Carmen

1940 · Best.-Nr. 20600 — 1940. Very Good Plus. The popular Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat 1900-1990 had a tradition of sending out custom Christmas cards with amusing caricatures of himself and his wife whomever she happened to be at the time. This card shows his first wife of four Carmen Castillo 1900 - 1966 with whom he was married from 1929 to 1947. Castillo was a singer who encouraged Cugat to form his first band with whom she also performed. In this card five stockings are arranged on atop a brick fireplace. The three small stockings are stuffed with three dogs and Castillo and Cugat are shown in profile their heads contorted to look like dog heads the canine likeness may not strike one with a quick glance but it will provoke a chuckle once it reveals itself. The card colored with vivid red and green only as befits the occasion. There is no date but since Cugat and Castillo divorced in 1947 we would say it was almost certainly from the early 1940s. The fireplace looks like the kind one would find in LA -- Hollywood or Beverly Hills -- and as anyone familiar with MGM musicals of the day Cugat was very active in screen appearances by then playing himself generally. The much married Cugat never had children or human children with any of his four wives. The card is a single card sheet measuring 18.5 by 16 cm. The back of the card is blank. We would deduce that he was a dog lover though and at the time of this card had three. Light wear. unknown