Career Myrtle Watkins

1 career

1.1 arrival in europe
1.2 spain (1930-1933)
1.3 european tour (1934-1936)
1.4 transition paquita (1937-1940)
1.5 india (1941-1943)
1.6 mexico & return united states (1944-1949)
1.7 later career , death (1952-1968)

career
arrival in europe

during winter of 1928, joined cast of 2nd version of lew leslie s blackbirds during boston auditions. met eddie thompson, 1 of show s leading dancers , part of duo worthy & thompson. myrtle , eddie returned briefly new york (feb.4 1929) marry, brief marriage. blackbirds continued touring eastern until may 31, when troupe boarded ss ile de france france. there played 3 months moulin rouge, before french director renovated moulin cinema. show opened on june 7 , sensation. of france’s top stars attended, including mistinguett , maurice chevalier. adelaide hall star attraction, , replacing bill bojangles robinson in version were, john worthy , ed thompson. blackbirds returned new york briefly tour east coast again in september, return coincided famous wall-street crash , there no work. according 1930 new york census, while living on 7th avenue husband, myrtle dillard-thompson confirms again parents being alabama.

myrtle returned france late april 1930, gene newton s chocolate revue , opened @ comedy nightclub. began working @ famous supper club, chez florence elisabeth welch. danced in long orange satin gowns designed jean patou , lifting skirts reveal long legs. following month, appeared in chorus of embassy cabaret floor-show hot-stuff advertised as, harlem aux champs-elysees. directed s.h. dudley jr., show included louis cole, el brown, comic snow fisher , of remaining cast of blackbirds. show ran successful month. @ 1 point, briefly dance partners senegalese folies-bergere star, feral benga. while later, appeared again @ embassy show ebony follies. late 1930, of cast @ embassy had returned harlem, myrtle left champs-elysees nightclub, made way southwest spain.

spain (1930-1933)

early 1931, myrtle appeared in madrid s lido cabaret red hot coals jazz orchestra. might have been invited famous spanish author , lyricist, alvaro retana, known introduce black jazz musicians spain. retana mentioned mytle performed semi-nude, imitating spanish dancer carmen tortola valencia, under name perla de oriente. in april, show stopped spanish monarchy came end. king alfonso xiii had abdicated throne peacefully , boarded train paris exile, celebrations filled streets across spain. appearances large success , instead of returning paris, signed contract in june ideal-rosales cabaret few blocks away. can difficult find performing, name misspelled. appearing @ cabaret argentine singer-guitarist alfredo marino , partner, hector morel. during summer, trio packed tour of northern spain. while in san sebastián, director took cast of show down beach, reporters remarked seeing myrtle black venus emerging waters. upon returning madrid, appeared @ alcazar-dancing in large variety show, morel & morino, joining harry flemming , band in jardin retiro. later moved onto casanova en stambul , teatro-circo price. late october, left barcelona appear @ eden concert, circo barcelones , buena sombra music hall winter. while there, worked closely afro-uruguayan singer caruso negro (oscar rorra). recorded several songs barcelona compañía del gramófono.

in spring of 1932, after brief appearance in valencia, returned madrid join louis douglas , revue @ lido de madrid. @ same time, appeared spanish revue-star perlita greco @ teatro fuencarral. revue revised , re-opened in summer title modern melodies @ teatro avenida myrtle dancing in front of band in costume red feathers swinging on backside. 1 visiting journalist afro-american described josephine baker of spain: “miss watkins dancer, plenty of pep, , pretty shapely figure. making conquests in high society , on string marquis of 1 of spain’s bluest blue bloods. lives @ hotel florida, 1 of best hotels in city, has fine roadster, records spanish gramophone , radio, , entertains @ 1 of leading cabarets.” in july, after revue closed, myrtle appeared @ florida bar in zaragoza , cine odeon in huesca cuban saxophonist, el negro aquilino , troupe. returning madrid in october, myrtle appeared in show might have been filmed, movietone 1933 perlita greco , scrappy jones (from douglas’s revue). shortly after, myrtle joined louis douglas on tour of italy. myrtle left tour in march appear in seville , spain. in june 1933, in belgium bandleader robert de kers. while there, recorded new song, lonely brown rose , appeared on front of belgian magazines alongside josephine baker. in september, while in barcelona, appeared @ teatro romea, jazz-show organized italian impresario max guido. show huge success , myrtle recognized spain’s latest vedette. in november, moved on pompeya musichall danced evening, , after midnight climb downstairs , sing @ hollywood nightclub broadcast on radio. in winter appeared @ exclusive casa llibre tea rooms singing of spain’s elite. winter, myrtle accompanied pianist tommy ‘puss’ chase , band tour of southern coast of france. “myrtle enterprising, had kind of band her, , looking , talented singer , dancer.” travelled cannes, nice , ended in monaco during rallye monte carlo.

european tour (1934-1936)

during spring of 1934, bricktop postponed opening of new club until myrtle arrived, advertised world’s fascinating entertainer. brought success , large crowds bricktop s-monico, decided move on basque bar in june afro-british entertainer evelyn dove. while in paris, myrtle arranged travel london @ granada theatre in ‘all-colored’ revue, black scandals. on july 2, 1934, show ran successful week. films shown week on manager’s weekly report states both films rather weak, , had not been stage show, takings have been down. revue advertised ‘the greatest colored stage show in of europe.’ returned home spain @ end of month, before continuing tour august, in hague dancing @ palais de danse cabaret , in london october @ cafe anglais.

early 1935, returned paris @ cuban-themed melody-bar afro-american tenor, opal cooper. while there, learned estranged husband eddie ill stomach cancer , had halt career while recovering in hospital. in march, left berlin appear in film before returning in may, appearing @ boeuf sur le toit leon abbey s orchestra. while touring belgium again during late summer, leon abbey arranged myrtle appear orchestra 6 months in bombay, india. after boarding ship in venice, arrived in bombay october, realized didn t have proper work permits. later joined opal cooper, group appeared @ taj mahal hotel , green s ballroom next door success. december, however, myrtle laid low terrible bout of malaria. during stay, introduced handsome malaysian cricket player, lall singh, smitten new popular jazz artist in india. spring of 1936, lall took short break cricket , returned europe myrtle, working theatrical agent. after, couple wed , myrtle began wearing sari , practicing hinduism alongside new husband. around time, former husband in harlem died of stomach cancer. during following months, myrtle appeared in egypt, greece, turkey, bulgaria, romania, yugoslavia , ended tour in budapest, hungary in revue @ famous arizona cabaret.

transition paquita (1937-1940)

unable return home spain, due outbreak of spanish civil war, instead traveled paris spring of 1937 in time exposition internationale, appearing @ le grand jeu cabaret , george v restaurant held live-radio appearances , performed every visiting dignitary , royalty @ exposition. accompanied samuel bonifacio zarate, mexican violinist popular among french audiences virtuoso violin skills. worked carlos chávez s sinfónica de mexico @ palacio de bellas artes in mexico city , graduated mexican national conservatory, disciple of luis g. saloma. earned scholarship mexican government , studied in paris @ l ecole normale superieur (1932-1937). earlier in spring, won first prize @ international violin competition. make ends meet, entertained whenever possible, mexican-american vedette, reva reyes. on 1 occasion, hired entertain royalty @ george v restaurant. there met myrtle, took on name paquita, , became musical team. in september, moved on pavillon-elysees , spent winter @ villa d’este cabaret. in june 1938, adelaide hall left london, leaving behind cabaret, big apple club. myrtle became club’s main attraction while bricktop ran finances of club. bricktop no in keeping accounts straight, temper worse, , cabaret shut down winter. before club fell apart, myrtle returned villa d’este in september. in december, appeared in harlem au coliseum @ paris-coliseum alongside other artists, such new partner samuel zarate , zaidee jackson. later opened @ new park-lane club louis armstrong & cuban american orchestra. during summer of 1939, while myrtle , zarate toured baltic coast, german films did well, when atmosphere grew dark in europe. posters appeared across everywhere “because of aggressive attitude of german government, france , united kingdom has declared general mobilization. in august, in poland appearing on radio-warsaw. few weeks later, polish musician, stanley laudan invited myrtle to, la bagatelle, club in katowice. on september 1, world war ii started nazi troops seized poland. poland underwent military mobilization defend itself, able documents flee paris. upon arriving, lall decided renew cricket contract , return malaysia , @ point couple decided divorce in november. danger @ doorstep again germans turned attentions on france 1940.

india (1941-1943)

danger again @ doorstep germans turned attentions on france 1940, paquita , zarate departed middle eastern tour, travelling across egypt , iraq during years of war. summer of 1941, made way india, major success in lahore’s stiffle hotel bombay’s taj mahal , green s hotels. attracted attention calcutta’s grand hotel housed popular american jazz musician, teddy weatherford, whom met briefly in 1937 , had arrived ceylon , music director of hotel’s ballroom. in november, grand ballroom floor-show featured myrtle dancing , singing latin american numbers. broadcast on indian radio , myrtle recorded numbers show indian columbia records, audience enjoy performance @ home. in january 1942, japanese troops occupied kuala lumpur. lall singh seized , placed in work camp brother, bs gill (who died) until country liberated in august 1945. starting in calcutta, quit india movement swept across country, protesters demanding independence british rule. myrtle obtained american passport during summer plans of leaving country before things got bad. bliss of india gone when japanese planes bombing calcutta in 1943, followed large famine across india. dead animals littered street, starving children begged food, half bombed buildings. grand hotel became flooded soldiers, , shows used boost troop morale.

mexico & return united states (1944-1949)

decided might time move on, paquita , zarate newly engaged, boarded uss hermitage, accompanied polish refugees, california, arriving in san pedro in during summer of 1943. california stirring chaos zoot suit riots broke out across west coast. arriving in los angeles, couple traveled south mexico zarate’s hometown, el oro de hidalgo spend times numerous relatives. after while in mexico, returned los angeles, because offered more opportunities in entertainment field. paquita began informing indian princess of brahman caste sent parents study in europe, story developed prevent racial issues have faced african-american artist. on january 6, 1944, couple married quietly in seattle. ‘zarate & paquita’ took show across western & southwestern united states, hawaii, alaska , mexico. played big names across us, including liberace. regular entertainers around reno, salt lake city, san jose , eugene, oregon. purchased home in evanston, wyoming along interstate-80 near salt lake city, access utah, nevada , california. during summer of 1947, performed @ bastille day celebrations in reno french consul. concerts began zarate playing classical violin , viola numbers in first half , in second half when paquita join zarate on drums, dancing in frenzy dressed in elegant gowns , singing songs around world in 5 different languages. such hectic touring schedule, seems bothered take many breaks. despite zarate returning home mexico visit relatives, doesn t seem if paquita returned alabama see family; or visit detroit attend father s funeral in 1946.

later career , death (1952-1968)

in 1952, zarate filed american neutrality establish himself more in united states. zarate took contracts numerous recording companies, particularly northwestern. zarate , paquita’s records sold across western united states. later on, zarate opened own music recording company, zarpac, based in los angeles home, contained recording studio. recorded more before, dozen recordings year , appeared on american radio , television. became known in performing foreign songs , experimented in different genres, such calypso, had become popular during early-1950s. sometime around 1953, while performing in chicago, strong wind damaged home in evanston, wyoming. cancelling appearance, traveled california , bought house in sun valley, confining travels west coast. in 1958, released religious album, each song dedicated different religions across world such hinduism, christianity, , islam. in 1959, performed in year-long spectacle @ lamplighter lounge in corvallis, oregon.

by 1957, began touring central oregon coast under contract 1 of largest nightclubs in portland. owner of new motel , lounge complex in depoe bay, oregon wanted them entertain there on part-time basis. on first visit, zarate saw ‘for-sale’ sign on 2 concrete oxen standing outside small green house called trails end on 6 acres of brushland between lincoln city , depoe bay. suggested buy it, paquita suggested otherwise, “yes, here in middle of nowhere.” sign still there upon second visit , zarate , paquita bought property in 1959. built new house , had oxen separated , placed on either end of driveway loops off highway 101. built studio, zarate teach violin, guitar, piano, flute , organ - instruments had mastered on years. paquita gave lessons in dance , numerous languages. there adjoining restaurant, gingerbread house, providing traditional mexican , indian cuisine; children permitted without charge encourage more students , guests. number of students enrolled @ happy village cultural center.

but institution wasn’t profitable, paquita became involved children , hurt health, debilitated diabetes according zarate. continue running things, made numerous appearances on years @ popular amato’s supper club , @ king surf beach resort’s pagan hut restaurant. zarate performed @ weddings across oregon , both entertained @ gatherings hosted elite of west coast. helped bring money continue running things @ small estate. during spring of 1962, in wecoma beach (now lincoln city) appeared in international music recital presented varied repertoires of dances , songs in numerous languages , instruments. stage appearances became minimal many years afterwards, except annual appearances in mexico during spring , winter. after 1965, began appearing annually @ salishan bar & grill. paquita watched cars went faster , faster home, , troubled think people in such hurry. wanted give them place pull on few minutes , “give souls chance catch them.” zarate wanted wait until health improved, build together. myrtle ‘paquita’ zarate died on november 10, 1968 of diabetic complications. zarate built small white chapel on property among pines planted in honor, , hardly left except visit relatives in mexico during winter. fine arts school continued running, doesn t seem have drawn many students had before death. samuel zarate continued performing across oregon , mexico until death in 1997.