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Edgar J. Anzola

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Anzola and the second or maternal family name is Anzola.
Edgar J. Anzola
Anzola repairing a Model T in 1914
Born
Edgar Jaín Anzola Anzola

(1893-03-27)27 March 1893
Villa de Cura, Aragua, Venezuela
Died14 December 1981(1981-12-14) (aged 88)
Years active1918-1970
Known forPioneer in many industries
Honours Order of Francisco de Miranda (Commander)

Edgar Jaín Anzola (27 March 1893, Villa de Cura — 14 December 1981, Caracas)[1][notes 1] was a Venezuelan pioneering engineer, filmmaker, radio broadcaster, writer, journalist and cartoonist. He is credited with several firsts: bringing the first automobile to Venezuela; engineering Venezuela's first aeroplane flight; starring in Venezuela's first feature film; starting Venezuela's first commercial radio station; and producing Venezuela's first scientific documentary. His son, filmmaker Alfredo Anzola, created the 1993 film El misterio de los ojos escarlata about his father's life.

For services to Venezuela, he was made a Commander of the Order of Francisco de Miranda at the age of 70.[2][notes 1]

Early life

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Anzola was the son of lawyer and writer Juvenal Anzola,[1] and was registered in Chacao Municipality for much of his life.[3] He had one brother, César Virgilio, who did not become a writer like his family and was instead a successful dentist.[2] After working in the United States, Edgar Anzola returned to Venezuela in 1911.[4]

Engineering

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Anzola was sent to Detroit,[5] in the United States, by William Henry Phelps at the age of sixteen to train as a car mechanic, specializing in Ford Model T automobiles.[1][6][notes 1] From his work, he introduced Ford cars to Venezuela:[1] he brought the first automobiles to the country, and then toured various cities in his own Ford to market them.[7]

In 1912, he helped with the first airplane flight in Venezuela, of the plane "Sin Cola" flown by Frank Boland, an opportunity he says was only given him because of his engineering background and English skills.[citation needed] During the first flight, on 6 October 1912, he followed the path of the plane on motorcycle. The route was from El Paraíso to Antímano. He worked as an engineer and translator for all three plane builds for Boland in Venezuela, one of which was a hydroplane; for this, he is considered Venezuela's first aeronautical engineer.[8]

Cinema

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In 1913 he participated in the production of the silent film La dama de las cayenas by Lucas Manzano and Enrique Zimmerman.[1] In 1924 he founded the production company Triunfo Films with Jacobo Capriles,[9] the pair producing the feature films La trepadora and Amor, tú eres la vida.[1] Triunfo Films was dissolved in 1928, but Anzola would go on to found two other production companies: Anzola Film (1929-1935) and Estudios Ávila (1938-1942).[2] In 1932 he worked on the feature film Corazón de mujer, with director José Fernández and cinematographer Juanito Martínez Pozueta.[1]

After working in the US again in the late 1930s, he returned to Venezuela to work in the Laboratorios Nacionales with other film pioneers in the development of sound and color film.[1]

The Centro Nacional Autónomo de Cinematografía have published a book about Anzola.[10]

Radio

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When studying and working in the United States, Anzola acquired a knowledge of electronics, which allowed him to start the radio station One Broadcasting Caracas (later Radio Caracas), first broadcasting in 1930. He brought one of the first phonographs to Venezuela.[1] In addition, he was active on the radio as an actor, as well as writing many scripted shows.[1] In 1937 he traveled back to the US, where he was Deputy Managing Director of RCA Victor and appeared as an anchor on Spanish-language radio.[1]

A documentary about his life was compiled by his son, Alfredo Anzola, in 1993, called El misterio de los ojos escarlata.[1] The documentary is titled after a lost "radionovela" of the same name written by Alfredo Cortina[11] and produced by Edgar Anzola.[12]

Anzola has also helped write music, included on a record released in 1966.[13]

Other work

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A lot of Anzola's work was writing stories and plays. He was also a contributor to the magazines and newspapers Élite, Billiken, Ahora, El Nacional and La Esfera, and occasionally publishing cartoons in the weekly magazine Fantoches.[1] In 1924 he had a stint as a field camera man for Fox News.[2] He had also been on the Board of Directors of a golf association in Vargas in 1951.[14]

Anzola was a member of Rotary International, serving on the Vocational Services committee in 1961-62[15]:55 and 1964–65,[16]:59 the Service to Youth committee in 1963–64,[17]:54 and the Interact committee in 1965–66.[18]:62 He was once the District Governor of Rotary International in Caracas.[19]:21

He was on the Foreign Advisory Committee of the World Calendar Association.[20]

Personal life

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Anzola's son, Alfredo Anzola, was born to Margot Golding.[21]

In a Rotary International writing competition, about the "book that changed me most", Anzola wrote on William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru, earning an honorable mention.[19]

Anzola travelled around the Americas and Europe, and spoke Spanish, French, and English fluently, having some competency in Portuguese and Italian.[2]

List of works

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Year Work Role Notes
1913 La Dama de la Cayenas actor first Venezuelan feature film production[22]
1921 El tripanosoma venezolano producer first Venezuelan scientific documentary; with Capriles and Juan Iturbe[9]
1924 El hombre de la llanura performer, writer radio[23][24]
1924 El italiano y los zancudos performer, writer radio[23][24]
1924 La Trepadora director, producer, actor feature film; with Capriles; based on novel by Rómulo Gallegos; 73 minutes
1925 Carnaval en Caracas director, producer short film; with Capriles
1925 La visita del General Pershing director, producer film; with Capriles; 25 minutes
1925 El Dique De Petaquire director film; with Capriles; 30 minutes
1926 Amor, Tu Eres La Vida director, producer, editor feature film; with Capriles; 35 mm black-and-white; 75 minutes
1927 En los llanos de Venezuela director film; with Capriles; American production (Rockefeller Foundation); 35 minutes
1928 El Turco apasionado performer, writer radio[23][24]
1928 Fritz enamorado performer, writer radio[23][24]
1928 El hombre de la llanura performer, writer radio; remake of own work[23][24]
1928 El borracho writer radio; performed by Rafael Guinand[24]
1928 El novio de Petronila writer radio; performed by Guinand[24]
1928 El Ciclo Vital Del Schistosoma Manzoni director, producer film; 40 minutes
1928 Reverón director film; about Armando Reverón; 30 minutes
1930 Palo e discurso writer radio; performed by Guinand[24]
1930 Discurso de Dr. Nigüin writer radio[25]
1930 El pulpero bregador performer, writer radio[23][24]
1930 Los arrieros performer, writer[24] radio; performed with Guinand[23]
1930 En familia performer, writer[24] radio; performed with Guinand[23]
1930 Fritz en la estación performer, writer[24] radio; performed with Guinand[23]
1930 Viaje A Riviera director film; 30 minutes
1932 Corazón de mujer producer, writer feature film; based on story by Anzola; 35 mm black-and-white; 95 minutes
1934 Cerebro mágico performer radio[23]
1934 Cerebro mágico performer radio[23]
1936 La Voz Mágica performer radio[23]
1936 La Voz Mágica performer radio[23]
1966 Canta, Canta, Llanerito writer, performer music[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c The Carlos Manuel Delgado Díaz article gives Anzola's birth year as 1894, and his age at leaving for the United States as 17 (page 4). Most other sources give 1893 and 16. Anzola is understood to have returned to Venezuela in 1911; if he were born in 1894 and been 17 as in Delgado Díaz, he would have left Venezuela in 1911. The alternative birth year may affect the assertion of age for his Order award, if it has been calculated by Delgado Díaz from years.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Edgar J. Anzola Biography". Venezuela Tuya. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Delgado Díaz, Carlos Manuel (2016). "Productions Triunfo Film: The silent cinema in Caracas, 1924-1928" (PDF). History and Space (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Anzola Anzola Edgar Jain - Edo. Miranda - Venezuela". www.dateas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Museo: Mujeres al volante. El automóvil y Los Caobos". Museo del Transporte de Caracas. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Museo: Labor social en el Museo". Museo del Transporte de Caracas. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Museo: LOS CARROS MAS QUERIDOS DE VENEZUELA". Museo del Transporte de Caracas. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Febrero". Rieles y neblinas... (in European Spanish). 19 February 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Museo: Fechas para recordar". Museo del Transporte de Caracas. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  9. ^ a b "VENEZUELA in "Enciclopedia del Cinema"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  10. ^ "RettaLibros". www.rettalibros.com. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  11. ^ "06 de Junio|Día de la radiodifusión: casi un siglo de historias en el dial". Globovisión. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ^ Paul Lenti (2 August 1993). "El Misterio de Los Ojos Escarlata Review". Variety. Retrieved 21 July 2019. Note: The Variety article implies that Anzola was only interested in cars, an assertion made after only looking at the photograph evidence in the film.
  13. ^ a b "Edgar J. Anzola". Discogs. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Junta Directiva (1951)". www.junkogolf.com. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. ^ "The Rotarian". The Rotarian. 119 (3). September 1961. ISSN 0035-838X.
  16. ^ "The Rotarian". The Rotarian. 105 (3). September 1964. ISSN 0035-838X.
  17. ^ "The Rotarian". The Rotarian. 103 (3). September 1963. ISSN 0035-838X.
  18. ^ "The Rotarian". The Rotarian. 107 (3). September 1965. ISSN 0035-838X.
  19. ^ a b "The Rotarian". The Rotarian. 98 (5). May 1961. ISSN 0035-838X.
  20. ^ "Letter from E. Achelis noting Helen Keller being named on a list of significant women. May 9, 1941". www.afb.org. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  21. ^ "Hoja del grupo familiar de Edgar Anzola Anzola / Margot Golding López (F20220)". www.sologenealogia.com.
  22. ^ Vieitez, jlv Jose. "LARGOMETRAJES MUDOS (1897 a 1936) – Visor" (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Edgar J. Anzola (speaker) - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Edgar J. Anzola (author) - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  25. ^ "Aquellos Humoristas, Sembrador de Sonrisas". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 21 July 2019. The track is included on a compilation record of Guinand's selections, and is credited on the sleeve to Anzola, visible here
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