Luisa Espinel (December 8, 1892 – February 2, 1963), born Luisa Ronstadt, was an American singer, dancer, and actress. She toured, taught, performed in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

, and appeared in a movie with

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

Early life

Luisa Ronstadt was born in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

in 1892, the daughter of Mexican-born businessman and musician Federico José María Ronstadt, and his wife Sara Levin. Her mother died in 1902, from a fever,Ronstadt Family Collection
Arizona Historical Society, Tucson AZ. and her father remarried, to Lupe Dalton; one of their granddaughters was singer

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

, who recalled "visits from Aunt Luisa" as "wonderfully exciting." Luisa Espinel went to San Francisco, New York, and Paris to study music; she went to Spain to study Spanish music and dance in the 1920s.

Career

Espinel toured as a dancer and singer in the western states and in vaudeville. She was a member of the Mexican Players of

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popu ...

in the 1930s. She taught music and dance in Los Angeles, toured and gave concerts in folk-inspired costumes, and danced in the film '' The Devil Is a Woman'' (1935), starring Marlene Dietrich. In 1946 she compiled a book of traditional lyrics, ''Canciones de mi padre: Spanish Folksongs from Southern Arizona'', released by

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...

. In the 1950s, she taught Spanish to adults in Pasadena, and was a presenter at the Casa de Adobe, a recreated

Californio Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californians, Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish language, Spanish-s ...

residence at the

Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The mus ...

Personal life

In 1935, Espinel became the second wife of the American artist Charles Kassler, and was a model for his 1934 mural "Pastoral California", in Fullerton, California. She died in 1963, aged 71, in Los Angeles. Her papers are in the Ronstadt family collections at the

and the

Arizona Historical Society The Arizona Historical Society (AHS) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to connect people through the power of Arizona's history. It does this through four regional divisions. Each division has a representative museum. The statewide ...

libraries.

References

External links

Photographs of Luisa Espinel
in the collection of the

Autry Museum of the American West The Autry Museum of the American West is a museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. Founded in 1988, the museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and public programs, including le ...

. * *'' The Devil is a Woman'' (1935), on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinel, Luisa 1892 births 1963 deaths People from Tucson, Arizona American women singers American female dancers Mexican-American culture Vaudeville performers 20th-century American women 20th-century American people