Consuelo Portela Audet (1885–1959), commonly called La Bella Chelito and La Chelito, was a Cuban-born Spanish

cuplé The cuplé was a popular risqué Spanish theatre song style in the late years of the 19th century. From 1893–1911 the songs were a feature of the "género ínfimo" (lowest type) cabaret theatre sung by solo female singers, or men in drag, and a ...

singer from the early 20th-century, and a theater business owner. She was a pioneer in the genre of picaresque cuplé.

Biography

She was born in

Placetas Placetas () is a city in the Villa Clara Province in the center of Cuba; before the change in the country's government in 1959 the province was called Las Villas. The town is also known as ''La Villa de los Laureles'' because of its wild laurel tr ...

, Las Villas, Cuba, to Spanish parents Antonia Audet and Isidro Portella. Her father was the captain of the Civil Guard in Cuba. She started singing at the age of 14, while living in Cuba and performed at the Payret, Molino Rojo and Alhambra theaters. She had critics including clergy, who labeled her as “libidinous satan” in

Diario de la Marina ''Diario de la Marina'' was a newspaper published in Cuba, founded by Don Nicolás Rivero in 1832. ''Diario de la Marina'' was Cuba’s longest-running newspaper and the one with the highest circulation. Its roots went back to 1813 with ''El Luc ...

, the Cuban newspaper. In 1910, her family returned to Spain. She performed mostly in the theaters in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. In 1915, an erotic novel about the life of Chelito was written by Joaquín Belda in the work "La Coquito"; which was later made into a 1977 film of the same name, released in Spain. Her only film appearance was in the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

''El Conde Maravillas'' (1927) by

José Buchs José Buchs (1896–1973) was a screenwriter and film director.de España p.42 Selected filmography * '' The Moorish Queen'' (1922) * '' Poor Valbuena'' (1923) * '' Diego Corrientes'' (1924) * '' The Grandfather'' (1925) * ''A Famous Gentleman ' ...

. After she retired from stage in 1928, she built and managed the

Muñoz Seca Theater The Muñoz Seca Theater (''Teatro Muñoz Seca'') is a theater in Madrid, Spain. The theater is named after playwright Pedro Muñoz Seca. During the Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Repu ...

in Plaza del Carmen,

in 1930. She also owned and managed the Salón Madrid; the Hall Encomienda, which became, after a reform, the Teatro Nuevo; and the Kursaal that she acquired in 1919 and renamed the Chanteclair. Other notable "Queens of cuplé" were

La Fornarina The ''Portrait of a Young Woman'' (also known as ''La fornarina'') is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael, made between 1518 and 1519. It is in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Rome. It is proba ...

and

Raquel Meller Francisca Romana Marqués López (9 March 1888 – 26 July 1962), better known as Raquel Meller, was a Spanish diseuse, cuplé, and tonadilla singer and actress. She was an international star in the 1920s and 1930s, appearing in several films a ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Portela Audet, Consuelo 1885 births 1959 deaths Singers from Madrid 20th-century Spanish women singers 20th-century Spanish singers Spanish silent film actresses Cupletistas Burials at Cementerio de la Almudena People from Placetas Spanish people in Spanish Cuba