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ERNESTO CAPARROS |
Born: 22 April 1907, Camajuaní, Provincia de Las Villas, Cuba, as Ernesto Caparrós Oliver, son of Alejandro Caparrós, a film projectionist, and Concepción Oliver.
Died: 13 February 1992, New York City, N.Y., USA.
Education: Academia de San Alejandro [Painting].
Career: His uncles owned a film theater and a film distribution company. Became set painter, newsreel ph and poster and marquee designer. In 1926, he became asst working for Richard Harlan's Pan America Pictures Corporation and worked on films like 'La chica del gato' [1926, Richard Harlan] & 'El cobarde valerosa' [1926, Ramón Peón; ph: Abelardo Domingo Sr.]. In 1934, he founded Royal Advertising News with Laureano Rodriguez Gavaldá & Luis Ricardo Molina. They started prod newsreels. Went to the United States in November 1942 and worked as optical efx tech, designer of title cards at Du Art laboratory and as editor of newsreels in Spanish. Later, he opened his own studio in New York where countless commercials and shorts for tv were produced.
Ph commercials for Polaroid featuring James Garner and Mariette Hartley.
Became member of IATSE Local 644 in 1956 and member of the ASC in 1964. Retired in 1986.
Awards: IATSE Local 644 'Billy Bitzer Commendation Award' [1979].
'He was 'Ernie' for his American friends, 'Ernest' for the most important ones, 'Caparros' for those who found his name 'exotic'. But for us, the Cubans of a certain generation, Ernesto Caparros was the first Cuban 'filmmaker' in the true sense of the word. He was also the first Cuban filmmaker in 'exile'. He left Cuba in 1940 and never went back. Ernesto Caparros was a pioneer and a founder of the cinema in Cuba. He fought for the movie industry in our country when making films on an underdeveloped island was more the art of a pirate than of a corsair.' [Orlando Jiménez-Leal in 'American Cinematographer', April 1992.]
FILMS & TELEVISION |
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1932 |
Maracas y bongó [Max Tosquella] b&w; mus short/15m; 2nd cam: Ricardo Delgado; + prod des; first Cuban sound film |
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1937 |
La serpiente roja [Ernesto Caparrós] b&w; 80m & 41m; cph: Laureano Rodriguez Gavaldá & Ricardo Delgado; + set decorator/co-sound efx; first Cuban feature length sound film |
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1946 |
Como tú ninguna [Roberto Ratti] b&w; filmed during a holiday on Cuba with his new wife |
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195? |
Pulse of the City [?] for tv |
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1960 |
Route 66 [pilot 'Black November' dir by Philip Leacock] 116-part tv-series/b&w, 1960-64; 1st season, 1960-61 |
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1960 |
Naked City [ep #40 'A Death of Princes' dir by John Brahm, #46 'Debt of Honor' dir by Tay Garnett (TG) & # 55 'Button in the Haystack' dir by TG] 138-part tv-series/b&w, 1958-63; 2nd season, 1960-61 |
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1961 |
Naked City [ep #94 'The One Marked Hot Gives Cold' dir by David Lowell Rich & #103 'Memory of a Red Trolley Car' dir by Lawrence Doheny] 3rd season, 1961-62; see 1960 |
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1962 |
Naked City [e[ #136 'One, Two, Three, Rita Rakahowski' dir by Robert Ellis Miller] 4th season, 1962-63; see 1960 |
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1962 |
The Miracle Worker [Arthur Penn] b&w |
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1963 |
The Farmer's Daughter [pilot 'The Speechmaker: Part 1' dir by Ralph Nelson] 101-part tv-series/b&w, 1963-66; 1st season, 1963-64 |
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1964 |
Andy [Richard C. Sarafian] b&w |
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1967 |
What's So Bad About Feeling Good? [George Seaton] ts/c |
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FILMS AS DIRECTOR |
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1932 |
El frutero/The Fruit Bowl [mus short with music by Ernesto Lecuona] ph: ? |
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1936 |
Como el arrullo de palmas [mus short with music by Ernesto Lecuona] ph: ? |
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1937 |
Tam-Tam o El origen de la rumba [short mus doc/22m; + scrpl] ph: Laureano Rodriguez Gavaldá, Luis R. Molina & Ricardo Delgado |
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1937 |
La serpiente roja [feature; + cph/set decorator/co-sound efx] see Films & Television |
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1939 |
Prófugos/Fugitive [feature] ph: Robert E. Cline |
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1940 |
Mis cinco hijos [mus short] ph: ? |
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1940 |
Yo soy el héroe/I Am the Hero [feature] ph: Ricardo Delgado |
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1941 |
Romance musical [feature] ph: Ricardo Delgado |
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1941 |
Luna sin miel [short] ph: ? |
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1942 |
Ritmos de Cuba [mus short] ph: ? |
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1943 |
Fantasmas del Caribe/Ghosts of the Caribbean [feature] ph: Ricardo Delgado |
MISCELLANEOUS |
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1929 |
El veneno de un beso [Ramón Peón] prod des (+ asst dir/c.asst); ph: Ricardo Delgado |
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1930 |
La virgen de la caridad/The Virgin of Charity [Ramón Peón] prod des; ph: Ricardo Delgado |
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1937 |
La tragedia de Cali [prod: Royal News; doc/28m] sound; ph: ? |
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1938 |
El romance del palmar [Ramón Peón] asst dir; ph: Tom Hogan |
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1938 |
Mi tía de América [Jaime Salvador] asst dir; ph: Tom Hogan |
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1939 |
Estampas habaneras [Jaime Salvador] asst dir; ph: ? |
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1939 |
Una aventura peligrosa/A Dangerous Adventure [Ramón Peón] sound; ph: ? |