1941 - Fiesta

1941 marked the 229th annual Fiesta, kicked off as usual by the burning of Old Man Gloom. The ceremony encountered a small problem, however. Governor John Miles was scheduled to speak at the event and introduce a special guest, an emissary from the Mexican President, who was given the honor to touch off the burning of Zozobra. By accident, someone on Will Shuster’s crew set off the powder trail a little too early and everyone – heads of state and foreign diplomats – had to clear the area mighty quick. The Gloom Dancers just barely made it out before Zozobra caught fire and went up in flames. The Governor, however, took it all philosophically.

Downtown, on the plaza, the Fiesta Queen, the beautiful Clara Garcia, was crowned on the Plaza by the Conqueror Don Diego De Vargas, portrayed that year by J. Alfonso Armijo. The Queen was entertained by a variety of performers including the child students of Mrs. Wilson’s La Gitana Dance Studio, consisting of Betty Serna, Betty Jo Brannon, Betty Ortiz, Phyllis Calkins and Anita and Dolores Fernandez.

Music is always a big part of Fiesta but in 1941, there was a bonanza, so said music chairman Wayne Mauzy. The Mariachi de Santa Fe was featured on the plaza, at Bishop's Lodge on Saturday afternoon and for the street dance Sunday night. Los Morenos – another popular Santa Fe orchestra with spectacular uniforms – played on the plaza and were also featured both at the Fandango and at the Conquistadores Ball. Another Santa Fe group – Los Villeros Alegres – were the stars of Koshare Party held at the Safeway parking lot across from the County Courthouse. The group also held a concert on the Plaza and marched in the candlelight procession, too.

And if that were not enough music, the Old Villa Tipica 12-piece orchestra from out of town played at the traditional roof dance at La Fonda. The last time the group played in Santa Fe was 1938. And an authentic Mexican circus band, led by the Ortiz Brothers of Old Mexico, played on the plaza accompanying an acrobat show. And, for good measure, the Duo Jaliciense of Jalisco strolled the Plaza in the evenings,

And that roster of musicians didn't even include the city's most popular hometown singers, Nora Chavez and Johnny Valdez. That year, the two were showcased in a musical Fiesta Melodrama about a poor Spanish family from Pojoaque, struggling to pay off the mortgage held on their ancestral home, a mortgage held by the villain – and, incidentally, the only Anglo character in the play. Other stars of the Melodrama included Rosie Gutierrez Moya, Mrs. Jose Moya and Jack Konopak. At that same Melodrama, Johnny Valdez and Tony Cruz performed a comedy song between the acts which ended with a real can-can dance by the “Hot Set” girls, Lena, Perla and Arline.

The kids were in for a special treat at the 1941 Fiesta. Students at the St. Francis opportunity school crafted several beautiful marionettes and staged a puppet show – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – at Loretto Hall. It was titled “Pinocchio at the Fiesta,” and it told the story of Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket who come to Santa Fe at Fiesta time and join the Fiesta fun.

Two interesting things about this version of Pinocchio – one, Jiminy is made an honorary member of the New Mexico State Police for being a good conscience; two, Jiminy – who, you recall, was a cricket – sang a song about his little cousin – La Cucaracha.

In 1941, the Koshares were only making their second appearance in a Fiesta. The Koshares were a group of local men, many of whom were serious businessmen during the year. But, come Fiesta time, they put on Koshare costumes and roamed throughout Fiesta, playing practical jokes, performing crazy stunts and producing general nonsense. They were patterned after a Pueblo Indian Koshare tradition where one man would dress up, painted in stripes and wearing a nutty mask, then play the irreverent fool at even the most religious events.

It was all in good fun and people really enjoyed it. In 1941, for example, the Koshares led a snake dance through La Fonda Hotel at 3 in the morning. Oh and the Koshares put on El Mercado Loco on Sunday, where the zany Koshares, this time dressed as Mexican peones, tried to sell passersby one single shoe or a page torn out of the telephone book, perhaps a rusty nail or half a corset. Actually, that last one really was for sale at the Mercado Loco.

In 1941, the Koshares also put on a Fiestecita – a large outdoor party at the Safeway parking lot with music, dancing and entertainment. It was the Koshares, incidentally, who sponsored a weekly Spanish song and dance session every Tuesday night at Seth Hall for the two months before Fiesta. A Fiesta tradition that's been lost.

And here's another. In 1941, there was a shooting exhibition put on by the Contra Costa County sheriff's posse from California. In those days, that group came to Fiesta every year to ride in the parade and put on a marksmanship show, offering both plain and fancy shooting, just like the old west.

New for the 1941 Fiesta was the Espanola Fiesta Revue, a group of 16 girls who performed both folk and popular dances – not just the old varsoviana but examples of the rhumba and the conga.

The big Fandango dance at Seth Hall for Saturday night offered a “South of the Border” theme and Seth Hall was dressed as a jungle with greenery and exotic flowers, courtesy of Dorothy Stauffer and friends. Music and dancing, of course, but the highlight was a comedy sketch – all in rhyme – depicting Santa Fe in 1940 when the movie stars came for the premier of the movie, “The Santa Fe Trail.” Locals played celebrities like Errol Flynn, Rudy Vallee and Witter Bynner.

Hugo Zehner, chairman of the Hysterical Parade committee, had a brief scare. It seems the old Conestoga Wagon, a classic prairie schooner, was scheduled to head the parade but it ran into a problem while traveling over the original Santa Fe Trail. The wagon was being pulled by a team of oxen but the oxen died en route. No one knows why, exactly, but arrangements were made to ensure the Wagon arrived in Santa Fe in time to lead the parade, complete with a new team of oxen.

The weather was excellent for most the 1941 Fiesta – sunny and fair – but on Sunday night, high winds kicked in. For the candlelight procession, led by Archbishop Gerken, celebrants were forced to use tin cans and drinking cups in an effort to keep their candles lit, an effort which didn't work well at all. Very few lit candles made it all the up to the Cross of the Martyrs.

Are you waiting for the usual Fiesta crime round-up? Times were calmer back then. Oh, the usual drunks and auto accidents, but no violence at all. But I must report that some would-be safe crackers used the Fiesta hustle and bustle to cover a break-in at the Wood-Davis Hardware Store on Lincoln Avenue. They managed to enter the store, break off the handle on the safe but couldn't get it open. Not a dime was taken.

Oh, and one odd crime. The Dunklee family at 413 Camino de Las Animas was having a Fiesta picnic on their lawn on Sunday. In the afternoon, everyone in the family went back into the house to look at photographs. When they came back out, the picnic was gone – food, blankets and silverware. That's right, at the 1941 Fiesta, someone stole a picnic.

And that’s a look at Fiesta 1941. Que Viva La Fiesta!