Video (6:21) A clip from ‘Arriba el telón o el patio de la morocha’ (which translates roughly as “Up with the curtain of the Morocha Patio” or “Let the show begin”). The film is a 1951 Argentine musical drama film directed by Manuel Romero and written by Catulo Castillo and Mariano Mores.The film premiered in early 1951 in Buenos Aires. The young Virginia Luque, age 23, is the main character.

Garçonieres (women in drag) were common in the cabaret theatres of Buenos Aires. In the middle of this film clip we see three dancing tango singers. The women tango leaders (in the order they appear in the film) are actors: Sofia Bozan, Jovita Luna and Virginia Loque. The film evoques glourious moments of the Armonía Theatre intending to persuade working men not to demolish the Armonía Theatre. – Here Manuel Romero, the film’s director, anticipates what happened some years later with Odeón Theatre, which was the oldest in Buenos Aires. The Odeon theatre was placed between Corrientes and Esmeralda. Sadly, there’s still a car park in its place. The construction of a new theater, as the law prescribes, is still awaiting…

Photo from Arriba el telón o el patio de la morocha.