The theme of Basilio Serrano’s Tres Sanjuaneras En La Epoca Del Jazz (Spanish Edition) was covered briefly in Puerto Rican Women From the Jazz Ages, Stories of Success (2019). Tres Sanjuaneras gives readers a thorough look at the lives and extraordinary careers of Blanca de Castejón, Mapy Cortés, and Olga San Juan, who were influenced by the Jazz Age, also known as the “Roaring Twenties.”
Given that Serrano’s previous books were published in English, I asked him why he chose to publish Tres Sanjuaneras in Spanish. “I wrote the book in Spanish because I want to reach people in Puerto Rico and other Spanish-speaking countries,” he replied. Also, Serrano dedicates the book to the actress, producer, activist, and founder of Pregones (PRTT), Miriam Colon, who Serrano met and collaborated with when he was a professor at Old Westbury and the university presented the production, Bodega.
MARIA JOSEFINA BLANCA REGALADA CASTEJÓN Y OTERO, aka Blanca de Castejón (1906-1969), was born on May 13, 1906, in Old San Juan, though various biographies claim she was born in the municipalities of Orocovis or Comerio. Though she initially starred in melodramas like La razón de la culpa (Juan José Ortega, 1943), with Pedro Infante and María Elena Marqués, and Divorciadas (Alejandro Galindo, 1943), Blanca de Castejón became best known for her supporting roles in comedies with famous comedians like Luis Sandrini and Fernando Soler. She won the 1954 Ariel Award (Mexico’s version of the Oscars) for her supporting role as a ditzy socialite in Escuela de vagabundos and a popular remake of the 1938 screwball comedy Merrily We Live. From 1931 to 1968, Blanca de Castejón appeared in thirty-six films. She died in Mexico City in 1969.
MARIA DEL PILAR CORDERO Y BERRIOS, aka Mapy Cortés, enjoyed a long career in the performing arts, especially in Mexican, Spanish, Puerto Rican, Argentinian, and Cuban cinema. Cortés appeared in one Hollywood production and did not have as much impact in the United States as Blanca de Castejón and Olga San Juan; however, she is well-known in Puerto Rico because she lived and worked there until she died in 1998. Cortés appeared in forty-four films and thirty-seven recordings. View a clip from the film El Gendarme Desconocido, with “Cantinflas.”
OLGA SAN JUAN, aka the “Puerto Rican Pepperpot,” was an actress, dancer, and singer, one of the first award-winning actresses on Broadway, and a pioneer in US television. San Juan appears in thirty-six films and television presentations, including Blue Skies, where she sings with the legendary Bing Crosby. She was born to Puerto Rican parents on March 16, 1927, in the Vinegar Hill section of Brooklyn. Her family moved to Puerto Rico and returned three years later, moving to East Harlem. San Juan was contracted to Paramount Pictures in 1943 and mainly appeared as a Latina entertainer or love interest in musicals and starred on Broadway in the Lerner and Lowe musical, Paint Your Wagon. She married actor Edmond O’Brien, and had three children. San Juan died on January 3, 2009.
You have probably seen or heard the artists mentioned above on the screen, stage, and television and did not realize they were Puerto Rican. In a past interview, I asked Serrano why the women mentioned above have not received the recognition they deserve. Also, about the need for more interest in the subject. “Many academics write about sociology, psychology, and political science but fail to see writing about music as meaningful,” said Serrano. “It’s a bias. Little do they know, through music, much can be said that’s sociological and political. I make references to many political situations in my essays. I use the Jones Act of 1920 and the Cabotage Laws, designed to dictate and control the carriage of goods or passengers between United States ports to U.S.-built and flagged vessels, which is one of the reasons Puerto Rico is in bankruptcy. Some academics fail to make the connection. The story is far more complicated. In addition to teaching, I write curriculum. I recently looked up Juan Tizol’s Caravan Through Life and American Culture. I learned it is available at Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Berklee, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian. The books are available to anyone who wants to learn.”
Other reasons we know frustratingly little about Castejón, Cortés, and Olga San Juan include racism, gender discrimination, and erroneously being mistaken for Cuban, Latin American, and African-American.
Other unheralded Puerto Rican artists include Angelina Rivera, Lolita Cordoba, Elsie, Grace and Judie Bayron, Diosa Costello, Olga Medolago Albani, Marquita Rivera, and Lucy Fabery. Of the group, Lucy Fabery is the only artist whose life and career are documented in a biography format (see La Muñeca de Chocolate, Spanish Edition by Félix Joaquín Rivera, Editorial Plaza Mayor, 1995).
Basilio Serrano deserves credit for almost singlehandedly creating a curriculum for future writers, historians, enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the contributions of Puerto Ricans to jazz music, art and culture. I highly recommend Tres Sanjuaneras En La Epoca Del Jazz and Serrano’s previous publications.
As I write this, Serrano prepares to promote and present Tres Sanjuaneras in bookstores throughout Puerto Rico. In his free time, Serrano enjoys perusing the streets of Old San Juan, photographing, and conducting research.
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