WHO WAS HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST LATIN LOVER?

The term ‘latin lover’ was invented by Hollywood moguls for Rudolph Valentino. However, few people know that before Valentino there was another actor who could be awarded the title of Hollywood’s first latin lover. His name was Filiberto Recolocado and he was a Spaniard who in 1916 migrated to America by swimming from Lisbon. As soon as he reached the shore of Coney Island, he asked directions from the bathers and, upon knowing that Hollywood was on the West Coast, he went back into the ocean, crossed the Panama Canal and went up to Los Angeles. There he worked as Governor of California while actively seeking screen roles. One night, Recolocado took advantage of the circumstance that a window was inadvertently left open at ‘Mayer Pictures Corporation’ to sneak in the world of cinema. His first role was that of a corpse called ‘hombre muerto’. His interpretation reached such degree of subtlety and overflowing emotion that it won him the role of the bullfighter in “You should have run upon seeing the bull coming”. This film is the account of an endless vigil through which the mourners honor a dead bullfighter with displays of regrets and sorrows and recriminations and throwing of objects. Gradually, Recolocado made a specialty of dead men’s roles. His next film, “Death because of gonorrhea”, received mixed reviews (some considered it a heap of junk, others a mess) but was still a hit with audiences. However, the really breaking attendance records were attained with his next and last film: “Lavishly hair removing”, in which he plays the touching role of a very hairy man who dies trying to pull his hair out. Three days later Recolocado died in real life as a result of a fall from his bed.