)

25 (2ª) – ‘Amarás o teu proximo’ (Ama a tu prójimo) – Elza Aguirre 1958 (10 anos)

26 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Com a mão na massa’ – Iris Del Mar - filme nacional 1953; 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Bisturi, contra corrupção Shochik' (18 anos)

27 (4ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Entrevista com a morte’ (Blind date / Chance meeting) – Hardy Krüger 1959 (18 anos)

27 (4ª) vesperal gratuita: ‘Rancho alegre’ – Jack Haley

27 (4ª) – 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Tempestade no Pacifico’ (Storm over the Pacific / I bombed Pearl Harbor) - Toshiro Mifune 1960 (10 anos)

28 (5ª) – ‘Brutalidade’ (Brute force) – Burt Lancaster (18 anos)

29 (6ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘O teto’ Il tetto) 1956 – Grabriela Pallotti; 2ª sessão: filme japonês

30 Sábado vesperal: ‘A viagem do balão’ (Le voyage en ballon) 1960 – Pascal Lamorisse

30 (Sab) – ‘A viagem do balão’ – Pascal Lamorisse

1 Julho – domingo à noite: ‘Romance no inverno’ – Alberto Sordi (16 anos)

Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux & Nadja Tiller in 'Vicio Maldito' (1958)

'O palhaço, o que é?' com Carequinha & Fred, Zumby & Zumbizinho, Meio-Quilo, Sonia Mamede, Nancy Wanderley, Hamilton Ferreira, Fabio Sabag, Jayme Filho, Francisco Anisio, Castro Baptista etc.