This one-hour TV drama from the Golden Age reflects a vanished era. I often feel like the only human who saw this particular offering of Studio One, which was one of many weekly (sometimes live) TV drama series in the 50s. Here's how I remember the incredibly arcane plot. There is an elderly washed-up Spanish virtuoso of the CLASSICAL guitar who lives with his daughter. Rock-like, he remains true to the ideals of his art, the CLASSICAL guitar. Well, Lopez, owner of Cafe Lopez, wants this old guy to play FLAMENCO guitar at his nightclub. (It is crucial to understand not the details of exactly what CLASSICAL and FLAMENCO guitar are, just that there is a distinction, with FLAMENCO to be regarded as a lower art.) What a dilemma! Should a CLASSICAL guitar virtuoso degrade himself playing FLAMENCO just to make money (and I believe it can help his daughter's prospects somehow)? His supportive daughter (a good actress as I recall) agonizes along with him. I'll "spoiler" this, because--who is ever going to see a 1957 black-and-white Studio One episode? The old guy submits and is at the brink of playing FLAMENCO at the nightclub, further humiliated by having to wear an ill- fitting bolero jacket. Then, as the hushed audience waits for the first notes, he declares: "NO, I will play de classical guitar!" Lopez is enraged, but what the heck, integrity wins and I forget how it ends.
Can anyone believe the level of cultural expectation mainstream TV had in the 50s? Guitar buffs can have an interest in this esoteric topic. The great flamenco virtuoso Carlos Montoya has a part in the drama, and it's probably his hands shown in the flamenco playing. I believe the classical player is Rey de la Torre (IMDB has "Roy de la Torre"). The plot of this show is very similar to the famous Playhouse 90 "Requiem for a Heavyweight," from a year earlier—there it was a boxer reluctant to humiliate himself by sinking to wrestling. But my gosh! Classical vs. Flamenco guitar! I'd be curious if some other old geezer saw this melodrama 56 years ago. This was mainstream TV, and in America, not Mars!
Can anyone believe the level of cultural expectation mainstream TV had in the 50s? Guitar buffs can have an interest in this esoteric topic. The great flamenco virtuoso Carlos Montoya has a part in the drama, and it's probably his hands shown in the flamenco playing. I believe the classical player is Rey de la Torre (IMDB has "Roy de la Torre"). The plot of this show is very similar to the famous Playhouse 90 "Requiem for a Heavyweight," from a year earlier—there it was a boxer reluctant to humiliate himself by sinking to wrestling. But my gosh! Classical vs. Flamenco guitar! I'd be curious if some other old geezer saw this melodrama 56 years ago. This was mainstream TV, and in America, not Mars!
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