Armida Vendrell

Armida, born Armida Vendrell (29 May 1911 - 23 October 1989) was a Mexican-American actress, singer, dancer, and vaudeville was born in Los Angeles, California. She was the first American born Mexican to star in films. Like Lupe Velez, she was under contract to United Artists. She was just five feet tall with high heels and an inch less without them. Armida had a tiny face with two dark eyes of radiant beauty. She spoke quickly, without pausing, and her words were enunciated throatily. In her early years she spoke Spanish only. Her personality was vivacious, piquant, fiery in temper, typically Latin in sparkling cleverness.

Armida was from a large and poor Los Angeles Mexican family. Her relatives and her neighbors, as a youth, were laborers. By the time she reached the age of nineteen she had a lucrative, long-term screen contract. She purchased a beautiful home where she lived with her family. She aspired to send her younger sisters to college.

Vaudeville in California

Armida was discovered in the old Hidalgo theater in the Plaza in Los Angeles. The Plaza was the oldest section of the city. Armida was appearing in a small, home-maunufactured vaudeville skit, along with her sister, Delores. A spotter for a coast vaudeville circuit was in the audience and offered her a chance at a four-a-day. Armida progressed from the drama marts of the Plaza to various Broadway productions after being discovered by Gus Edwards, stage and screen actor, song writer, and dance instructor. She participated in as many as twenty-four vaudeville numbers a day while in New York. Edwards brought her back to Hollywood with him and began to feature her in colortone novelties. Gus once said of Armida, that she possessed the emotional temperament of an actress capable of surmounting the most difficult of histrionic roles.

Film career

The young Mexican actress was a success and soon progressed into short subjects in the films. Her first film of note featured her in a role opposite actor John Barrymore. In On The Border (1930) Armida played Pepita, a Spanish girl. She is protected from the leader of a band of desperadoes by her lover and her pet dog, Rin-Tin-Tin. The story was an exciting one about Orientals being smuggled over the Mexican border into the United States.

Armida appeared in films like Border Romance (1929), The Show of Shows (1929), General Crack (1930), Under A Texas Moon (1930), The Marines Are Coming (1934), Under The Pampas Moon (1935), Patio Serenade (1938), Bad Men of the Border (1945), Congo Bill (1948), and The Gay Amigo (1949). Her final role was in Rhythm Inn (1951), in which she played a specialty dancer.

Armida Vendrell died in Victorville, California on October 23, 1989 of a heart attack.

References

• Bedford, Pennsylvania Gazette, Theatre Activities, May 23, 1930, Page 10.
• Charleston, West Virginia Gazette, Cinderella Story, Sunday, September 22, 1929, Page 7.
• Los Angeles Times, Armida Is Gay, Young Discovery, October 21, 1928, Page B13.
• Los Angeles Times, Wave Of Popularity Sweeping Mexican Stars To Top Goes Marching On, January 27, 1929, Page C11.