Azucena Maizani (17 November 1902 – 15 January 1970) was an Argentine tango singer, composer and actress who was born in Buenos Aires on November 17, 1902 and died in the same city on January 15, 1970. She was discovered in 1920 by Francisco Canaro and quickly emerged as a major star. Her frequent appearances on stage and radio made her the female counterpart of Carlos Gardel although she did not enjoy as successful a film career as he did, appearing in a handful of films including Buenos Aires Sings (1947). During many years she gave performances dressed with men's suits or criollo cowboy attire for which she was known by the nickname "Funny-face Cowgirl", given to her by Libertad Lamarque in 1935.
Early years
She lived in the Palermo neighborhood until she was five in which, because it seemed that she had health problems and her parents were very poor, she was taken by some family members to live on Martín García island. On that island located in the middle of the Río de la Plata river, halfway between Argentina and Uruguay, she completed her grade school education and at 17, returned to Buenos Aires and began working as a seamstress in a shirt factory and in a fashion house. She liked singing and, according to Canaro, one night she went to Pigall where he acted and she convinced him to let her sing two tangos in public with his orchestra. If she did not get a job through this, it must have strengthened her in her artistic career, which began in 1922 in which she began as a chorus girl in the brothers César and Pepe Ratti's company which was putting on the piece, El bailarín del cabaret (The Cabaret Dancer) in the Apolo Theater, starring the singer Ignacio Corsini.
Beginnings as a singer
At a family party that she went to with Delia Rodríguez, who at that moment was a well-known singer, she met Enrique Pedro Delfino accompanying everyone who wanted to sing on the piano. Maizani sang and left such an impression that the pianist introduced her to the theater business owner Pascual Carcavallo who in turn heard her and hired her. She debuted in the National Theater on July 27, 1923 with the comical sketch "A mí no me hablen de penas" (Don't tell me about your troubles) by Alberto Vacarezza. It did not have a lyric, she just sang the tango "Padre nuestro" (Our Father) composed especially for her by Delfino and Vacarezza. She was accompanied by the Salvador Merino orchestra and performed with such success that gave five repeated premiere public performances.
She continued in the theater and at the same time began to work in radio and record albums. One example of her success is that she was paid 200 pesos a month for her theater debut and she began to earn the same amount in radio but for each recording. In the summer she joined the brothers Leopoldo y Tomás Simari company in the Smart Theater with the piece "Ma-chi-fu" by César Bourell and in 1924 she worked on "Cristóbal Colón en la Facultad de Medicina" (Christopher Columbus in the Medical School) with Florencio Parravicini, famous for the ad-libs ("morcillas" (blood sausage) in theater jargon of the time) that he introduced and varied in each performance. That season, Maizani debuted pieces by José Bohr, "Pero hay una melena" and "Cascabel cascabelito", and began to record with the Francisco Canaro orchestra.
In 1925 she worked in the San Martín theater in the company headed by Héctor and Camila Quiroga, premiering two tangos that later became popular "Silbando" (Whistling) and "Organito de la tarde" (Little Organ in the Afternoon). She continued in 1926 at the same theater with Elías Alippi and at the Hipodrome theater located at Corrientes y Carlos Pellegrini Streets. During 1927 she acted in the Porteño theater, and some of her hits were her performances as "Pato" (Duck), "Amigazo" (Buddy) and "Esta noche me emborracho" (Tonight I'm Getting Drunk).
In 1928 she was hired by Radio Prieto, an important radio station in Buenos Aires. She spent that season at the Maipo Theater. The next year she gave performances in Montevideo y gave her first film performance in the silent film La modelo de la calle Florida (The Florida Street Model), directed by Julio Irigoyen.