Even though this blog deals mainly with the night-life in Sao Paulo - that is - what happened on night-clubs and other places, we decided to include plays, comedies and musical revues shown on theatres around the city.
3 January 1954 - actress-producer Bibi Ferreira presents Julio Dantas' 'A ceia dos cardeais' at Teatro Santana with Jayme Costa, Manuel Durães & Sergio Cardoso; at the same programme Roberto Gomes' 'O sonho' and 'A casa fechada' with Bibi Ferreira herself, Paulo Porto, Yara Cortez & others. The ad cliché was done by Miécio Caffé.
3 January 1954 - Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia presents André Roussin's 'Uma certa cabana' (La petite hutte) directed by Adolfo Celi with Tonia Carrero & Paulo Autran; at Teatro de Aluminio Colé & his company present 'São Paulo Quatrocentão' with Nelia Paula, Paulo Celestino etc.
7 February 1954 - to celebrate the city's 400th anniversary 'Folia no Centenário' (Centennary Follies) a Humberto Cunha musical revue starring actress-singer Mary Gonçalves & many show girls at Cine Theatro Odeon, on Rua da Consolação, 40-42.
Theatre Odeon on Rua da Consolação, 40-42 next to Avenida São Luiz had two main rooms: Sala Azul (blue) and Sala Vermelha (red).
7 February 1954 - Teatro Santana Bibi Ferreira presents Ruth & Augustus Goetz's 'The heiress' (A herdeira), a 1947 play based on a novel by Henry James called 'Washington Square'.
21 February 1954 - at Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia Dutch playwritht Jan de Hartog's 'Leito nupcial', translated by R.Magalhães, directed by Luciano Salce starred by Cacilda Becker & Jardel Filho; at Teatro Intimo Nicette Bruno on Rua Vitoria, 663 at the corner of Praça Julio Mesquita - Machado de Assis' 'Lição de botânica' plus J.M.Macedo's 'O primo da California' with Nicette Bruno, her mother Eleonor Bruno, her husband Paulo Goulart & Walmor Chagas.
21 February 1954 - 'Parabéns, São Paulo!' (Congratulations, São Paulo!) was yet another musical revue about the city's 400th Anniversary. Written by Italian comedian Zeloni & Wellington Botelho, having Judy et Janos Parker as international attraction added to the cast.
7 March 1954 - comedian Dercy Gonçalves (born 23 June 1907) could do no wrong circa 1954... she was firmly establishing herself as a great theatre act as well as an excellent movie attraction. She was 47 years old then and would rule the waves for another 40 years. The ad cliché by Miécio Caffé.
28 March 1954 - straight from New York's Yiddish Art Theater Morris Schwartz presents 'Brider Aschkinazi' at Teatro Cultura Artistica's Great Auditorium.
18 April 1954 - Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia was not only comedies as its title suggested. Here's a play with no comedy at all: Jean Paul Sartre's 1946's 'Morts sans sépulture' (Mortos sem sepultura) with Cleide Yaconis, Ziembsinski, Paulo Autran.
18 April 1954 - celebrated actor Rodolfo Mayer in Edgar Neville's 'Obrigada, pelo amor de vocês!...' translated by Bricio de Abreu. Note the cliché was done by Brazilian cartoonist Miécio Caffé, born in 1920 in Juazeiro-BA.
18 April 1954 - the company Dulcina & Odilon presents Raimundo Magalhães Junior's 'O imperador galante' at Teatro Santana. See the warning: this play will not be shown on TV, which means that television was already catching on in Sao Paulo.
18 April 1954 - world-famous ballerina Tamara Roumanova supported by Roman Jasinski is at Teatro Cultura Artistica on 4, 6 and 7 May 1954.
25 April 1954 - Sunday - Correio da Manhã - Radio Record & TV Record organized a Festival to honour the Old Guard (Velha Guarda) of Brazilian musicians & entertainers who were on top in the 1930s and 1940s. A series of recitals started on Friday, 23rd April, Saturday and today brought back to the fore artists like Pixinguinha, João da Bahiana & others. The festival was introduced by MC Almirante and turned out to be pivotal in the revival of the old Brazilian popular music that had been almost forgotten.
João da Bahiana with a platter on his hands, Donga on the guitar, Jacob Palmieri with a tambourine, Alfredinho do Flautim & Pixinguinha playing a saxophone.
2 May 1954 - Morris Schwartz aka Maurice Schwartz is back a month later with 'Di Mischpuche Karnowsky'. Yiddish theatre stars usually visited Sao Paulo on their way down south to Argentina. Sometimes they stopped over on their way back to New York to give a few more recitals in Brazil.
2 May 1954 - another beautiful cliché done by cartoonist Miécio Caffé where black is the main colour; 'Tudo é lucro' a musical revue at Teatro Santana with future husband & wife team Daniel Filho & Dorinha Duval in supporting roles.
9 May 1954 - acclaimed North-American contralto Marian Anderson sings on Tuesday, 11 May and Friday 14 May 1954 at Teatro Cultura Artistica on Rua Nestor Pestana.
9 May 1954 - at Teatro Santana, Elvira Pagã in 'Chuva de brotos'. a Paulo Orlando & Alberto Flores revue. Actor-comedian Daniel Filho (real name João Carlos Daniel, born on 30 September 1937) was only 16 years old then. They must have bribed the authorities to have such a young thing taking part in the burlesque theatre.
12 June 1954 - Morris Schwartz in Jakov Mikhailovitch's 'Gott, Mensch un Taiwel' (see more at: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6809-gordin-jacob-jakov-mikhailovich)
Maurice Schwartz, born Avram Moishe Schwartz (15 June 1889 - 10 May 1960).
born in Galicia, in the Austrian Empire, Maurice Schwartz aka Morris Schwartz founded the Yiddish Art Theater in 1918 in New York City..
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6 June 1954 - at Teatro Santana National Company of Operettas from Teatro Experimental Paranaense de Operetas presents Franz Lehar's 'Die lustige Witwe' (Merry Widow) or 'Viuva alegre'. See Lucrecia Darin as Valenciana.
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27 June 1954 - this is the night-club column at Estadão (daily O Estado de S.Paulo) that preceded Mary Wynne's 'Carrossel-Mary go-round'. Soon Miss Wynne would start writing a few lines everyday until the column shaped into what would last for more than a decade; how-girl Elvira Pagã does her act at Boite Eve; North-American pianist Freddy Feld plays at Captain's Bar; popular singer Jackson do Pandeiro at Oasis.
28 July 1954 - author, actor, playwright & director Silveira Sampaio (1914-1964) presents 'No país dos Cadillacs' a musical revue at Beguin, the Hotel Gloria's night-club in Rio de Janeiro.
8 August 1954 - This ad at OESP proves that 'Circo do Arrelia' every Sunday afternoon was the most popular programme on TV Record during the 1950s.
15 August 1954 - at Teatro de Aluminio, 'Brasil 3.000' with Renata Fronzi, (1st August 1925 +15 April 2008) her husband Cesar Ladeira (11 December 1910 + 8 Sept 1969) and Luiz Delfino (21 May 1921 +25 May 2005) who was married to singer Marlene for 10 years.
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12 September 1954 - fancy going out to see composer, arranger Heitor Villa-Lobos (5 March 1897 + 17 Nov 1959) conducting his own works at Teatro Cultura Artistica on Rua Nestor Pestana? Well, that's what you could do on this particular day in September 1954.
26 September 1954 - at Teatro Santana Mara Rubia, Brazil's top show-girl commands a revue by Paulo Gracindo, J.Ruy, Paulo Orlando & Humberto Cunha: 'As urnas vão rolar' (The ballot-boxes will roll) referred to Brazil's 1954 national elections that would be held on 3 October 1954. The revue's title is a pun on 'Saca rolha' a Carnaval-hit written & performed by Zé da Zilda & Zilda do Zé earlier in the year in which the opening lyrics went: 'As aguas vão rolar... garrafa cheia eu não quero ver sobrar...' (Waters will roll... I don't wanna see any half-empty bottle around...' an apology to Drunkeness hard to be surpassed in any language. See more about 1954 Brazilian National elections at:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_gerais_no_Brasil_em_1954
24 October 1954 -
28 October 1954 - inauguration of Teatro Maria Della Costa on Thursday at 9:00 PM on Rua Paim on the corner of Avenida 9 de Julho - just in front of Praça XIV Bis that was called Praça Santos Dumont in the 1950s.
31 October 1954 - at TBC Tonia Carrero plays George Bernard Shaw's 'Candida' directed by Ziembinski with Jardel Filho.
7 November 1954 - at Teatro Santana, comedian Colé & his Company in 'Gostei demais!...' with Nelia Paula heading a great team of show-girls.
14 November 1954 - at Teatro Leopoldo Froes following 'Lampião', 'Sinhá Moça chorou' with Nydia Licia, Leonardo Vilar, Carlos Zara and Sergio Cardoso.
4 December 1954 - this is one of Mary Wynne's first notes at the 'Indicador' column. Ms Wynne's column at Estadao would be a Sao Paulo night-life fixture for the next two decades. Mary announces Carmen Miranda's impending visit to Brazil after more than 10 years away from South America. Mary says she'd seen Ms Miranda's night-club act at the Baker Hotel's Mural Room in Dallas, Texas in 1951.
5 December 1954 - Mary Wynne acknowledges 1954 has been Angela Maria's year. Angela told Ms Wynne she was happy to be in the cover of Manchete, illustrated magazine. Angela also said a German magazine interviewed her because they had been told Angela's great-grand-father was a German national who migrated to Brazil. Angela had a stint at Meninão night-club and now was about to visit Argentina.
12 December 1954 - Maria Della Costa keeps on fascinating everyone who goes to her theatre at Rua Paim to see her portrayal of Joan of Arc in Jean Anouilh's 'L'alouette' (O canto da cotovia). Scenography by Gianni Ratto who left Milano's Teatro Scalla where he was the vice-president to live in Sao Paulo. Differently from most Italians who migrated to South America after WWII Mr. Ratto never went back to Europe.
12 December 1954 - controversial show-girl Elvira Pagã in back in 'São Paulo da garôa' a Pereira Dias revuette at Teatro Intimo Nicette Bruno.
12 December 1954 - Texan native Mary Wynne keeps expanding her column at Estadao while Freddy Feld, her Iowan countryman plays at Captain's Bar at Hotel Comodoro, on Avenida Duque de Caxias.
