CINE ASTOR at Conjunto Nacional

Conjunto Nacional footpath on Avenida Paulista with Cine Astor and Jardim de Inverno Fasano in the background.

1958 - the sign says that there would be the future site of the US Consulate...

Cine Astor box-office looking out to Alameda Santos.

glorious Cine Astor's interior...

6 March 1960 - Cine Astor was the most state-of-the-art cinema in São Paulo in 1960. It was equipped with the Todd-AO system devised by Hollywood producer Michael Todd which used 70 mm film and stereophonic sound. 

Jardim de Inverno Fasano in 1957. 

Conjunto Nacional with its famous watch at the top, looking along Rua Augusta on the right. 

Cine Paulista on Rua Augusta in 23rd December 1956 when 'Ao balanço das horas' was all the rage... 

Santana 1940s

rua Alfredo Pujol in the 1940s. 

a train glides through Rua Alfredo Pujól in 1947. 

CPOR barracks on rua Alfredo Pujol in the 1940s. 

CPOR later on when those hideous sentry boxes were already built. 

TRAM CARS & trains...

1963.

tram car on Avenida São João turning towards Largo do Paisandu...

Avenida São João near Rua Conselheiro Crispiniano in 1963. 

Oops, we had a little trouble with the electricity rod... 

just passing Cine Metro on Avenida São João.

various tram cars at Praça da Sé in 1939.

Lapa tram-car at its initial stop on Praça do Correio. 

Praça da Bandeira in 1963.

Avenida Liberdade with Rua Dr. Rodrigo Silva in the early 1960s. Santo Amaro-bound tram-car.

early evening at Avenida Sao João in 1967 when most of tram-cars lines had already been terminated.

Avenida Domingos de Moraes in the process of being gutted in 1963; Cine Cruzeiro's on the left.

tram car Praça Clovis on the corner of Rua do Manifesto & Rua do Grito in Ipiranga, in 1963. 

Biblioteca Mario de Andrade in 1950.

the tram car standing on Rua Xavier de Toledo and Avenida São Luiz is either tram car #28 Vila Madalena or #29 Pinheiros.

same photo with a sepia colouring and a better resolution. It's either late 1940s or early 1950s judging by the car models.

corner of Rua da Consolação with Avenida São Luiz, 1954;  photo by Antonio Aguillar.

same corner seen from Rua Martins Fontes in the early 1960s. 

motorneiros (motormen) chat in the depot before starting work - 1960.

Miguel Domingos, motorneiro, 1936.

some time in the mid-1960s.

Pirituba Sao Paulo Railway station in 1899. 

1942 Cine Piratininga / 1967 Cine Windsor & 1968 'Roda Viva'

Cine Piratininga on Rua Martim Buchard, 1554, in Brás; one of the largest cinema-house in the city o São Paulo plays 20th Century-Fox 1942's 'A-haunting we will go' (Dois fantasmas vivos) with Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy (o Gordo e o Magro). 

A man buys an entrance-ticket at the box-office of colossal Cine Piratainga in 1977.

 Carnaval 1967.

3 September 1967 -

12 November 1967 - Chico Buarque's 'Carolina' becomes a classical piece; 'Morte na Rua Simpatia' is released as a book; Brazilian rock band The Jordans meet half The Beatles (John Lennon & Ringo Starr) in London. 

1st September 1968 - the lull before the storm. Chico Buarque's play 'Roda Viva' was still playing at Teatro Ruth Escobar to packed house...

Chico Buarque with Odete Lara and unidentified trio.

RADIO TUPI in the 1970s - Batista Linardi

There was a time around the mid-1970s when listening to radio in Sao Paulo was not an easy task. You see, FM radio was still in its infancy and AM radio was going down the drain swiftly. 

I was lost culturally! After having lived in the U.S.A. in 1971-1972-1973, I got used to listening to Top-40 New York radio stations and could not stomach listening to what Radio Excelsior and Radio Difusora played. The sound quality of the records was far below that of New York radio stations. Besides, the DJs didn't have a clue about the nature of the Anglo-American hits they played. I felt I was lost in a desert.

Around 1974, I started working as a typist at a counter in a supermarket and had the chance to listen to the radio the whole day through. I made friends with João Roberto, a young man who worked as an office-boy in the same neighbourhood who also listened to radio the whole day. It was through him that I started listening to Radio Tupi again on a regular basis.

I remember when Radio Tupi came out of the dolldrums in 1964 and went right up to Number One in the ratings guided by the wise hands of Helio Ribeiro. Even after Helio left Radio Tupi would always be amongst the 3 most popular radio stations in town. 

So, when I went back to listening to Radio Tupi again in the mid-1970s I already knew some of their DJs like Barros de Alencar who had been on the air for 10 years now. As I worked from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM I was glad when Batista Linardi took over the air-waves with 'Você fez o sucesso', his daily show from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. 

June 1967 - Revista Melodias tells Batista Linardi's radio biography.

Batista Linardi worked at Radio Tupi in the late 1960s and 1970s. Circa 1974-1975 he had a daily show called 'Você fêz o sucesso' from 3:00 to 4:00 PM where he played recent goldies. There was a jingle-vignette I used to love: 'Alô, alô, você fèz o sucesso! Alô, alô, Batista Linardi, Tupi! Tupi!'.

revista Melodias 1969.

FERREIRA MARTINS, Radio Piratininga PRB-6

José Ferreira Martins was born on 25 November 1945, in Rancharia-SP, 520 km away from the capital city, 57 km from Presidente Prudente-SP the region's main city and south of Parapuã-SP.

In 1958, when he was 13 years old, Ferreira was asked by a friend to go along with him to Rancharia’s Radio Difusora, where he intended to take a test to become a radio announcer. His friend was turned down but Ferreira Martins was accepted and soon would work as a speaker in the early hours of the morning.

Ferreira’s parents didn’t go for that and sent him to a boarding-school in Itapetininga-SP, some 400 km east to finish his High School. In 1960, when he was 16 years old he came back to Rancharia and took up a job at the local radio station.

In 1964, when Ferreira was 18 years old, he was spotted by Orlando Duarte, a popular sportscaster who brought him to Sao Paulo where he was signed by Wilson Baptista for Radio Piratininga, PRB-6.

Ferreira presented ‘Faça seu pedido’ (Make your request) from 9:00 to 10:00 am where a secretary would take phone calls from listeners, kept them on line until such time as Ferreira Martins would come on the air and said: 'Make your request!'. The listener would say: 'I'd like to listen to 'Scrivi' with Rita Pavone' and the song would be played right away. I know the whole process because I used to spend most of my time dialing the radio station phone number in order to get a chance to request my favourite song every morning. It was pretty hard to get through to the station request line for hundreds of youngsters were doing exactly the same thing at the same time. 

'Sua carta vale musica' (Your letter is worth a song) was a catch-phrase that would encourage listeners from out of town to write Radio Piratininga, Rua 24 de Maio, 208, 10o. andar -  and request a song. Ferreira would then play Roberto Carlos's 'Escreva uma carta, meu amor' and play the requested song.

Ferreira would then have his lunch and would be back at the station at 1:00 pm for ‘Você faz a Parada’(You make the Hit Parade); had a breather and was back again at 3:00 pm for ‘Idolos da Juventude’ (Teen Idols) which made him really popular among teenagers. Ferreira was at the right place (Sao Paulo) at the right time (1964-1965) when Brazilian rock aka Jovem Guarda was becoming a national obsession. 

He would host young hopefuls like Wanderlea, Roberto Carlos and Erasmo Carlos in his afternoon show, interview them on air and play their latest releases. Soon Roberto Carlos would  become so famous he couldn't even go out on the streets without using a disguise to avert being mobbed by the crowd.

Ferreira had (and still has) one of the most beautiful male speaking voices in Brazil. He had also a good musical taste and played his favourites Johnny Mathis, Johnny Rivers and the Mamas & the Papas on his afternoon show.

While still working at Radio Piratininga, Ferreira was signed by Radio Bandeirantes to emcee a 2 hour-programme on its sister broadcaster Radio America which was investing heavily on the youth-oriented market. Ferreira was part of a young troika made up of Jose Paulo de Andrade and Jorge Elau that spanned the whole afternoon from 12:00 am to 6:00 pm. This was around the time there was a fight between the fan-clubs of the Beatles and Italian rocker Rita Pavone. There was a pitch battle between the 2 camps who sent letters to the DJs abusing each other and telling how superior one act was against the other. 

Ferreira would go on to be a TV news-reader at TV Bandeirantes later on but that is something else we’ll leave for later.

Roberto Carlos shakes hand with Ferreira Martins at Radio Piratinga where Ferreira presented 'Ídolos da Juventude', the best youth-oriented radio-show in the afternoon (from 3:00 to 4:00 pm). 

Radio Piratininga DJ Ferreira Martins at a Revista Melodias article in which this post was based.

Ferreira Martins wearing a white cardigan at Rita Pavone's press conference on 22 June 1964 at Terrazza Martini on rua Barão de Itapetininga. Ademar Dutra (Radio Nacional) and Jose Carlos Romeu (Radio Excelsior) look on while Rita writes something leaning on journalist Moracy do Val's legs. photo: Nicanor Le Terry.

 Ferreira Martins was signed by Radio Bandeirantes in February 1970. 

Cine Rancharia in the 1950s, showing 'Mulher do rio' (La donna del fiume) realesed in 1955, with Sophia Loren plus 'O filho do Mata Hari'.

Cine Rancharia, owned by the Pedutti Brothers.