Armida, born Armida Vendrell, (29 May 1911 – 23 October 1989) was a Mexican actress, singer, dancer and

vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatre, theatrical genre of variety show, variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comic ...

born in

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

.A January 5, 1930, article in the ''Detroit Free Press'' says that she was born in Sonora, Mexico.

Early life

Armida came from a theatrical family; her mother Maria Camalich, her father Joaquin Vendrell was a well known magician "The Great Arnold" who emigrated to Mexico from

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. She also had two sisters who were performers as well, Lydia Vendrell and Lola Vendrell. By the time she reached the age of nineteen she had a long-term screen contract. She purchased a home where she lived with her family. She aspired to send her younger sisters to college. Vendrell was just five feet (1.52m) tall with high heels and two inches less without them. As a child she spoke only Spanish.

Vaudeville in California

Armida started performing at a young age, when her family moved from Mexico to the United States, her father opened the first movie theater in

Douglas, Arizona Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, that lies in the north-west to south-east running Sulphur Springs Valley. Douglas has a Douglas, Arizona Port of Entry, border crossing with Mexico at Agua Prieta and a history of min ...

. She and her sisters would sing and dance during intermission and her father would perform an illusionist act. Armida was discovered in the old Hidalgo theater in the Plaza in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Armida was appearing in a small, home-manufactured

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

skit, along with her sister Delores. A talent scout for a coastal vaudeville circuit was in the audience and offered her a chance to perform on a "four-a-day" vaudeville bill (meaning four shows a day). Armida graduated to various

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

productions after being discovered by Gus Edwards, stage and screen actor, songwriter, and dance instructor. She participated in as many as twenty-four vaudeville numbers a day while in New York. Edwards brought her back to Hollywood with him and featured her in an

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

two-color

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

movie short, ''Gus Edwards' International Colortone Revue'' (1929). Gus once said of Armida, that she possessed "the emotional temperament of an actress capable of surmounting the most difficult of histrionic roles".

Film career

In 1929, when Armida was eighteen,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

offered her a five-year contract. Her first film of note, '' General Crack'' (1929), featured her opposite the studio's leading actor,

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly a ...

. Armida worked in Warner films for one year, including its expensive musical revue '' Show of Shows'' (1929), only to have her five-year contract canceled when movie musicals went out of fashion in 1930.Barrios, Richard. ''A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film'', Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 326-329. She returned to Broadway in ''Nina Rosa'' (1930–31). Armida resumed her film career in 1934 at the low-budget

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

studio, with the

William Haines Charles William Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973) was an American actor and interior designer. Haines was discovered by a talent scout and signed with Goldwyn Pictures in 1922. His career gained momentum when he received favo ...

vehicle '' The Marines Are Coming'' (1934). She went on to appear in ''Under the Pampas Moon'' (1935), the

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

musical western '' Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm'' (1937), ''Patio Serenade'' (1938), ''Bad Men of the Border'' (1945), the serial ''

Congo Bill Congorilla (originally in human: William "Congo Bill" Glenmorgan) is a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and Vertigo Comics. Originally co-created by writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist George Papp, he was later transfor ...

'' (1948), and the

Cisco Kid The Cisco Kid is a fictional character found in numerous film, radio, television and comic book series based on the fictional Western character created by O. Henry in his 1907 short story "The Caballero's Way", published in ''Everybody's Maga ...

western ''The Gay Amigo'' (1949). Her final role was in

Monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...

's ''

Rhythm Inn ''Rhythm Inn'' is a 1951 American film starring Jane Frazee. Plot Band leader Dusty Rhodes and his combo are in trouble with the local constabulary and are forced to put up their musical instruments in a music store as security for a loan to p ...

'' (1951), in which she had a dance specialty. During the 1940s she had a few credits in which she was prominently featured: '' Fiesta'' (1941, in Technicolor), '' The Girl from Monterrey'' (1943), and '' Machine Gun Mama'' (1944).

Filmography

* ''

'' (1951) ..... Herself, dance specialty * '' The Gay Amigo'' (1949) ..... Rosita * ''

'' (1948) ..... Zalea * '' Jungle Goddess'' (1948) ..... Wanama * ''Cuban Madness'' (1946, short subject)..... Herself * '' Bad Men of the Border'' (1945) ..... Dolores Mendoza * '' South of the Rio Grande'' (1945) ..... Pepita * '' Machine Gun Mama'' (1944) ..... Nita * '' Here Comes Kelly'' (1943) * '' Melody Parade'' (1943) ..... Armida * '' The Girl from Monterrey'' (1943) ..... Lita Valdez * '' Always in My Heart'' (1942) ..... Lolita * '' Fiesta'' (1941, in Technicolor) ..... Cuca * '' South of Tahiti'' (1941) ..... Putara * ''Out Where the Stars Begin'' (1941) (short subject in Technicolor) .... Herself * '' La Conga Nights'' (1940) * ''Patio Serenade'' (1938, short subject) * '' Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm'' (1937) * '' Border Cafe'' (1937) as Dominga * ''

Under the Pampas Moon ''Under the Pampas Moon'', also known as ''The Gaucho'', is a 1935 American Western film directed by James Tinling and starring Warner Baxter and Ketti Gallian. Baxter plays an Argentine gaucho. Rita Hayworth also had an early role in the film. ...

'' (1935) * '' The Marines Are Coming'' (1934) * ''The Peanut Vendor'' (1933

Screen Songs ''Screen Songs'' (formerly known as ''KoKo Song Car-Tunes'') are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 19 ...

cartoon, with Armida appearing in live action) * ''

Under a Texas Moon ''Under A Texas Moon'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical Western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the novel ''Two-Gun Man'' (from 1929) which was written by Stewart Edward White. It was the second all-color, all-tal ...

'' (1930) * '' On the Border'' (1930) as Pepita * '' Wings of Adventure'' (1930) * '' General Crack'' (1929, with Technicolor scenes) * '' Show of Shows'' (1929; most Technicolor scenes no longer exist) * ''

Border Romance ''Border Romance'' is a 1929 American pre-Code Western (genre), Western romance film directed by Richard Thorpe. An early sound film, it stars Armida (actress), Armida, Don Terry, Marjorie Kane, and Victor Potel. A copy is preserved at the Libr ...

'' (1929) * '' Smiling Billy'' (1927)

Death

Armida Vendrell died in

Victorville, California Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810. Victorville is the principal city of a Victor Valley–based urban area defined by the United States Census Bureau: ...

, on October 23, 1989, of a heart attack.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armida 1911 births 1989 deaths Mexican vaudeville performers American people of Spanish descent Mexican emigrants to the United States 20th-century American actresses 20th-century Mexican actresses People from Victorville, California American actresses of Mexican descent