Laura Ana Merello (11 October 1904 – 24 December 2002), better known as Tita Merello, was an Argentine film actress, tango dancer and singer of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema. In her six decades in Argentine entertainment, at the time of her death, she had filmed over thirty movies, premiered twenty plays, had nine television appearances, completed three radio series and had had countless appearances in print media. She was one of the singers who emerged in the 1920s along with Azucena Maizani, Libertad Lamarque, Ada Falcón, and Rosita Quiroga, who created the female voices of tango. She was primarily remembered for the songs "Se dice de mí" and "La milonga y yo".
She began her theater career as a vedete in Buenos Aires revue, and may have also acted in silent films. She debuted on the first sound movie produced in Argentina, ¡Tango!, with Libertad Lamarque in 1933. After making a series of films throughout the 1930s, she established herself as a dramatic actress in La fuga (1937), directed by Luis Saslavsky. In the mid-1940s, she moved to Mexico, where she filmed Cinco rostros de mujer (1947), which earned her an Ariel Award from the Mexican Academy of Film. She returned to Argentina and starred in Don Juan Tenorio (1949) and Filomena Marturano (1950), which were subsequently taken to the theater. Her period of greatest popularity came in the following decade, when she led films like Los isleros (1951), considered her best performance, Guacho (1954) and Mercado de abasto (1955). She also received praise for her work in Arrabalera (1950), Para vestir santos (1955) and El amor nunca muere (1955).
From the 1960s, most of her work was directed by Enrique Carreras. During the period, she had a recurring role in the television series Sábados Circulares and continued making films, like Amorina (1961). Her role in 1974 as La Madre María, directed by Lucas Demare, was highly acclaimed as was her collaboration with Alejandro Doria in Los miedos (1980). She retired from theater in 1984 and films in 1985 but continued to act on TV and radio and was honored as "Citizen of the City of Buenos Aires" in 1990. Until her death at age 98, she continued to make appearances on television and radio.
Biography Early years
Laura Ana Merello, known as "Tita" was born on 11 October 1904 in a tenement in the neighborhood of San Telmo, Buenos Aires to the coachman Santiago Merello and an ironer, Ana Gianelli. The house where she was born has been designated as a historical site. Her birth certificate did not show her mother's name, but when she was four, her mother's name was recorded with the mother's nationality of Uruguayan. She had a younger half-brother, Pascual Anselmi, who had a different father.
Her father died of tuberculosis when she was less than a year old. Merello had a difficult childhood marked by poverty. She was sent to an orphan asylum at age five because her mother had to work. While still a child, she was taken to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she worked as a maid without pay. At age 9, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a farm near Magdalena, where she worked in exchange for room and board, milking cows, cutting yerba mate and grilling food for the workers. She said she knew hunger and fear firsthand, as she lived it every day of her childhood, never going to school or learning to read or write. As an adult, she said of her childhood that it was brief, "Poor childhood is shorter than that of the rich. It was sad, poor and ugly".
At age 12, she returned to the tenement to live with her mother She went to work in a seedy club called Ba Ta Clán, where the chorus girls became known as bataclanas. The place had a reputation and women who worked there were thought to be employed somewhere between the "lunfardo" (the Argentine underworld) and a bordello. Around 1917, Merello began working as a showgirl in the Rosita Rodriguez Company at Teatro Avenida and debuted in a play called Las vírgenes de teres. She was booed off the stage and vowed never to sing again, but hunger forced her to look for work in the cafés along the Avenida de Mayo.
She soon earned popularity with her interpretation of the tango "Titina". She met the editor of the newspaper, La Nacion, Eduardo Borrás when she was fifteen, who began helping her learn to read. He later introduced her to Simón Yrigoyen Iriondo, who took charge of ending her illiteracy. Around 1919, she was performing at the Teatro Porteño in the chorus line and was fined 20 pesos because she wasn't wearing stockings. Years later, in the 1930s, Morello commented how things had changed and women were being paid to go without them.
Some sources have claimed that Merello filmed silent movies in this period; others claim that "a" movie happened a decade later in 1928; and some claim her first film was not until ¡Tango! in 1933. Some claim there were three films, Buenos Aires tenebroso (1918), a crime drama; La garra porteña; (1918), and Amor de primavera (1918–1919) both directed by Juan Glizé and Vicente Marracino. Multiple sources claim she made Buenos Aires tenebroso directed by Juan Glizé but the year varies from 1917 to 1928.
Tragedy befell her again at the age of 16, when her mother succumbed to tuberculosis and she began wandering from house to house, family to friends and back again. She became a vedette and was known as "La Vedette Rea", but her repertoire and fiery temper gave her a reputation that was counter to other performers, like Sofía Bozán. Her interpretation often incorporated deliberate farce to express the complexities of life. and while she was not known for having a great voice, she gained admiration for the expressiveness of her interpretations, which was well suited for the drama of tango.
Legitimate theater and recording beginnings (1923–1933) In 1923, she got a part as a show girl in the revue Las modernas Scherezadas playing at the renowned Teatro Maipo, performing with the stars Luis Arata, Pepe Arias, and Marcos Caplán. The show's playbills are dated 1924 and list her as the star "La vedette rea". She sang "Trago amargo", a tango, to wide acclaim. That same year, she was in the cast of Cayol's Revue ¿Quién dijo miedo?
In 1925, she performed in the revue Mujeres, flores y alegría, in which she sang the tango "Pedime lo que Querés" by Francisco Canaro with lyrics by Juan Andrés Caruso. Later that year she premiered the tango "Leguisamo Solo" by Modesto Papavero, which had been written as homage to Uruguayan jockey Irineo Leguisamo. The tango appeared in the revue En la raya lo esperamos by Luis Bayón Herrera at the Teatro Bataclán.
She finally was asked to play a role in a dramatic play, El Lazo; her performance earned her an introduction to Pascual Carcavallo, owner of the Teatro Nacional. In 1927, she returned to the Maipo theater to perform the tango "Un tropezón" with Elías Alippi and Sofia Bozán. The performance was criticized harshly by Carlos Gardel, considered the greatest tango performer at the time.
Merello alternated acting with a few forays into recording. In 1927, she recorded two songs for the Nacional-Odeon disc label: "Te acordás reo" and "Volvé mi negra". Between 1927 and 1929 she recorded 18 tangos, in her typical theatrical style. Between 1929 and 1930, she recorded twenty songs for the label RCA Victor, including "Tata... Llevame pal centro", "Che... Pepinito", and "Te has comprado un automovil". In 1930, she performed onstage in El rancho del hermano.
In 1931, Merello began working at the Revista Voces (Voices Magazine). She was paid 200 pesos for the first article she published. In addition, she wrote pieces for the publisher Abril's Revista Nocturno (Night Magazine) and obtained a journalist's press card.
A big opportunity presented itself in 1931. Libertad Lamarque had been playing the role of Doce Pesos in "El conventillo de la Paloma" for two years and had over 1,000 performances. She was ready to quit the production and she offered the part to Merello, who quickly accepted. The following year, in 1932, as part of the Compañia de Canaro she worked on the play "La muchachada del centro" and performed the tangos "La muchachada del centro" and a milonga "Me enamore una vez" in the play. It was very successful, running for nearly 900 performances.
Early film career (1933–1945)
She made her debut in talking films in Argentina's first sound film, ¡Tango! (1933), directed by Luis José Moglia Barth, for which she received 200 pesos. The stars of the film were Pepe Arias and Libertad Lamarque. She would also meet a young comic in the film, Luis Sandrini, who had a small part in the film. She followed it with Ídolos de la radio (1934) a production by Francisco Canaro directed by Eduardo Morera and written by Nicolás de las Llanderas and Arnaldo Malfatti. The musical starred many of Argentina's radio stars. The film was successful and led to the creation of both radio magazines and a new genre of film.
In 1935, she starred in Noches de Buenos Aires directed by Manuel Romero with Fernando Ochóa, Severo Fernández and Irma Córdoba.
In Así es el tango (1937), directed by Eduardo Morera with Olinda Bozán, Merello played a comic role opposite the heroine's role assigned to Luisa Vehil."Romano (2001)," p 23 That same year she followed in a dramatic role in the film, La fuga under the direction of Luis Saslavsky which featured the tango "Niebla del Riachuelo" performed by Merello and written by Enrique Cadícamo. The movie starred Santiago Arrieta and Francisco Petrone and earned praise from the critics. Following the trend, she began a theatrical run in Montevideo, Uruguay in the play Santa María del Buen Ayre written by Enrique Larreta, which was one of her most acclaimed theatrical roles.
Merello was in the play Sexteto by Ladislao Fodor, under the direction of Edmundo Guibourg opened in 1941 in Montevideo at the Teatro Artigas, starring Gloria Guzmán. She made two films in 1942, Ceniza al viento directed by Luis Saslavsky with Pedro López Lagar, Alita Román, and Berta Singerman and 27 millones directed by José Bohr and not released until 1947.
In 1943, she premiered the play Buenos Aires de ayer y de hoy by Ivo Pelay and Francisco Canaro in Montevideo. The play contained a song that would become recognized as a signature song for Merello, "Se dice de mí". The cast was led by Merello and included the actors Amalia Bernabé, Lalo Malcolm, Maruja Pibernat, Elvira Prada, Enrique Roldán, and Tomás Simari; and singers Eduardo Adrián and Carlos Roldán. After the opening in Uruguay, the play moved in 1944 to the Teatro Alvear in Buenos Aires, where it enjoyed 600 performances. That same year, she also starred in Dos corazones by Pelay at the Alvear with Merello singing "Todo es mentira" and "¿Qué tal?". After completing the season in Argentina, the play moved to the Teatro Artigas of Montevideo.
In 1945, she performed in Una mujer y un hombre by Pelay under the direction of Manuel Romero and then Merello brought Sexteto from Uruguay to Argentina and premiered the play in Mexico. In January 1946, she took it to Chile, premiering at the Lux.
Middle career (1946–1955) In late 1946, Merello went with Sandrini to Mexico. She was contracted to play the cabaret woman who seduced the star Arturo de Córdova in Cinco rostros de mujer The film was directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares and starred Merello, Córdova and Ana María Campoy. Originally three films were to have been made, but the production company went into receivership after one film. She won an Ariel Award as Best Supporting Actress for her work in "Faces" at the 1948 ceremonies. She returned to Argentina in 1947 and appeared in the musical comedic play Malena Luce Sus Pistolas, which opened at the Teatro Casino and starred Merello, Roberto Castillo and was the musical debut of Blanquita Amaro.