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4th day - Mexican actor Germán Robles

This year La Semana Negra is paying homage to Germán Robles. Robles is a very well known actor in México and other parts of the world for the collection of vampire movies he did during the late 1950s. He is considered “the” Latin vampire of our time. As critic Jesús Palacios (author of the ¡A mordiscos! book distributed free each night) said, “the Americans have Bela Lugosi, the English, Christopher Lee. We have Germán Robles, one of the greatest”.

La Semana Negra has been screening his movies since Saturday, every night at ten thirty. Since the first day the tent has been full, definitely because at the beginning of each screening, Germán Robles himself presents the movie, and tells spectators an anecdote about the movie. Although he is an elderly person now, he still maintains a posture and an enviable elegance. He is a great actor and is not afraid to say it himself, as on Sunday, “I’m a great actor, and since I don’t have my grandma to be saying good things about me, I have to say it myself: I’m a really good actor!”

Although he has been recognized for his work around the world, and his movies have been translated into more then fifty languages, he is not very well known in Spain. This is especially sad, because although his whole career is centered in México, Robles is from Gijón.

This was a big surprise for the people of this city. Robles’s dad fled the country during the years of the war and settled in Mexico City. Seven years later his wife and son Germán followed him, and the seventeen-year-old Germán Robles started working as an actor and draftsman. He filmed “El Vampiro” in 1957, directed by Fernando Mendéz, before Christopher Lee!

Germán told Sunday’s audience an amazing anecdote about this. He said he had a Mexican friend who used to work at London’s BBC, and at an event he had the opportunity to talk to Christopher Lee. Lee asked him if he was from México and if he knew the actor Germán Robles, to which the reporter, Robles’ friend, answered, “Yes, yes, we are like brothers”. Then Lee told him, “Well, tell Mr. Robles that he was been a true inspiration for me.” Who would have thought that a Mexican inspired the acting as a vampire of an Englishman! An incredible anecdote that Robles told with great pride and a definitely well deserved recognition.

I don’t know how hard it is to find his movies now, but it is definitely worth a try. There are incredibly good Mexican movies from the so-called, “cine de oro mexicano.” Instead of gothic cathedrals or houses with enormous chandeliers as we are used to seeing in dark vampire movies, you see an old Mexican hacienda in a little town of provincial México, a beautiful actress, and an indigenous man, endlessly praying throughout the movie.

Germán Robles's character is an elegant vampire who speaks well, and as Robles himself said, “you can smell his lavender cologne from meters away.” Well directed and aesthetically perfect, even though it was 1957, the special effects are good and the acting amazing.

I emphatically recommend Roble’s vampire collection, and as La Semana Negra continues, so the screenings will continue special homage to a special bloodsucking Gijones.

Thania Muñoz

Good Morning:

It's that time of year once again....the dreaded beginning of "Spring Cleaning". Grout cleaning, appliance shining, doo-dad dusting and all sorts of other laborious tasks. I always enter into the season dreading the big cleaning, but once I get started, I find myself re-connecting to my home. I have so many pieces around my house that were passed down to me from my mom and aunts. Old tea sets from my grandmother, whom I never met, as she died before I was born. Nic-Nacs given to me by my kids when they were tots. So many memories surround me, yet so much of the time I find myself walking through my house but not really seeing what's in my home. Spring Cleaning allows me to literally touch memories, to carefully dust these precious gifts that sometime become overlooked.

Now, don't get me wrong....I am not a fan of the basic labor of cleaning away grime from general living. I don't like mopping the floors or cleaning the kitchen grout (which, by the way, I use diet coke to clean the grout as it works wonders). But... when it comes time to really dust the nic-nacs and re-arrange the china cabinet, I find myself getting lost in some of the sweetest memories of my life.

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I have 3 new ACEO prints listed in My Etsy Shop.

Johnny On The Bridge


Sunny Day In Germany


On With The Honeymoon


I wonder sometimes if I should be more specific about what an ACEO is. I'm sure some folks that read my blog must wonder what the acronym stands for:

"ACEO" is an acronym for "Art Cards Editions and Originals". ACEOs are collectible art cards always measuring 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches. That is the size of a standard sports trading card. The rule about size is the ONLY rule in the ACEO world. An ACEO can be created in any medium the artist desires: paint, collage, colored pencils, ink, etc. There are even ACEOs made from wood, clay, fabric, and metal. They can be originals or prints.

ACEOs are tiny art works that can be matted and framed to hang on the wall. Many people display their ACEO collections in the same kind of plastic sheets and albums that sports card collectors use. You might slip an ACEO into a greeting card as an extra surprise for a birthday, anniversary, or Christmas. ACEOs sell on Ebay and Etsy for anywhere from ninety-nine cents to over one hundred dollars or more!

I love making them because I enjoy working small. I love tiny detail, so making ACEOs are perfect for me.

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Well, I best be off. I have an appointment with a grout brush...

Until Next Time
Kim
Garden Painter Art