Background
Manela was the only daughter of Spanish immigrants. Her father was the owner of a guesthouse in Havana but lost the business during the depression of the 1930s.
Manela was the only daughter of Spanish immigrants. Her father was the owner of a guesthouse in Havana but lost the business during the depression of the 1930s.
She later became a household name in Puerto Rico during the 70s as she became part of the cast in the show Los Garcia, a show considered by many to be among the best comedy shows in Puerto Rican television history. After finishing her basic education, at age 20, Manela embarked to pursue her desire in making a living in the entertainment world. After finishing her studies in a school of performing arts she worked on a theatre company that did tours around Latin America and in the Cuban radio station CMQ, as singer and story narrator.
As Cuba became the first country in Latin America to have television, CMQ extended to television broadcasting, in which Manela also worked performing several minor characters and commercials.
Cachucha y Ramón
Manela became a famous television star in the mid-1950s with her character of “Cachucha” in the television comedy “Cachucha y Ramon” together with co-star, Idalberto Delgado as “Ramon”. The show (mostly live), originally produced by Francisco Vergara and sponsored by Uncle Ben’s rice, grew in popularity from the mid 50’s to the mid 60’s, to such a point that a doll of the Cachucha character was made, something pretty new at the time.
In a trip to New York Manela appeared in a Garry Moore show, as his show was also sponsored by Uncle Ben’s rice. lieutenant is known that a copy of the show, its same title, and characters was done in Venezuela at the same time the original show was still running in Cuba.
This second copy attempts by Vergara failed.
Mainly because huge part of the original show’s success was attributed to the original actor’s own creation and interpretation of their characters, as well as their chemistry, which was something not emulated on the second versions. Idalberto’s natural acting and Manela’s ability to speak super fast (yet understandable) in times of tension, were abilities of their own. The show ended when Manela Bustamante went empty handed into exile with her family.
After leaving Cuba in 1971, she lived in Spain for 3 years, and moved to Puerto Rico in 1974.
In Puerto Rico, Manela Bustamante became “Doña Tony” in the popular television show “Los Garcia”, produced by Tommy Muñiz. She also did several commercials as well as a small role in the 1988 soap opera “Avenue de Paso.”
Her last television appearance was in 2004 as a special guest in a one-hour tribute to “Los Garcia”.
After Cuba fell to communism in 1959, Francisco Vergara left Cuba immediately and tried to sell the idea of the show to other Latin American countries.