Sao Paulo night life 1950-1960: 1 9 6 1

2nd July 1961 - Italian cartoonist Morales J. Morales whose real name was Diego Chiappero, gives the tone to the Saci Awards to the best in Sao Paulo's theatre scene. From left to right: Sergio Cardoso, ..., ..., ..., Paulo Autran, Cacilda Becker and Nydia Licia.

7 July 1961 - Nelson Rodrigues' legendary play 'O beijo no asfalto' opens at Teatro Ginástico in Rio de Janeiro-GB with Fernanda Montenegro, Sergio Britto, Italo Rossi, Carminha Brandão etc.

16 July 1961 - At Teatro Maria Della Costa, Ferdinand Bruckner's 1929's 'Krankheit der Jugend' (Males da juventude).

Ferdinand Bruckner's real name was Theodor Tagger (*26 August 1891, in Sofia, Bulgaria +5 December 1958, in Berlin) was an Austrian-German writer and theatre manager.

23rd July 1961 - At Teatro Bela Vista, Nydia Licia in Pirandello's 1930's 'Questa sera si recita a soggetto' (Esta noite improvisamos).

23rd July 1961 - Italian-American Vic Damone sings at Teatro Ritz (former Cine Ritz) at Rua da Consolação, 2.304; one of his recitals was broadcast by TV Tupi who tried hard to emulate TV Record for some time in 1961... until the dollar-cruzeiro exchange-rate went up through the roof and they had to abandon such a folly.

30 July 1961 - a brand-new theatre opens in São Paulo: Teatro Oficina, at Rua Jaceguay, 520.

30 July 1961 - New play at Teatro de Arena: 'O testamento do cangaceiro'...

30 July 1961 -

30 July 1961 - Miss Brazil Number Two Vera Maria Brauner Menezes was the runner-up at Long Beach's II Miss International Beauty Contest. Stanny Van Baer, Miss Holland was voted the most beautiful girl...

1st August 1961 - Argentine actress Suzana Freyre plays 'The miracle worker' (O milagre de Anna Sullivan) at Teatro Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro-GE. Glauce Rocha, Fregolente and Sergio Viotti are in the cast too.

5 August 1961 - Mary Wynne shows a photo of piano player Pachá, who tickles the ivories every night at Farney's. The other combo playing at Dick Farney's is led by bass-player Luiz Chaves who's Saba's kid brother.

6 August 1961 - Moliere's 'La malade imaginaire' (O doente imaginário) at Teatro Leopoldo Fróes.

13 August 1961 - Admov's 'As almas mortas' based on Nikolai Gogol's 1842 book at Teatro Brasileiro de Comedia with Cacilda Becker, Cleyde Yaconis, Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Stenio Garcia etc.; Arthur Admov (23 August 1908 + 15 March 1970) was one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd. Music by Carlos Lyra.

27 August 1961 - At Sociedade Harmonia de Tenis, on Rua Argentina, 290, a great 'Festival da Canção Brasileira' with Norma Benguel, Sylvia, Telles, Alaide Costa, Morgana, Agostinho dos Santos, Sergio Ricardo, Carlos Lira, Tito Madi, Pery Ribeiro, Daisy Paiva etc. This was actually the forerunner of what would become a trend in 1963, a maelstrom in 1964 and then lead to those legendary song-festivals that had its peak in 1967, at TV Record.

3rd September 1961 - Mary Wynne is told by Claudette Soares she started working in São Paulo in March 1961... Ms Wynne catches up with Mary Gonçalves now Mrs. Gus Standish who tells her she's about to go back to Barranquilla, Colombia where she'd been living since she left São Paulo's night life in early 1960.

3rd September 1961 -

3rd September 1961 - At Teatro Federação, Claude Magner's 'Oscar' with Jô Soares & Cecilia Carneiro; at Teatro Oficina, Clifford Odets' 1933's 'Awake and sing!' (A vida impressa em dolar).

Renato Borghi, Celia Helena, Moracy do Val & Etty Fraser in 'Awake and sing!' (A vida impressa em dolar); photo taken by Fredi Kleemann.

1st October 1961 - Morales J. Morales draws his vision of Moracy do Val, Celia Helena & Etty Fraser in 'A vida impressa em dolar' which opened a new theatre in São Paulo: Teatro Oficina.

'Awake and sing!' premiered at the Belasco Theater on 19 February 1935, running for 184 performances before closing on 27 July 1935; it returned in September 1935 for an additional 24 performances. Directed by Harold Cluman, it starred Luther Adler (Moe Axelrod), Stella Adler (Bessie Berger), Morris Carnovsky (Jacob), John Garfield (Ralph Berger) & Sandord Meisner (Sam Feinschreiber).

7 September 1961 - Mary Wynne reminisces about 7 September 1954, when Bon Voyage owned by Sergio Rolim in a building designed by Oscar Niemeyer opened its doors. Robledo was playing piano at the nightclub on Rodovia Raposo Tavares; Ms Wynne says Robledo and Fred Feld were the only foreign piano players who were still going on strong in São Paulo of late.

10 September 1961 - Ms Wynne wishes Happy Birthday to Leny Eversong and prints a photo where Leny celebrates her b'day with Pedrinho Mattar, a Brazilian pianist who accompanied Miss Eversong in her stints at the Thunderbird in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately the quality of the photo was poor so we made do with another non-identified pianist.

10 September 1961 - at Teatro Bela Vista, 'As guerras do Alecrim' with Berta Zemel, Wolney de Assis, Rosamaria Murtinho etc.

10 September 1961 - Elaborate articles about Antonio José's 'Guerras de alecrim' and Clifford Odets' 'Awake and sing!' (A vida impressa em dolar).

Clifford Odets in 1938.

24 September 1961 - José Vasconcelos got tired of his one-man-show 'Eu sou o espetáculo' and now shared Teatro Paramount's stage with Walter D'Avila, Otelo Zeloni, Maria Fernanda and big cast in a revue called 'No país dos bilhetinhos' which meant the little notes written by President Janio Quadros to his staff. The play must have lost its raison d'être when Mr. Quadros resigned from the Presidency on 25 August 1961

1st October 1961 - I had been living in Sao Paulo since 16 December 1960. I was 12 years old, went to night-school, I was at year 5 (1a. serie ginasial) at Ginasio Vila Madalena on Rua Morás. Even though I had moved from a small town 500 km away from Sao Paulo I was not a 'dumb kid'. In a matter of few weeks I could take the tram-cars 'Praça Ramos de Azevedo' from Rua Fradique Coutinho corner of Rua Aspicuelta and get off at the very heart of the city and go & see a movie 'downtown'.

I remember distinctly weel, I made friends with a dark boy called Sergio who lived on Rua Ignacio Pereira da Rocha near Rua Fradique Coutinho who was in the same class as I. Sergio invited me to go and visit 'Primeiro Salão da Criança' - (First Kids' Hall) as the ad above says it went on from 30 September through to 15 October 1961. I didn't have the slightest idea what sort of business that was but went ahead and let me be guided by Sergio who knew the intricacies of how to get to Ibirapuera Park that was off-limits to me. I don't know how we finally got to the spot but we did... and we must have had a lot of fun because I still remember that day. It actually was a sort of a fair inside a great hall with stands that would sell all sort of things a child would love to have.

Sergio lived in a nice 2-story-house and had 2 older sisters. We ended up growing apart because he left Ginasio Vila Madalena in 1962 and must have enrolled in some better school. I still remember passing in front of his house and saying 'hello' eventually... but one day as I was going to say 'Oi!' he turned his face away. I would still see him at his porch eventually but he was not a 'friend' anymore. He grew to be an obese kid and after a few years his family must have moved away from there.

8 October 1961 - Still 'Primeiro Salão da Criança' where Radio Bandeirantes - the most popular radio station then - had a stage where they presented shows like 'Periquitos em revista' where kids wearing roller-skates would tell a story...

8 October 1961 - Liana Duval, Berta Zemel & Nydia Licia as seen by Morales J. Morales in J.B. Priestly's 1937's 'Time and the Conways' at Teatro Bela Vista.

15 October 1961 - Musical revue 'Alô, alô juventude' set up by TV Record as an opening act for US sensational teen-ager Brenda Lee on her 2nd visit to São Paulo (she had been here in 1959); Miss Lee sang at 5:00 and 9:00 PM; from 22nd to 29th October, Harold Nicholas - famous half of Hollywood's 1940s musical wonder Nicholas Brothers did his 'Uma noite de cha-cha-cha'.

22nd October 1961 -

22nd October 1961 - at Teatro de Arena, The Avalons finally reverted to their original sound after having played rock'n'roll in 1959 and 1960. Mary Wynne says The Avalons were: Dudú at leading guitar, Massao Ukon blowing his horn, Heitor Costa at clarinet, Paulinho at the drums and Daniel at the bass.

22nd October 1961 - Jorge Andrade's 'A escada' with Cleyde Yaconis, Nathalia Timberg, Nilda Maria, Miriam Mehler, Carmen Silva, Ruthnéa de Moraes, Luiz Linhares, Elisio de Albuquerque, Juca de Oliveira.

12 November 1961 - Morales J. Morales depicts actors Elias Gleiser, Dionizio de Azevedo & Raul Cortez in Abilio Pereira de Almeida's 'O bezerro de ouro' at Teatro Leopoldo Fróes.

12 November 1961 - Cartoonists Borjalo, (Mauro Borja Lopes * 15 November 1925, in Pitangui-MG), Ziraldo (Ziraldo Alves Pinto * 24 October 1932, in Caratinga-MG), Fortuna,(* 21st August 1931, in Sao Luiz do Maranhão) Jaguar (Sergio Jaguaribe * 29 February 1932, in Rio de Janeiro-DF), Hilde Weber (Waldau-Germany) & Claudius (real name: Claudius Sylvius Petrus Ceccon) show their humoristic cartoons collectively at Galeria Ambiente on Rua Martins Fontes.

12 November 1961 - Pianist Moacyr Peixoto, whose kid brother Cauby Peixoto was one of the most popular singers in the country, opens a night-bar on Rua Nestor Pestana, next to famous restaurant Gigetto. Moacyr played piano accompanied by Luiz Chaves at the double-bass.

12 November 1961 - Piano player contest done by OESP's own Radio Eldorado according to Morales J. Morales...

26 November 1961 - Great females singers like Dircinha Costa (at Black-and-White), Julie Joy at La Vie en Rose and Claudia Barroso (at Muradas) could be seen and heard at those night clubs...

2nd December 1961 - Teatro de Arena team come back from a long tour...

7 December 1961 - In 1961, Sao Paulo's Escola de Arte Dramática was news-worth... times have indeed changed...

9 December 1961 -

10 December 1961 -

10 December 1961 - At Teatro Record on Monday (4) and Tuesday, 5 December 1961, daily 'Folha de S.Paulo' plus Radio & TV Record held the I Brazilian Jazz Festival (I Festival Brasileiro de Jazz) with various combos from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

17 December 1961 - Unidentified jazz-loving journalist tells it like it is. In few words he dissects the whole Brazilian jazz scene in late 1961.