10" vinyl LP album book cover
2nd re-issue - date unknown
I was organizing my
vinyl LP space with Lon Clark (
link below) yesterday and came across this delightful 1949 gem.
Chuy Reyes ~ Rumba de Cuba, was a 10" vinyl LP in a book album similar to
The Nutcracker and
The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony (
links below).
This format was common in the 40's and early 50's. Unfortunately, the
record itself disappeared years before I bought it. All I have is the
album but the graphics were too good to pass up.
10" vinyl LP album book cover interior
2nd re-issue - date unknown
It was a
mono recording, of course, and my version is a re-issue (date unknown). There was also a 45 rpm version of the album issued.
original issue - 1949
1st re-issue - date unknown
Chuy Reyes was born in
Mexico but I could not find the date. He and his Hollywood Mocambo Orchestra was the club band at the
Mocambo Night Club from the time it opened on January 3, 1941.
The mocambos (from
mocambo, literally
Huts) were
village-sized
communities mainly of
runaway slaves in
colonial Brazil, during the
Portuguese rule. They were also called, ladeiras, magotes, or quilombos.
Mocambos were exile communities established by fugitive Brazilian slaves
between the 18th and 19th century. The purpose of these settlements was
to protect the slaves from the Portuguese opposition, thanks to their
hidden location, which was difficult to find for the punitive military
expeditions. Mocambos were a threat to the economy and the social fabric
of the slave regime, because the parasitic economy of these communities
was mostly composed of theft, extortion and raiding. Though the
minority of communities lived off agriculture and arms trade. Mocambos
were not controlled by the government and because of the high percentage
of Brazilian slaves, which incorporated one third of the total
population, the number and the importance of Mocambos was continually
increasing. For this reason Mocambos inhabitants were executed by
punitive military expeditions and the children born in the Mocambos
became property of the leaders of the exterminating expeditions.
Among the
celebrities who frequented the
Mocambo were
Clark Gable and
Carole Lombard,
Humphrey Bogart and
Lauren Bacall,
Errol Flynn,
Charlie Chaplin,
Elizabeth Taylor,
Judy Garland,
Henry Fonda,
Lana Turner,
Ava Gardner,
Bob Hope,
James Cagney,
Sophia Loren,
Janet Leigh and
Tony Curtis,
Natalie Wood and
Robert Wagner,
Grace Kelly,
Debbie Reynolds and
Eddie Fisher,
Howard Hughes,
Kay Francis,
Marlene Dietrich,
Theda Bara,
Tyrone Power,
Jayne Mansfield,
John Wayne,
Ben Blue,
Ann Sothern, and
Louis B. Mayer.
Myrna Loy and
Arthur Hornblow, Jr. celebrated their divorce there.
photographer unknown
photographer unknown
photographer unknown
photographer unknown
photographer unknown
The Mocambo wouldn’t allow
Ella Fitzgerald to sing there, because of
the color of her skin. One day
Marilyn Monroe, by then a superstar, paid
a visit to Charlie Morrison, the owner of the club. She made Charlie an
offer: if he booked Ella, she promised she would be there, front and
center, every single night of Ella’s show. Morrison agreed, because
there was no star bigger than Monroe at the time (imagine the
publicity!), and Ella suddenly found herself on that stage.
photographer unknown
The club's main stage was replicated on the
TV series
I Love Lucy as the "Tropicana" Club.
Lucille Ball and
Desi Arnaz were frequent guests at the Mocambo and were close friends of Morrison.
photographer unknown
Chuy Reyes And His Hollywood Mocambo Orchestra –
Rumba De Cuba
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 = Baracoa, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Traditional
A2 = Almendra, Vocals – Tony Gari, written by Abelardo Valdes*
A3 = Boteando, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by King-Martinez
A4 = La Yuca, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Traditional
Side 2:
B1 = La Ultima Noche, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Bobby Collazo
B2 Blen! Blen! Blen!, Vocals – Tony Gari, written by Pozot-Cugat
B3 = Negra Leono, Vocals – Tony Gari, written by Antonio Fernandez
B4 = Hokey Joe, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Swan-Ricardo
Chuy Reyes And His Hollywood Mocambo Orchestra* – Rumba De Cuba
Label: Capitol Records – H152, Capitol Records – H-152
Format: Vinyl, 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, Mono
Country: US
Original release: 1949
Re-issue: unknown
Genre: Latin
Style: Rumba
Viewfinder links: