Loving the Classics has some fantastic old films on DVD, including FIVE Lupe Vélez features. For a direct link to Lupe’s films at Loving the Classics, click the link below. At $14.99 a pop, you can’t go wrong!
Lupe Films on DVD
Category Archives: Lupe Velez
Lupe Vélez – Cover Girl…
…Lupe Vélez appeared on hundreds of magazine covers during her Hollywood years. Below I’ve posted a few examples for your viewing pleasure!
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The Book Title Is Now Official…Drum Roll, Please…
…Lupe Vélez: The Life and Career of Hollywood’s “Mexican Spitfire.”
That was my suggested title and I’m thrilled that it’s now official 🙂
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Happy 103rd Birthday, Lupe…Wherever You May Be!
Today, July 18th, 2011, would have been the 103rd birthday of Lupe Vélez. It’s been sixty-seven years since her self-inflicted death at age thirty-six. A Hollywood tragedy. So unexpected. So heartbreaking. A light that was snuffed out way too early…
Almost seventy years on from her passing and the world is STILL talking about her. Next year, at the time of my book’s release, I hope even more people are talking, only this time, I hope they’ll be talking about what REALLY happened to her on that fateful December morning in 1944. No more “died with her head in the toilet” stories…the truth is there to be told and I’ve told it. Besides, her “life” story was so much more than her death. Oh, what a life!!!
I will most certainly keep everyone posted on any updates, a cover, a confirmed title, etc., as news comes to hand.
For now, remember Lupe Vélez on her birthday…
Happy Birthday, Lupe x
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The Death Of Lupe Vélez…
I posted a few photos of Lupe Vélez here yesterday, candid images that won’t be appearing in my book because of the photo cull from 150 to 75. Rather than letting the unused photos sit on my desktop, I’m sharing them with you all here. So, here’s a few more, though I forewarn you, they aren’t as pleasant as the ones in my previous post….
Above: Lupe Vélez in her coffin.
Jorge Negrete (1911-1953) and Mario Moreno, who used the moniker, ‘Cantinflas’ (1911-1993) paying their last respects to Lupe Vélez as she lay in her coffin. Negrete and Moreno were two of the greatest Mexican movie stars of all-time, Negrete as a leading man and singer, and Moreno (Mexico’s answer to Groucho Marx) as the most famous comic-character his country had ever produced. In 1944, they were both leaders of The Mexican Actors Guild (ANDA). Since Lupe’s will had not yet been probated, her family had no means to get her body from America to Mexico so The Guild stepped in and paid for the transportation of Lupe’s body back to her home country.
Above: Lupe’s mother and sisters pay their respects…
Several members of Lupe’s immediate family pay their respects before her body at the funeral home. Left to right: Two of Lupe’s sisters stand beside their distraught mother as she is supported by an unidentified man.
Funeral Day…
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A Few RARE Lupe Vélez Photos…
Okay, a little update on my Lupe Vélez book. Way back when this project initially took off, I was approved 150 photos by my publisher. However, that number was based on me coming in at 110,000 words. As I got to researching and writing, my word count ended up coming in at 135,000 words! So, this will affect my page count and when the page count is affected, so is the price of the book. In order to keep the book in a price category that we’ll ALL be happy with, I’ve had to cut my number of photographs by HALF!
That’s right, there’ll now be seventy-five photos instead 😦
That said, the story is the story and it’s a GREAT story. I’ve spent the last few days going over my photo choices with a fine tooth comb and I believe I’ve reinvented my selection to meet the seventy-five photo requirement and still tell her story, photographically speaking, in a thorough way. Oh, it hasn’t been easy. I’m exhausted!
Anyway, as the months progress, I’ll post those pics that didn’t make it – HERE!
Lupe sewing costumes with her mother in their home in Mexico. She’s about 16/17 years old here.
Lupe practices her singing. Her mother, Josefina, plays piano.
Lupe’s dancing drove men wild…here she demonstrates some of her moves!
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Applying Make-Up…Lupe Vélez Style!
The first part of this scene from The Gaucho shows Lupe Vélez using whatever she can find to pretty-herself-up for the impending arrival of Doug Fairbanks aka The Gaucho! This makeup application process is exactly what Lupe would do as a young child. She was a great improviser. She would often crush ripened strawberries to color her lips before climbing onto the roof of her home to put on an impromptu performance for the locals. In this clip she uses crushed rose petals. From a very young age, Lupe Vélez was an actress…she couldn’t have been anything else.
Watch below.
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It’s Outta My Hands Now…
Well, my Lupe Vélez manuscript, along with photos, electronic files, notes and permission letters that clear words from various contributors to print has been packed up and is now winging its way to my publisher…the box weighed 3.7 kilos (about 8 pounds) and cost a whopping $86 to send via airmail! Almost two years of my life, from thought process to finished package has gone into this project…letting it go is bittersweet. Of course, it WILL BE BACK – eventually. The proofs and indexing are to come, but that’s months and months away. For now, and for the first time, it’s outta my hands…my work is done!
See my photo below…yep, it was HEAVY!
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Done!
As any hardworking author will tell you, it’s always a glorious day to print the last page of a manuscript that has taken so long to complete. I’m pleased to announce that today (June 7, 2011) is another one of those GLORIOUS days for me!
Yes, that’s right, my biography/filmography on the life and career of Lupe Vélez is complete! I’m getting ready to submit it to my publisher (McFarland & Co.) and to top off the excitement, I’m almost three months ahead of my deadline…won’t they be happy?!
Of course, there’s still a long way to go before an actual book will be available for sale. The manuscript will sit for months at the publisher…copy-editing is done and then page proofs are compiled. I then get the manuscript back to check the editing process and compile an index. Once that’s done, the proofs and index are returned to the publisher for a final correction and insertion of the completed index…THEN the printing and distribution begins.
That said, I would estimate the book to be available a third of the way thru 2012. I’ll keep you updated, of course!
As for now…I need a drink!!! 🙂
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Michelle Vogel
Michelle Vogel (Author) - michellevogelhollywoodnews.com 
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