Mexican Movies in the U.S.

MEXICAN MOVIES IN THE UNITED STATES: A HISTORY OF THE FILMS, THEATERS AND AUDIENCES 1920-1960

(published by McFarland and available from them and from major online bookstores)

Cover for book Mexican Movies in the United States

This book was written by Rogelio Agrasánchez Jr. It is the result of years of research, as well as the author's personal contact with the business of distribution and exhibition of Mexican films.

In his search for film posters and propaganda, Agrasánchez found not only that, but also other invaluable materials. Of special interest are original documents Clasa-Mohme catalogue cover related to the distribution and exhibition of Spanish-language films in the United States. Those documents, scheduled for destruction, were salvaged by Agrasánchez in the brink of time. The most relevant collection of documents he found was the Clasa-Mohme records and correspondence. Clasa-Mohme was one of the three major distributors of Mexican films in the United States.

Since the finding of the Clasa-Mohme documents, Photograph of Rogelio Agrasánchez with interviewee Fernando Obledo, former Clasa-Mohme executive Agrasánchez began his research on the subject. He interviewed executives that had worked in film distribution; film exhibitors and moviegoers. He also consulted almost every U.S. newspaper that contained information about Mexican cinema exhibition, from 1920 to 1960. Other primary sources, such as the Interstate Theater Circuit records, were researched for the book.

Mexican Movies in the United States: A History of the Theaters, Films and Audiences 1920-1960 was inteded to be an introduction to the subject of distribution and exhibition of Mexican cinema in this country, appealing not only to historians or researchers, but to the general public too.

Photograph of Rogelio Agrasánchez Jr. visiting the closed Alameda Theatre in Falfurrias, Texas Eventhough approximately 600 U.S. venues regularly exhibited Mexican films in the 1950s, no books existed on the subject. This volume intends to fill that gap and to encourage other researchers to follow this line of study.

The book offers a concise look at selected U.S. regions where Mexican cinema was exhibited: Los Angeles and the Pomona Valley in California; New York City; El Paso, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Also included is a listing of U.S. theaters that showed Spanish-language movies. Illustrated with over seventy photographs of theaters, film stars, poster art and press advertising.

Photograph of moviegoers attending Teatro Juárez in Weslaco, Texas It also abounds in information about movegoing preferences and habits among Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States, as well as the deep meaning Mexican cinema had for immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

A listing of venues exhibiting Mexican movies along the United States is a valuable addition to the main text.

A special edition in Spanish for this book will follow.