From Hollywood and back: Dolores Del Rio, a trans (national) star

Studies in Latin American Popular Culture

Volumn 17, Issue 1, 1998, Pages

  López, Ana M ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0039413791     PISSN: 07309139     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (72)

1. Rafael Martínez Gandía, Dolores del Río: La Triunfadora (Madrid, Barcelona, Buenos Aires: Compañía Iberoamericana de Publicaciones, S.A., 1930).
2. Paco Ignacio Taibo I, Siempre Dolores (Barcelona: Planeta, 1984) and Carlos Fuentes, Orquídeas a la luz de la luna (Barcelona: Seix Carral, 1982).
3. Paco Ignacio Taibo I, Siempre Dolores (Barcelona: Planeta, 1984) and Carlos Fuentes, Orquídeas a la luz de la luna (Barcelona: Seix Carral, 1982).
4. With one notable exception, Christine Gledhill's Stardom: Industry of Desire (New York/London: Routledge, 1991) which recognizes this problem and includes an essay on three Indian female stars and an essay of Dorothy Dainbridge, Lena Horne, and questions of race.
5. One exception is the work of Paulo Antonio Paranaguá, beginning with Cinema na América Latina: Longe de Deus e perto de Hollywood (Porto Alegre, Rio Grade do Sul: L&PM Editores Ltda., 1985) and continued in "América Latina busca su imagen," Historia General del Cine, Vol. X., Carlos F. Heredero and Casimiro Torreiro, eds. (Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Cátedra, 1996).
6. One exception is the work of Paulo Antonio Paranaguá, beginning with Cinema na América Latina: Longe de Deus e perto de Hollywood (Porto Alegre, Rio Grade do Sul: L&PM Editores Ltda., 1985) and continued in "América Latina busca su imagen," Historia General del Cine, Vol. X., Carlos F. Heredero and Casimiro Torreiro, eds. (Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Cátedra, 1996).
7. See Seth Fein's essay in this volume and his "Hollywood, U.S.-Mexican Relations, and the Devolution of the 'Golden Age' of Mexican Cinema," Film-Historia, vol iv, no. 2 (1994), 103-136.
8. See Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro and Patricia Torres San Martín, Adela Sequeyro (Guadalajara: Universidad de Guadalajara/Universidad Veracruzana, 1997), 13-19.
9. It is a curious coincidence that Gunther Lessing, her attorney for these proceedings, was the same lawyer that some years earlier had negotiated the contract between Pancho Villa and the Mutual Film Corporation.
10. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
11. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
12. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
13. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
14. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
15. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
16. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
17. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
18. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
19. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
20. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
21. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
22. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
23. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
24. For First National: Joanna (Carewe, 1925), High Steppers (Carewe, 1926), and Pals First (Carewe, 1926). For Fox: What Price Glory? (Raoul Walsh, 1926), Loves of Carmen (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Gateway of the Moon (Raoul Walsh, 1927), The Red Dancer of Moscow (Raoul Walsh, 1928), and No Other Woman (Leon Tellegen, 1928). For MGM: The Trail of '98 (Clarence Brown, 1928). For Universal: The Whole Town's Talking (Edward Laemmle, 1926). For United Artists: Resurrection (Carewe, 1927), Ramona (Carewe, 1928), Revenge (Carewe, 1928), Evangeline (Carewe, 1929), and The Bad One (George Fitzmaurice, 1930).
25. Cited by James Robert Parrish, The Hollywood Beauties (New York: Arlington House, 1978).
26. Martínez Gandía, 15, 16-17. Unless otherwise noted all translations from foreign-language sources are my own.
27. Either because he had lost his star or for other reasons, Carewe's career fizzled after he lost Lolita. He remarried his former wife, Mary Aiken, remade Revenge with Lupe Velez in the Del Río role, and committed suicide in 1940.
28. Cited by Allen Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio (New York: Gordon Press, 1978), 13 and corroborated by Emilio García Rivera, México visto por el cine extranjero Vol. 1 (Guadalajara, Mexico: Ediciones Era/Universidad de Guadalajara, 1987), 109-111, 125-126.
29. Cited by Allen Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio (New York: Gordon Press, 1978), 13 and corroborated by Emilio García Rivera, México visto por el cine extranjero Vol. 1 (Guadalajara, Mexico: Ediciones Era/Universidad de Guadalajara, 1987), 109-111, 125-126.
30. "La vida en Hollywood," El Universal, 26 July 1925, 2nd section, 4; cited by Aurelio de los Reyes, "Nacimiento de un mito: Dolores del Río," Historia, leyendas y mitos de México: Su expresión en el arte (Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1988) 320.
31. "La vida en Hollywood," El Universal, 26 July 1925, 2nd section, 4; cited by Aurelio de los Reyes, "Nacimiento de un mito: Dolores del Río," Historia, leyendas y mitos de México: Su expresión en el arte (Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1988) 320.
32. De los Reyes, "Nascimiento de un mito," 320.
33. Cited in De Witt Bodeen, "The Career of Dolores Del Rio," Films in Review ( May 1967), 266-267.
34. As Eileen Bowser describes it, "this kind of shot is almost a Raoul Walsh trademark," Film Notes (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1969), 62.
35. Cited by Timothy W. Johnson, "What Price Glory?," Magill's Survey of Cinema: Silent Films, vol. 3 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1982), 1210.
36. James Robert Parish, The Hollywood Beauties, 16.
37. New York Times (August 19, 1928), cited by Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio, 40.
38. New York Times (August 19, 1928), cited by Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio, 40.
39. Eliding not only their nationalities, but, in light of Gibbon's well-known preference for men and Del Rio's own relationship Garbo at the time, their sexual preferences as well. See Alex Madsen, The Sewing Circle: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women (New York: Carol Publishing, 1995).
40. Photoplay, April 1934; cited by Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio, 42.
41. Photoplay, April 1934; cited by Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio, 42.
42. Woll, The Films of Dolores del Rio, 42.
43. Luz Alba, Ilustrado (12 May 1932), cited by García Riera, Mexico visto por el cine extranjero, Vol I, 161.
44. Luz Alba, Ilustrado (12 May 1932), cited by García Riera, Mexico visto por el cine extranjero, Vol I, 161.
45. Bosley Crowther, "That Night in Rio," New York Times (March 10, 1949), 21.
46. See, Allen L. Woll, The Latin Image in American Film (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publication, 1977) and Gaizka S. de Usabel, The High Noon of American Films in Latin America (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1982).
47. See, Allen L. Woll, The Latin Image in American Film (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publication, 1977) and Gaizka S. de Usabel, The High Noon of American Films in Latin America (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1982).
48. Aurelio de los Reyes, Dolores Del Rio (Mexico City: Servicios Codumex, 1996), 80.
49. This part of the analysis is indebted to Rebecca Ellner's excellent thesis, "Tropicalizing Latin Americanness: Hollywood, Ethnicity, and the Colonial Discourse," MA Thesis, Tulane University, 1997.
50. David Shipman, "Dolores del Rio," The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years (New York: Crown, 1970), 154.
51. Of course, although the Production Code was not fully enforced through the Production Code Administration until 1934, it had already been adopted in 1930. For more details, see Lea Jacobs, The Wages of Sin (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991).
52. Although Cecil Beaton was apparently not taken with her at all, and he described her as "difficult" to photograph because "she had fixed ideas on how she should pose." See Hugo Vickers, Cecil Beaton (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1985), 130, 158. The famous Beaton photograph with Del Rio clad only in a lei was reprinted illustrating Carlos Monsiváis's article "Dolores del Río: Las responsibilidades del rostro," Mexico en el arte, vol 1 (1983), 52; translated by John Kraniauskas as "Dolores Del Río: The Face as Institution," in Mexican Postcards (London: Verso, 1997), 71-87.
53. Although Cecil Beaton was apparently not taken with her at all, and he described her as "difficult" to photograph because "she had fixed ideas on how she should pose." See Hugo Vickers, Cecil Beaton (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1985), 130, 158. The famous Beaton photograph with Del Rio clad only in a lei was reprinted illustrating Carlos Monsiváis's article "Dolores del Río: Las responsibilidades del rostro," Mexico en el arte, vol 1 (1983), 52; translated by John Kraniauskas as "Dolores Del Río: The Face as Institution," in Mexican Postcards (London: Verso, 1997), 71-87.
54. Although Cecil Beaton was apparently not taken with her at all, and he described her as "difficult" to photograph because "she had fixed ideas on how she should pose." See Hugo Vickers, Cecil Beaton (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1985), 130, 158. The famous Beaton photograph with Del Rio clad only in a lei was reprinted illustrating Carlos Monsiváis's article "Dolores del Río: Las responsibilidades del rostro," Mexico en el arte, vol 1 (1983), 52; translated by John Kraniauskas as "Dolores Del Río: The Face as Institution," in Mexican Postcards (London: Verso, 1997), 71-87.
55. "Bird of Paradise," Variety Film Reviews, Vol 4, Sept. 13, 1932 (New York: Garland, 1983).
56. Salvador Novo cited by Monsiváis in "Dolores Del Río: The Face as Institution," 79.
57. De los Reyes, Dolores Del Rio, 83.
58. Elena Poniatowska, "Dolores Del Rio," Todo México, vol. II (Mexico City: Editorial Diana, 1993), 25.
59. Emilio Fernández's words, recalled by his daughter Adela Fernández in El Indio Fernández: Vida y mito (Mexico City: Panorama, 1986), 190-191.
60. Monsiváis, "Dolores Del Río: The Face as Institution," 81.
61. Emilio García Riera, Historia documental del cine mexicano, 1st ed, vol 2 (Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1970), 121.
62. st ed., vol. 2, p. 169.
63. Jean-Louis Comolli, "Historical Fictions: A Body Too Much," trans. Ben Brewster, Screen vol 19, no. 2 (1978).
64. Aurelio de los Reyes credits her eye/eyebrow expressivity to Emilio Fernández's influence. See Dolores Del Rio, 105-107.
65. García Riera, Historia Documental, 1st ed., vol. 3, 50.
66. Seth Fein, "Cold-War Hollywood in Postwar Mexico: Anticommunism and Transnational Feature-Film Production," forthcoming in Chon Noriega, ed., Visible Nations, University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
67. A significant prologue added to the film at the insistence of Joseph Breen, the head of the Production Code Administration, disclaims any identification with Mexico and links the story to contemporary cold-war issues, describing it as a "timeless and topical story" that is "still being played in many parts of the world."
68. Georges Beaume, "Dolores Del Rio: Reine du Mexique," Cinémonde, no. 932 (13 June 1952), 9-11.
69. Mesa-Bains's "An Ofrenda for Dolores del Rio" (1984) was reconstructed in 1990 for the CARA (Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation) show at the Wright Gallery at UCLA. See Richard Griswold del Castillo, Teresa McKenna, and Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, eds., Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985 (Los Angeles: Wright Art Gallery, UCLA, 1991), 63.
70. Mesa-Bains's "An Ofrenda for Dolores del Rio" (1984) was reconstructed in 1990 for the CARA (Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation) show at the Wright Gallery at UCLA. See Richard Griswold del Castillo, Teresa McKenna, and Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, eds., Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985 (Los Angeles: Wright Art Gallery, UCLA, 1991), 63.
71. De los Reyes, Dolores del Rio, 192.
72. For an interesting analysis of the Mesa-Bains altars see Jennifer A. González, "Rhetoric of the Object: Material Memory and the Artwork of Amalia Mesa-Bains," Visual Anthropology Review, vol. 9, no. 1 (Spring 1993), 82-91.