For more than a year they had been waiting in the Cuban capital for the Italian Enrico Caruso, “The King of Tenors.” But the news did not go beyond being a newspaper announcement, until it became a certainty in April 1920. A telegram sent by the divo to Navy Diarydated in New York on the first day of that month, confirmed the trip:
“I anticipate my greetings to Cuban authorities, the press and the public of Havana, where I will sing next May. Affectionate expressions to the caricaturist Massaguer.”
Perhaps many readers would be struck by the fact that in the brief text Caruso mentioned Conrado Massaguer, then director of the magazine Social and of Institute of Graphic Arts of Havana. In reality there was nothing strange about it; They were old acquaintances and admired each other.
Apparently the first meeting occurred in New York, where the plastic artist, a regular spectator at Caruso’s concerts, chatted with him several times. They had in common a passion for cartoons, since Caruso also drew.
In 1916, during one of his stays in New York, Conrado Massaguer was caricatured by Caruso. Photo: Social/Author’s archive.
Massaguer, due to his financial solvency and business and artistic activities, frequently traveled to the United States. Like other Cubans, he took advantage of the visits to enjoy the opera and its great star. The journalist José Manuel Valdés, in a chronicle published in The World, testified:
“There were many Cubans who saw Caruso every year at the Metropolitan. Of them, a good number spent the luxury of hearing it a couple of times in order to be able to give their opinion when the subject was discussed. Quite a few regularly attended the seasons of the Metcenter of elegance and exclusivity. Having heard Caruso was, among people of rank and money, a certificate of culture and good taste, an opportunity to frequent the stalls and the famous ‘diamond ring’ of the Metropolitan, to appear a few times a year among the famous ‘four hundred’” .
My colleague Caruso
The singer was hired by businessman Adolfo Bracale for nine performances at the National Theater; He would receive 90 thousand dollars as payment. With him came a cast made up of María Barrientos, Ricardo Strachiari, Carmen Melis, Gabriela Besanzoni, María Luisa Escobar and the musical director Salvatore Bucito.
Caruso in one of his rehearsals at the Sevilla hotel. Photo: Social magazine/Author’s archive.
The magazine Socialin the month of April, when he announced the event in the article “My colleague Caruso”, authored by Massaguer, he highlighted the Italian’s role as a caricaturist:
“Forgetting one aspect of chivalry Commander: his skill in caricature. Well, Enrico, you know, is a wonderful caricaturist, who could get overwhelmed with Golia, his countryman, with the Catalan Bagaria or with the Frenchman Sem. Their loaded They are requested by publishers and their albums have produced thousands of liras, which have gone to increase the dollars, which have been minted by their privileged throat. One night in New York, in the middle of the war, he made more than twenty-four thousand pesos worth of cartoons in an Italian-Yankee bazaar in that city (…)” [sic].
The text was illustrated with portraits that both had taken of each other at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York in 1916. Massaguer wanted to demonstrate the tenor’s ability in this way and offered himself “as the first victim.” He also announced that the magazine would name him artistic editor and concluded with a humorous touch: “Caruso is arriving! Husbands tighten their pockets; fashion houses quickly finish regal toilettes; some elegant people give up dessert for a month; the poor make their savings; and some father remembers Zorrilla saying: Commander, you’re losing me!
In 1916 Caruso was drawn by Massaguer in New York. Photo: Taken from www.fotosdlahabana.com (online).
No one escaped
Caruso arrived in Havana on May 5, 1920 on the steamer Mascotcoming from the United States, which had set sail in Key West. He stayed at the Seville hotel. He brought a chef among his assistants, as he preferred to eat there. According to a chronicle published in the Navy Diary, On May 15, he had only gone out once to dinner at the Gran Casino de Marianao.
He received few visitors, Sometimes he chatted with the Marquis de la Penne, Minister of Italy, Tulio Cestero, Andrés de Segurola, the Count of Tamburini, Buffardi and Pieretto Bianco, his countrymen. And among the privileged Cubans was Conrado Massaguer. They did not miss the opportunity to compete amicably, according to a report from the Navy Diary:
“Between plate and plate he draws. From his lunches, prolonged by the pleasure of an entertaining after-dinner meal, he always draws a number of caricatures. Sometimes he doesn’t even show them. He breaks them. A few days ago a caricature competition began between him and Massaguer. “No one escaped.”
in the book Masaguer, his life and his workby Jorge R. Bermúdez, the caricaturist He recalled: “The most outstanding of the tenors of this century and an admirer, once declared to me: ‘if I had not been born with this voice I would have dedicated myself to the art of caricature, which is art and entertainment.’”
In the afternoons, discreetly, Caruso drove by car. I enjoyed the sunset, the view of the sea. In letters to his wife he told her: “Havana looks like Naples; old, but with a special character because the buildings have a portal as protection from the sun (…) the public seems to like me (…) The newspapers are full of news about me (…) The people who find me, in my brief forays through the streets, they greet me and smile without knowing me (…) And everyone is cordial and friendly to me, making me the object of countless invitations.”
The Rotary Club of Havana, to which Massaguer was closely linked, offered a banquet in tribute to Caruso. Photo: Carteles magazine/Author’s archive.
Rigorous with his work, he spent his time rehearsing or resting, but he could not reject all the invitations. He enjoyed an evening at Villa Lita, the majestic residence of José Pennino and Emmanuela Salmoiraghi Pandini, currently the headquarters of the Servando Cabrera Moreno Museum.
The President of the Republic Mario García Menocal received him at the Palace, an occasion in which Caruso made a portrait of him that Massaguer would later publish in Social.
Massaguer, very close to the president, as he served as propaganda chief of the so-called Patriotic Conjunction, which led the General to win the elections, accompanied Caruso to a lunch at the El Chico recreational farm, located in Wajay, owned by Menocal. He also attended a tribute to the tenor by the Rotary Club of Havana, led by the beer industry magnate Cosme Blanco Herrera.
Massaguer, who enjoyed the friendship of the president of Cuba Mario García Menocal, accompanied Caruso to a lunch held at the El Chico farm. Photo: Social magazine/Author’s archive.
The smoking divo
After Caruso returned to the United States in June, Massaguer would continue to honor him in the magazine Social. In that same month he published a portrait of the artist, painted in Cuba by the Italian Conde de Tamburini.
In October 1920 it was rumored that Caruso would return to Havana. Social released a photo of the singer while playing piano, with this note at the bottom of the image: “To Enrico Caruso, for being the best tenor in the world; for being a skilled caricaturist and, finally, because despite having had to rehearse in a vest at his hotel in Havana, he plans to visit us again next May. “Bracale hear us!”
Massaguer included a tobacco in some of his drawings about Caruso as an advertising resource for Cuban products. Photo: published in Social magazine/Author’s Archive.
In February 1921, Massaguer disclosed in Social a caricature by Caruso that he titled ‘The Smokers’ Divo’ in order to advertise the Larrañaga tobacco brand. He also used anecdotes related to tenor to promote Victrolas. In this edition, he also informed readers about the singer’s health, which was very delicate at the time, and inserted a photo gallery of the Italian:
“The cable brings us, at the moment of closing the delayed edition of Socialvery sad news about the health of the egregious Caruso. He lies very grave, pre-agonic, on the bed of pain, where his wife and children restlessly watch. The disappearance of the famous singer from the Metropolitan will be an immeasurable loss for the art world, difficult to replace. As a tribute to the friend and artist, we reproduce some poses on this page that we prepared a few days ago to celebrate his return to the New York scene.”
Massaguer had among his clients the Larrañaga tobacco company, with this advertising he turned Caruso into a character to promote the Cuban product. Published in Social magazine. Photo: Author’s archive.
Post mortem
Caruso was in Naples, his hometown, when he died on August 2, 1921. In September of that year, Social published an article by the colonel of the Liberation Army, the politician and writer Orestes Ferrara, a native of Italy. The text titled “Enrico Caruso” recalled his friendship with the illustrious compatriot, with whom he spoke several times in New York. In that edition Massaguer included one of his tenor portraits, where he appears with a tobacco in his right hand.
A look at the magazine Postersbelonging to the company that Massaguer directed, also illustrates the reception, through caricatures, advertisements, articles and photographs, that the life and work of Enrico Caruso had in this medium of information.
Likewise, in his book Guignolpublished in 1923, in English and Spanish, among the 40 images would include his tribute to the tenor. It was a mutual admiration, Caruso himself confessed in 1916: “Massaguer is a master. I say this as a cartoonist.”
The magazine Carteles, as a posthumous tribute to Caruso, in August 1921, highlighted the tenor’s role as a caricaturist. Photo: Author’s archive. The magazines Carteles and Social, from the publishing company directed by Massaguer, continued to commemorate Caruso’s life and work after his death. Photo: Author’s archive.
Sources consulted:
Jorge R. Bermudez: Massager. Republic and VanguardPablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center, Havana, 2011.
Masaguer, his life and his work, Editorial Letras Cubanas, Havana, 2017.
Posters
Navy Diary
Social
Archives of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana.
