1 9 6 1 - Night life & theatre in S.Paulo & Rio

1st January 1961 - night-club columnist Mary Wynne who writes Carrossel / Mary-Go-Round daily chooses her favourites on the 1st day of 1961:  Escolhi para homenagear toda turma do 'Sacizinho' desde sua instituição em 1957. Dentro de poucos dias, será iniciado o concurso para escolher os Melhores da Vida Noturna de S.Paulo em 1960. O 'comendador' Egas Muniz, nosso MC nas festas do Sacizinho; Vadeco-Odillon, melhor conjunto (1959); Leny Eversong, atração nacional (1957 e 1959); Maysa, atração nacional (1959); Edith Piaf, atração internacional 1957; Katina Ranieri, atração internacional 1958;  Mary Gonçalves, melhor cantora 1957 e 1958; Maria del Carmen, melhor cantora 1959; Nat King Cole, atração inter. 1959; Robledo, melhor conjunto 1957 e 1958; Almir Ribeiro, melhor cantor 1957; Caco Velho, melhor cantor (1958); Betinho, melhor musico 1957; Uccio Gaeta, melhor musico 1958; Manolo Rimbau, melhor 'chef' 1957; Paulinho Nogueira, melhor musico 1959; Fred Feld, melhor pianista 1957, 1958 e 1959; Hugo Santana, melhor cantor 1959; Fritz Behr, melhor 'maître de hotel' 1959; Carlo Ferrari, melhor 'chef' 1959; Francisco Ansanelli, melhor 'chef' 1958.

'Vadeco-Odillon' combo; front row from left to right: Rubinho (drums), Odilon (crooner plus afoché), Vadeco (piano), Sebastião Oliveira da Paz; back row: Sabá (double-bass), Cinderela (a singer who's not member of the ban) and Plinio Metropolo.

Odyr Odilon in a much earlier time (1940)

5 February 1961 - 'Radio & TV' columnist writes about Roberto Luna, Silveira Sampaio & musicals on TV.

26 February 1961 - São Paulo's Night Life Best Acts of 1960 as computed by Mary Wynne and her column 'Mary-Go-Round' at daily O Estado de S.Paulo (OESP). They all received a 'Sacizinho' a trophy that emulated 'Saci' - Brazilians's version of Hollywood's Academy Award that existed from 1950 until the 1970s.

1. best 1960 nacional attraction: Leny Eversong (Oasis, Golden Ball); the runner-ups were: Sylvio Caldas ( Capitain's); Antonio Carlos Jobim (Michel); Elza Soares (various) and Elizeth Cardoso (Captain's).

2. best 1960 international attraction: Georges Ulmer (Michel); the runner-ups were: Ella Fitzgerald (Michel); Jane Russell (Fasano); Julie London (Fasano) and Yvonne de Carlo (Michel)

26 February 1961 - Dick Farney's Bar-Restaurant at Pça. Roosevelt, 118 would host performances from foreign-acts that visited S.Paulo. This time Lonnie Sattin showed up on 1st March and Buddy Rich & his combo on 8 March 1961; at La Vie en Rose, Roberto Luna and Andyara Peixoto sang while her brother Araken  Peixoto played the piano; Moacyr Peixoto on the other hand played at Hotel Jaraguá's Studium; at Tabaris, Leila Silva, 1960's female revelation sang every night.

5 March 1961 - Theatre's best of 1960 - best play: Dias Gomes's 'O pagador de promessas'; best director: Flavio Rangel (Pagador); best actress: Nathalia Timberg;  best actor: Leonardo Vilar; supporting actress: Berta Zemel (Mãe coragem)... the list goes on and on.

                                    TBC - 5 March 1961                  Ricardo Bandeira - 26 March 1961.

                                                                                              

23rd April 1961 - playwright Gianfrancesco Guarnieri talks about 'A semente' (The seed) his new play and other subjects concerning the local theatre scene.

at Teatro Maria Della Costa -  Eva Wilma, Liana Duval & Mauro Mendonça in 'Sem entrada e sem mais nada'  - 23rd April 1961.

24 September 1961 - Jose Vasconcelos's 'No pais dos bilhetinhos' (In the country of the little message notes' became obsolete as of 25th August 1961 when the subject-matter of his comedy resigned from the Presidency of Brazil... Janio Quadros an idyosincratic politician who had had the biggest win in October 1961 ruled for only 8 months. He couldn't cope with the burden of being President and in an acoholic rage ended up resigning his post... no one tried to deter him. He had lost his friend in the Right and the Left wasn't on his side either.

18 November 1961 - 'Fatos & Fotos' magazine shows how mega-musical-revue 'Skindô' left Rio de Janeiro's high-society thunderstruck with the sheer number of dancers and singers at the Copacabana Palace's première in early November. Impresario Abraão Medina produced the revue which was created by Abelardo Figueiredo and directed by US choreographer Sonia Shaw. Actress Janet Leigh watched the revue too. 

31st December 1961 - 'Correio da Manhã' presents the best acts of 1961 who would receive the Euterpe Award bestowed by the City of Rio de Janeiro. Among the best were: 'Bibi Ferreira em pessoa' (most original album); Cyro Monteiro (sambista); clown Carequinha (most popular recording artist); Luiz Gonzaga (regional artist); Altamiro Carrilho (band); Miltinho (male pop singer); Jacob Bittencourt (instrumentist); Helena de Lima (female pop singer); Luiz Reis (song-writer of the year for 'Nossos momentos', 'Meu nome é ninguém', 'Palhaçada', 'Só vou de mulher' etc.; conductor Astor Silva (arranger). These acts were lauded for their special achievement during 1961: Maria Regina Cordovil for her outstanding 78 rpm single 'Carta a Papai Noel'; Tito Madi for his album 'Canção dos olhos tristes' (Columbia); Elza Laranjeira for her album 'Ternura' (RGE); song-writers Antonio Carlos Jobim & Vínicius de Moraes for the album 'Brasília, Sinfonia da Alvorada' (Columbia); Doris Monteiro for the album 'Dóris' (Philips) and Capiba for 'Sambas de Capiba' (Mocambo).