Now, here\u2019s Bag\u00fcez\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
Copy boy turned star<\/p>\n
He was born in Juarez in 1904 and came to this country in 1921. Bag\u00fcez\u2019s first jobs for The Times were as a copy boy and a singer in the paper\u2019s monthly radio variety show on KHJ (and I thought appearing in our videos reels was intimidating). Singing classic and contemporary songs in English and Spanish, his voice was so stirring that an Aug. 12, 1926, Times story revealed that colleagues in the art department took up a collection to gift him singing lessons.<\/p>\n
By then, Bag\u00fcez was establishing himself as an illustrator in the paper\u2019s pages. His main beats would become sports, entertainment and the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine. His style varied \u2014 Pee-Chee folder-style illustrations that spanned the length of the front page of the sports section, sketches in charcoal of Hollywood stars like Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, even Art Deco-style flights of geometric fancy. When World War II came, Bag\u00fcez drew caricatures of Hitler and Stalin and even maps of Axis advancements across Europe. He signed all of his illustrations with an umlaut over the U in his last name, a grammatical courtesy not offered to him by The Times typesetters, who went with \u201cBaguez\u201d in his byline.<\/p>\n
When he wasn\u2019t drawing, Bag\u00fcez was interpreting for Times reporters and penning Spanish-language film and music reviews. His importance to the paper was such that he was listed as one of The Times\u2019 stars in a Dec. 3, 1928, ad in the Pasadena Post urging readers to subscribe to this paper \u2014 the only Latino staffer afforded the honor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A 1941 illustration of author Booth Tarkington drawn by Salvador Bag\u00fcez.<\/p>\n
(Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
The last mention I could find of him as a Times employee came in the May 17, 1943, edition of \u201cLee\u2019s Side o\u2019 L.A.,\u201d in which longtime columnist Lee Shippey mocked people who expressed sympathy for pachucos, the Mexican American men who were increasingly being assaulted by white servicemen in a series of attacks that culminated in the Zoot Suit Riots just a few weeks later<\/a>. Shippey cited Bag\u00fcez and fellow Times artist Perez as Mexicans done good, writing, \u201cBoth worked up to enviable reputations because they were thoroughly good men as well as good workmen … gangsters go to jail, good citizens do well. Pick out the right examples, boys.\u201d<\/p>\n I wonder if that tokenism is what La Opini\u00f3n sports editor Rodolfo B. Garcia was referring to in a 1979 Bag\u00fcez appreciation when he said the artist left The Times at the height of his fame because he didn\u2019t like how a Times editor \u201ccalled his attention.\u201d<\/p>\n One person who knew Bag\u00fcez well was Hall of Fame Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarr\u00edn<\/a>. His first radio job, for KWKW in 1955, was as Bag\u00fcez\u2019s replacement after the latter quit the station for a movie gig. The two would dine before games at Dodger Stadium \u2014 \u201cfull meals, not the hot dogs they give reporters now\u201d \u2014 once Jarr\u00edn became the team\u2019s Spanish-language broadcaster and Bag\u00fcez covered them for La Opin\u00edon from 1960 to about 1970.<\/p>\n \u201cI held him in high regard because he was always so calm and respectful,\u201d Jarr\u00edn told me. \u201cSalvador had the soul of an artist and a beautiful voice \u2014 he spoke marvelous Spanish and perfect English.\u201d<\/p>\n Don Jaime remembers weekend trips to Tijuana with Bag\u00fcez and some of his Hollywood friends, legends like Anthony Quinn, Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland. He also laughed during our short conversation at the fact Bag\u00fcez never referred to the Blue Crew as the Dodgers but rather \u201cLos Esquivadores\u201d \u2014 the literal translation of \u201cdodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n But Jarr\u00edn, as much as he hung out with Bag\u00fcez, said there was always something inscrutable about his friend: \u201cSalvador was a very private man. Never talked about his personal life, never even talked about whether he was married.\u201d<\/p>\n Bag\u00fcez died in 1979 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles alongside his mother. Garcia, the La Opini\u00f3n sports editor, praised Bag\u00fcez in his remembrance as the \u201ccleanest writer\u201d he ever edited. <\/p>\n \u201cRest in piece, the Juarez native who triumphed in the United States as artist, reporter and announcer,\u201d Garcia concluded. \u201cAnother of the old guard that has crossed over the path that waits for us all, late or early.\u201d<\/p>\n This morning\u2019s must readMore great readsFor your weekend (Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Jenny Anderson \/ Disney via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inA question for you: What\u2019s your favorite California beach?<\/p>\n Diane Miller<\/b> writes: \u201cAvila Beach in San Luis Obispo, Calif.\u201d<\/p>\n Jocelyn Harrison<\/b> writes: \u201cZuma Beach!\u201d<\/p>\n Robert Benowitz<\/b> writes: \u201cCorona del Mar is my favorite California Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team<\/b><\/p>\n Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor<\/p>\n How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the record:<\/b> Yesterday\u2019s newsletter incorrectly stated the name of a reader\u2019s favorite California beach. Jot McDonald\u2019s favorite beach is Asilomar Beach, not Ancillary Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are multi-talents, and then there was Salvador Bag\u00fcez. Hollywood used him as a bit actor in 1950s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[7830,7828,1582,276,7832,7824,7823,4140,6123,6772,7826,2961,224,2444,5337,2295,7825,5812,7829,7831,2501,527,7827],"class_list":{"0":"post-63463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-autopilot","9":"tag-black-bears","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-convictions","13":"tag-coronavirus","14":"tag-covid","15":"tag-covid-19","16":"tag-driver","17":"tag-drought","18":"tag-essential-california-week","19":"tag-la","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-times","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-newsletter","24":"tag-pandemic","25":"tag-search","26":"tag-tesla","27":"tag-thousands","28":"tag-ucla","29":"tag-water","30":"tag-years"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114848595037542544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/a> <\/p>\n