Juanita Martinez
Juana Martínez (Buenos Aires, May 10, 1925 – May 12, 2001), better known as Juanita, was a film, television and theatre actress, vedette and wife of actor José Pepe Marrone.
Biography
Juanita Martínez began her artistic career in theatre companies; Despite her family’s opposition, she went ahead, she gave genre to burlesque, where she stood out and was considered the woman with the most beautiful legs, being a great dancer and vedette participating in large theatres in Argentina or doing shows.
She was the daughter of notary parents. As a child, she had thought of becoming a nun. Her father, who did not want that future for her daughter, decided that she should study dance. He enrolled her in the National Conservatory, where she shared studies with Beba Bidart, Ángel Eleta, and Nené Cao. She came out with the highest grades and a defined vocation: the theatre.
She did some commercials like advertising Cinetea toilet powder.
She was a great friend of the star Isabel Sarli and a lover of the puppies that accompanied her until the end of her life.
Filmography
In the 1960s, she appeared in two films alongside Marrone:
Christopher Columbus at the Faculty of Medicine (1962), with a script by Abel Santa Cruz.
The Magician of Finances (1962), with Beba Bidart.
Although her film career was short, she participated in almost all media linked to Marrone.
Television
1960: The works of Marrone, by Channel 13.
1967 to 1985: The circus of Marrone, together with the Capocomico and Mariquita Gallegos.
1971: The Circus of 9, with Don Pelele, Eber “Caligula” Decibe, Vicente Quintana and Oscar Valicelli, broadcast by Channel 9.
1971: Friday of Pacheco, unitary of Osvaldo Pacheco.
1971: El boliche de Marrone, by Antonio Prat, directed by Carlos Sandor. With Marrone, Raúl Lavié, Mónica Posse and Emilio Vidal.
Juanita Martínez with her husband, José Marrone.
1973: Corrientes y Marrone, where she performed with Pepe and the singer Raúl Lavié joined, broadcast by Channel 13. Edmundo Rivero and a television debutante, Moria Casán, participated in this program.
1997 and 1998: Cebollitas, a youth strip broadcast by Telefé.
She was also a guest on numerous programs such as Common Cause hosted by María Laura Santillan (1995), Susana Giménez (1995), Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand and Sábado Bus in 2000, hosted by Nicolás Repetto where always with a smile, she recalled anecdotes with Pepitito and displayed his talent in dancing.
Theatre
Already in 1938, she had been presented with the opportunity to debut as a dancer. Still, she could not act because she was younger (13 years old). Still, the businessman Ferrando obtained special permission, and there the path of the stage was opened for her.
She worked for three years in an Italian operetta company with Italo Bertini while perfecting herself in Spanish dance with the company of Dr Enrique Susini, later debuting at the famous El Tronío colmao, where stars such as Lolita Torres or Fidel Pintos, among others.
She then would tour America for years that ended in the United States. She returned to Buenos Aires due to her mother’s health problems.
In 1954 she formed her company, always together with Marrone, which included artists of the stature of Azucena Maizani and Eber Lobato.
She resumed her performance on the Buenos Aires stages by the hand of Carlos A. Petit, who hired her for several tropical dances, since Juanita, during her visits to the Caribbean, had learned the technique for those rhythms very well.
1950: El cabo Scamione en el Teatro Astral, donde lo conoce a “Pepito”.
1950: Vé paisano, llegó Marrone.
1950: Si Adán no hubiera aflojado.
1952: La coronación de la risa, con José Marrone, Olinda Bozán, Alberto Castillo, Severo Fernández, Nélida Roca, Thelma del Río y Carlos Fioriti.
1953: Miguelito Faringola Boxeador por Carambola en su personaje de María, donde intervino J. Marrone, Oscar Galardo, Campeón Panamericano de Box de 1952, junto a artistas como Pepita Muñoz, Félix Mutarelli, Pancho Romano y Oscar Valicelli.
1953: La coronación de la risa, compartiendo elenco con Marrone, Tito Lusiardo, y Diana Maggi.
1954: Los misterios del desnudo.
Juanita Martínez en una temporada teatral de 1966.
1954: Se dio juegos de desnudos..
1954: El cabo Scamione.
1954: ¡Flor de Folies Porteñas! .
1954: ¡La Revista Alegre!
1958: Corrientes casi esquina Champs Elysées, con Marrone, Marcos Zucker, Juan Verdaguer, Hilda Mayo y Vicente Rubino.
1959:¡Esto es Maiporama! encabezado por Marrone, Vicente Rubino, Egle Martin, Argentinita Vélez y Héctor Rivera.
1959: Quo Vadis, Arturo, con J. Marrone, Vicente Rubino, Pato Carret, Nélida Lobato y Pepe Arias
1960: Ritmo 66, junto a Marrone y Amelita Vargas.
1960: Cristobal Colón en la Facultad de Medicina (obra teatral), primero en el Teatro Argentino y luego en el Cómico. Esta dupla hicieron de la obra un éxito llevado a la pantalla grande.
1960: ¡El que fue a Sevilla.. perdió su silla!’ con Marrone, Ligia Berg, Rita Varola e Hilda Mayo
1960: Todo bicho que conintes… va a parar al Otamendi!!!
1960: Hay que cambiar los botones…! con Pepe Arias, Alicia Márquez, Dorita Burgos, y Alfredo Barbieri
1961: Pistolero sin pistola en el teatro porteño.2
1961: El hombre de las cinco, junto con Osvaldo Canónico.
1963: Miren que cabeza loca, en el T. Maipo, junto a Dringue Farias, Marta Ecco, Vicente Rubino y Zulma Faiad.
1964: Solo para mayores, con Marrone, Alfredo Barbieri, Virma González, Zulma Faiad, Silvia Scott y Julia Alson.
1964: Las que defienden al sexo, junto a José Marrone, Juan Verdaguer, Julia Alson, Alfredo Barbieri, Vicente Rubino, Hilda Mayo, Sonia Grey, Rosángela y Susana Rubio.
1965: Prohibido, con Marrone, Fanny Navarro, Hilda Mayo, Vicente Rubino, Tito Climent, Norma Pons, entre otros.
1967: Los solteros también sufren3
1970: Mujeres 100%, estrenada en el Maipo, junto a Marrone, Vicente Rubino, Hilda Mayo, Don Pelele, Marcos Zucker, Argentinita Vélez y Mimí Pons.
She would do other revistas at the Teatro Argentino and the Teatro Cómico. She also worked in 1954 with her husband and the singer Edmundo Rivero in the Marabú nightclub, where they presented her as “The queen of the mambo”.
She was the first vedette in the Buenos Aires Revistas Shows to be criticized for showing her navel, for which she had to cover it with a rhinestone button. Since then, Revista’s fashion was to wear the button in the navel.
