Paris and New York and Fresedo - Chapter 20: Fresedo in New York (1929-1930)

by José Manuel Araque

The morning of Wednesday September 25, 1929, New York Harbor was covered in fog so dense that the Captain of the Île de France had to call in the tugboats to reach the pier on West 15 Street. The ship sailed from Le Havre on September 18 carrying quite a few notables: the Crown Prince of Kapurthala was there, and came to meet his father in town; Gloria Swanson, the actress, was returning from London; and Ramón and Rosita, the famous Tango dancers, were coming back from their successful second tour of England and France with Osvaldo Fresedo and his musicians in tow.

The arrival of Fresedo in New York, his departure, and his stay were a tad mysterious. Fresedo gave some details to Oscar Zucchi in a well known interview, but until recently very little evidence was available. This is the story of the trip that changed Fresedo's Orchestra and possibly the History of Tango.

1. Preliminary: on Brunswick Records

Since going electric in 1925 Brunswick Records expanded significantly into the folk music repertoire in the US and abroad. Brunswick built a big recording studio in New York on the top floor of 799 7th Avenue (at 52nd Street). The studio was close to Times Square, the Broadway theater district and many Jazz clubs; the new Hotel Victoria opened on the corner of 51st Street in 1928.

In New York and since at least 1925, Louis Katzman

had been producing several Latin ensembles for Brunswick like The Floridians, The Castilians and Enric Madriguera’s Orchestra. In February 1929 Katzman was named director of the Brunswick Labs, and by June Brunswick and Katzman were betting big on Tango, opening a subsidiary in Buenos Aires that signed up big names like Julio de Caro and Edgardo Donato. But in April 1929, what Katzman was missing was an “anchor orchestra” for his multi-talented star Genaro Veiga.  

Genaro Veiga came to New York with José Bohr in late 1926, and sang for Juan Carlos Cobian’s Orchestra in their legendary Columbia recordings of January 1928. In June 1928, Cobian returned to Buenos Aires and in September Veiga started recording for Brunswick, registering 8 tracks with Don Alberto and Los Argentinos, and two Vitaphone shorts.

Watching the central portion of this video where the band plays Julio de Caro’s instrumental El malevo, one gets an idea of what American Tango musicians were like at the time: their sense of the rhythm/beat is somewhat off. Camilo Gatica has remarked that they seemed “stuck in the Habanera style”. Genaro himself seems out of place with his more forceful beat. On the other hand, Don Alberto was not even a pianist, he is watching his hands all the time. In the following months Veiga recorded more than 60 tracks with Cuban soprano Pilar Arcos, and with Enric Madriguera amongst others, but he did not record again with Don Alberto. Genaro did everything for Brunswick that year, he sang solo, he composed his own songs, he sang duos, and he was a good guitar player. The last session of Veiga with Madriguera took place on June 19, and then in July Madriguera went to Barcelona. 

In October 1928 (while Veiga was recording with Don Alberto) Fresedo left Buenos Aires for Paris, there were no signs that he intended to travel to New York. Don Alberto's real name was Luis Alberto Infantas Arancibia, and he was an Argentine violinist that played with Fresedo in 1920 in New York. Cobian and Fresedo were good friends and collaborators since 1918. Fresedo must have heard the news about Don Alberto and Veiga when Cobian returned to Buenos Aires, and Cobian and Don Alberto acted as the link between Fresedo and Katzman. Katzman then invited Fresedo to help Veiga and join Brunswick. Fresedo never had an actual contract from Odeon, as Max Glucksmann would simply sign artists on their word, and not on paper. When Glucksmann found out he was so upset he never re-printed Fresedo’s Odeon titles again, making it difficult for collectors today to find an important part of Fresedo’s discography.

2. Autumn in New York

Argentine Tango took Europe like a storm in the 1910s. But in the United States Tango was never as popular. Casimiro Aín, the famous Argentinian dancer, lived in New York from 1913 through 1918, and Celestino Ferrer dedicated a beautiful tango to him. Other dancers came and went from Argentina, but in general the Tango dancing couples that performed in the United States were locals, Americans.

In the 1920s New York was a very dynamic place. The Armistice of 1919 that ended World War I brought prosperity, and the transportation, recording and telecommunications industries boomed. As a result artistic life flourished, it was the Roarin’ 20s indeed. 

In New York, Tango was not danced in what we know today as a “Milonga” (a Tango dancing Club). Instead social dancing took place at ballrooms like the Roseland in Midtown, and the Savoy in Harlem; and at private and cabaret functions, benefits and social gatherings. Professional ballroom dancers saw Tango dancing as a straightforward extension of their skills. Some dances were held at places like the Ritz-Carlton, and the Roof Garden of the magnificent Astor Hotel in Times Square

On occasion an itinerant Argentine orchestra was in town, but from the news clippings of the era one gets a sense that the dancers were the draw of the show, and not the orchestras which were merely seen as “accompaniment". Maurice Mouvet and his wife Eleanora Ambrose invited the Canaros to join their show at Club Mirador in October 1926. Ramón and Rosita danced with Cobian's orchestra in New York in 1926, and in 1929 their career was still on the rise. On September 2 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Ramón and Rosita were coming back with an Argentine Orchestra that "has been a sensation in Paris this Summer". And on September 29, the Waco Tribune Herald hilariously reported that Rosita brought "Freceda" to the US.

Rosita and Ramón's second tour of Europe started in May 1929, and we think they met Fresedo at the Ambassadeurs in Paris. In July they were in London (until the 24th), and on August 19 they appeared in Biarritz. Medrano and Donna, the other American dancing couple that was friends with Fresedo, danced at the Ambassadeurs and in Biarritz in August too, but we don't have evidence that Fresedo toured France with any of them. Somehow Rosita picked up her trophy-orchestra in Le Havre and brought it to New York.

Just five days after their arrival, on Monday September 30, Fresedo entered the Brunswick studio with:

Bandoneons: Osvaldo Fresedo - Juan Salvatore - Eduardo Poyares?

Violins: Unknown - José Lorito - Juan Koller

Bass: Henri Figarol?

Piano: Otto Montenbruck

Singer: Genaro Veiga

In this session they recorded 4 tangos:

Date	Title	Label	Matrix	Disc	Singer	Genre	Music	Lyrics	Notes
1929-09-30	En la mala	Brunswick NYC	E30821	40965		Tango	Arturo. J. Bochatón
1929-09-30	En la mala	Brunswick NYC	E30822	41029	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Arturo. J. Bochatón		Con Ay Blas, que te equivocas! de Pilar Arcos
1929-09-30	Tengo miedo	Brunswick NYC	E30823	40986	Genaro Veiga	Tango	José María Aguilar	Celedonio Flores
1929-09-30	Te aconsejo que me olvides	Brunswick NYC	E30824	41053	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Pedro Mario Maffia	Jorge Curi

The lead violin of En la mala appears to be a formidable classical violinist (it's not Koller nor Lorito judging from Fresedo's 1928 recordings). It's possible that Horacio Zito, Hugo Mariani, Terig Tucci or Rafael Galindo filled the role.

The opening of the Trocadero (35 East 53rd Street) took place the next week on Friday October 4. The new Club occupied the location of the old Heigh-Ho Club where in 1928 Rudy Vallée was a sensation as the first crooner. The Crown Prince of Kapurthala Paramjit Singh was there, he was in Biarritz too; Chick Endor sang. Fresedo played for Ramón and Rosita, at the Trocadero and at the Casanova clubs, through January 11, 1930.

On October 13, 1929, Fresedo and his Argentine Orchestra (“that plays típicos”), were billed at The Palace, one of the most important Vaudeville theaters in town, located on Broadway in Times Square. They played the orchestral accompaniment for Ramón and Rosita’s show “The Virtuosi of Tango”. This is the first known Fresedo show in town, and there weren’t many. The review on The New York Times was positive but does not name Fresedo.

Fresedo, Ramón and Rosita moved to the Casanova Club (151 West 54th Street) on November 9, and this souvenir from no less than Edward Steichen (Vanity Fair, January 1930) is the evidence that Fresedo was there.

Another feature of music life in New York in the 1920s that you just could not miss was Jazz. Jazz was everywhere, on Broadway, on Radio, on the Movies, and on the dancing floors. Fresedo had visited New York in Summer 1920, and travelled to Camden, New Jersey, to record 50 tracks for Victor. He spent at least 10 days in one recording studio, while on another studio next door Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra were recording a fox trot, the classic Whispering.

The experience marked Fresedo, who spoke about it in his interview with Oscar Zucchi. In 1929 Fresedo must have been about town enjoying the big Jazz shows of the day, listening and learning the new wave. He was particularly curious about the orchestrations, the instruments, how they put it all together, how it sounded so different. On 52nd Street, a short walk from the Brunswick recording studios, he must have visited the very popular Onyx and 21 Clubs. In 1929 Duke Ellington's Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfield's Show Girl; Ben Pollack arrived in town with his star clarinet player Benny Goodman; Louis Armstrong made a splash at Fats Waller’s Hot Chocolates revue; and Rudy Vallée's movie The vagabond lover was a hit.

Fresedo must have witnessed on October 1st the demolition of the fabulous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on 5th Avenue at 34th Street, which paved the way for the engineering feat that gave the City the Empire State Building in 1930.

All of this was happening while Prohibition was in place. In the 1920s New York was "a gigantic playground, reaching its ecstatic peak in 1929" [Green & Laurie]. And then, on October 24 the Stock Market crashed.

The economic repercussions went far and wide around the World in the coming months: seeing that the bottom line was not meeting expectations, the parent company sold Brunswick Records to Warner in 1930. By 1932 only Brunswick Sudamericana was still recording in Buenos Aires, and the operations in New York had almost come to a halt. But we are getting ahead of our story.

3. At the onset of the 1930s

As the frigid Winter rapidly approached, Fresedo found himself back in the studio. On December 12 Fresedo recorded four tracks for Brunswick. A close inspection of the playing in this session points to a change in the pianist: on November 19 Sebastián Lombardo arrived from Buenos Aires and replaced Otto Montenbruck.

Also, Genaro Veiga brought in his friend Pilar Arcos to sing a duet.

1929-12-12	Tango azul (Blue Tango)	Brunswick NYC	E31592	40889		Tango	Cesare Augusto Ciociano		With The Castilians’ Ramoncito
1929-12-12	Tango azul (Blue Tango)	Brunswick NYC	E31593	40890	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Cesare Augusto Ciociano
1929-12-12	Entrada prohibida	Brunswick NYC	E31594	40892	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Luis Teisseire - Germán Teisseire
1929-12-12	Rajá del barrio	Brunswick NYC	E31595	40891	Genaro Veiga - Pilar Arcos	Tango	Arturo Vicente de Bassi - Pablo Suero

On December 16 the critic Mark Hellinger wrote on the Daily News about "The Top 10 Things I Liked Lately", and included "watching Rosita and Ramón at the Casanova Club", the show was successful. 

On December 21 a Gala was conducted in Town Hall to honor Joaquín Ortega, a renowned Flamenco teacher in town. The listing of artists present includes a few of Fresedo's friends, including Medrano and Donna, Rosita and Ramón, and José Moriche (friends with Cobian), so we think Fresedo was there too.

On December 26, Ben Bernie played at the Gala Opening of The Moon Ballroom on the Upper East Side, and the invite shows an “Argentina Típica Band” was also present. We posit that these were the Fresedo musicians sans Osvaldo, as the label “Argentine Típica” was not used by any other band in town at the time. Also, Ben Bernie was recording for Brunswick, and he was a hot ticket on WJZ Radio.

Similarly, on January 14, 1930, and for the next 4 weeks, the “Lombardo Argentine Típica Band” played on WPCH Radio.

On January 15, 1930, Fresedo once again went into the recording studio, but this time, uncharacteristically, he recorded only four instrumentals. Notably he recorded Fascination (Fascinación), a Tango by Louis Katzman (who used the pseudonym L. Medrano); and he premiered “Tango lindo” composed by Fresedo himself. Tango lindo starts with a dramatic, soaring introduction in D minor, and after a transition Fresedo introduces the main theme with his bandoneon in D major. This is followed by a variation on the main theme, and then by a novel modulation en mediant in G major. It’s evident that Fresedo loves this melody as he has the violins sing it in unison, it’s his Ode to the New Decade. Fresedo concludes with yet another variation of the main theme in D major where a violin whimsically improvises in a way that reminisces Jazz solos. As a composition Tango lindo is a landmark in Fresedo’s output, and presages his new style that is more melody driven, and which is best exemplified by his most popular composition Vida mía. Camilo Gatica points out that "it demonstrates a more inspired lyricism, first evident in his Sollozos and Aromas of 1922-23, but here it's more mature". After returning to Buenos Aires Fresedo renamed this piece “Tango mío”, and recorded it with Agustín Magaldi singing the lyrics by Emilio Fresedo.

Two days later, on January 17, Fresedo recorded two more tangos with Pilar Arcos.

1930-01-15	Queja melodiosa	Brunswick NYC	E31806	40947		Tango	José María Rizzuti
1930-01-15	Tango lindo	Brunswick NYC	E31807	41075		Tango	Osvaldo Fresedo		Changed name in 1931 to Tango mío
1930-01-15	Corazón, callate un poco	Brunswick NYC	E31808	41075		Tango	Armando Baliotti - César Ginzo	Eduardo Calvo
1930-01-15	Fascinación	Brunswick NYC	E31809	40947		Tango	Louis Katzman aka Luis Medrano
1930-01-17	Mamita mía	Brunswick NYC	E31810	40941	Pilar Arcos	Tango	Enrique Delfino	Alberto Vacarezza
1930-01-17	Mama, yo quiero un novio	Brunswick NYC	E31811	40941	Pilar Arcos	Tango	Ramón Collazo	Roberto Fontaina

On March 1 we find Fresedo delighting his compatriots of the Argentine Sporting Club of New York

And on March 13 we find a mysterious "Los Argentinos Argentine Orchestra" accompanying Pilar Arcos on a radio station in Pittsburgh.

 

4. Spring in New York

As Spring arrived on March 21, Luis Brighenti (piano), and Miguel Caló and Domingo Cuestas (bandoneons) boarded the Pan-America in Buenos Aires and headed for New York. They played for Fresedo in 1928 and apparently he asked them to come to appear at the revue "Moscow to Broadway" playing since February at the Moscow Art Club on 44th Street. They arrived on April 9, but the revue was a failure, Caló returned to Buenos Aires on June 6.

On March 25 Fresedo was reunited with his old friends Medrano and Donna (from the Ambassadeurs in Paris) on a show at the Main Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel. Since they returned from France, Medrano and Donna had been quite busy with previous engagements at the clubs Montmartre and Richman.

On March 30, and April 1st, Fresedo recorded four more tangos with Genaro Veiga:

1930-03-30	Has cambiado por completo	Brunswick NYC	E32155	[Melotone MS16069]	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Juan Carlos Cobian	Enrique Dizeo
1930-03-30	No me dejés!	Brunswick NYC	E32156	40986	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Julio Fava Pollero	Enrique Dizeo
1930-04-01	Cruz de palo	Brunswick NYC	E32477	41053	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri	Enrique Cadícamo
1930-04-01	Barrio viejo	Brunswick NYC	E32478	[Melotone MS16069]	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri

On April 3rd, we finally see Fresedo himself coming out as the leader of the Típica that had been playing in town for a while, and which now bore the sobriquet “Los Argentinos”. Pilar Arcos had been singing on WJZ’s show The Tango Romántico, and was instrumental in bringing Fresedo to the Radio, which got a glowing announcement on The New York Times listings as one of "10 Outstanding Events of the Week”.

One week later Fresedo played on WJZ Radio, but this time as accompaniment for Adolfo Utrera, a Cuban baritone and poet forever known for his composition “Aquellos ojos verdes”. This is the last time we hear from “Los Argentinos” or Fresedo in the New York Press in 1930.

Brunswick was sold to Warner in April 1930, Fresedo must have learned about this while in New York.

On May 15th Fresedo went into the Brunswick studios again. For the next two weeks he would go on a mad dash to, apparently, fulfill his obligations in New York and be done with it. We don't know who played with Fresedo in these session, or whether Caló, Cuestas or Brighenti were part of them.

1930-05-15	Serpentina doble	Brunswick NYC	E32491	40999	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Juan Bautista Rezzano		With Pilar Arcos’ Mama yo quiero de eso
1930-05-15	Flor de un día	Brunswick NYC	E32492	41157	Fortunio Bonanova	Tango	Pedro Datta	Francisco N. Bianco
1930-05-15	Madrecita mala	Brunswick NYC	E32493	41342	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Osvaldo Fresedo
1930-05-15	Prisionero	Brunswick NYC	E32494	41157	Fortunio Bonanova	Tango	Anselmo A. Aieta	Francisco García Jiménez
1930-05-23	Hermano	Brunswick NYC	E32507	41042	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Julio Fava Pollero	Enrique Dizeo
1930-05-23	Quiero que sufras	Brunswick NYC	E32508	41236	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Antonio Ruiz	Humberto Fernández
1930-05-23	Bandoneón arrabalero	Brunswick NYC	E32509	41042	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Juan Bautista Deambroggio “Bachicha”	Pascual Contursi
1930-05-23	El barbijo	Brunswick NYC	E32510	41236	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Andrés Domenech	Jesús Fernández Blanco
1930-05-27	Cuando tu me querías	Brunswick NYC	E32511	41045	Pilar Arcos	Tango	David Granadino
1930-05-27	Soy tuya	Brunswick NYC	E32512	41070	Pilar Arcos	Tango	Edgardo Donato		With Pilar Arcos’ Idilio eterno
1930-05-27	Vos también tenés tu historia	Brunswick NYC	E32513	41135	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Francisco Canaro	Juan A. Caruso
1930-05-27	Soy un arlequín	Brunswick NYC	E32514	41135	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Enrique Santos Discépolo

Curiously he recorded two tracks with Fortunio Bonanova, a Catalonian baritone and actor in town since at least 1925. Bonanova was good friends with Pilar Arcos.

5. Summer 1930

We don’t know exactly when Fresedo left New York. We also don’t know the reason for the news gap between May 27 and September 16, or where Fresedo went in Summer 1930, or who he went with. We have a theory, but lack evidence.

On September 16 Osvaldo Fresedo arrived in Buenos Aires on the Western Prince. Strangely, there is no record of entry for the musicians in his Orchestra. 

6. Epilogue: until we meet again!

On October 1st, Fresedo was acclaimed at the Metropol, in Buenos Aires, with

Bandoneon: Osvaldo Fresedo - Juan Salvatore

Violin: Manlio Francia - Juan Cruz Mateo - José Lorito

Double bass: Alfredo Corletto

Piano: Sebastián Lombardo

Singer: Roberto Díaz

Fresedo played at the Metropol until November 30, and then moved on to the Florida Dancing where he played to resounding success through the austral Summer season.

The story of Brunswick and Katzman and Fresedo is a classic story of market disruption. Brunswick changed the market for Tango by loosening the grip that Victor and Odeon had over Tango recording artists in the 1920s. To do this they must have had a lot of cash in hand. Artists and recording companies had always had uneasy arrangements, specially in the early days when there were no rules of the road in place in the nascent industry, in particular to protect the rights of the creators. The labels’ use of generic names for Orchestras, e.g. Orquesta Típica Victor, was a way to diminish the contribution of individual band leaders. Alas, Brunswick did not help here either, they funded their own Orquesta Típica Brunswick in Buenos Aires. But even after Brunswick went bankrupt the market did not go "back to 1928". The entire episode contributed to the conversation that turned to the creation of artists leagues like SADAIC.

New York changed Fresedo profoundly, his sense of the orchestra, his sense of the sound, his sense of the Tango was not the same after 1930. This would become evident in the 50 tracks he recorded for Brunswick in the next two years, but even more so on the new orchestra he created as he signed up with Victor again in 1933.

Notes

1. How may ways can you slice the Hispanic market in the USA? Louis Katzman must have pondered this question a lot with his “Floridians vs. Castilians”. In an apocryphal story Gardel said that “if he only got a single dollar from every Spanish-speaking person in the US [fill in the blanks]”. We know the rest of the story, this has been played out over and over in New York since then.

2. It's hard to understate the influence of Rudy Vallée's music on Fresedo: out of the 50 tracks Fresedo recorded for Brunswick Sudamericana in Buenos Aires from 1931 to 1932, 9 of them are Fox Trots, and 6 of those are Rudy's numbers. Vallée was also an acquaintance of  Juan Carlos Cobian, and recorded a Tango by Cobian. While Fresedo was in New York, the crooner held court at Villa Vallée on East 60th Street.

3. Here's a playlist in YouTube with some tracks from Orquesta Típica de Madriguera playing Tangos in Summer 1929 with Genaro Veiga. The tracks of July 30 do not credit any director, Enric Madriguera was not there anymore. Who ran the show that day in the studio, Genaro himself?

4. Out of the 30 tracks that Fresedo recorded in New York, as many as 8 are truly hard or impossible to find. Any information regarding these tracks will bring joy to our ears:

Date	Title	Label	Matrix	Disc	Singer	Genre	Music	Lyrics	Notes
1929-09-07	Tengo miedo	Brunswick NYC	E30823	40986	Genaro Veiga	Tango	José María Aguilar	Celedonio Flores
1929-12-12	Tango azul (Blue Tango)	Brunswick NYC	E31592	40889		Tango	Cesare Augusto Ciociano		Con Ramoncito de Los Castilians (instrumental)
1930-01-15	Corazón, callate un poco	Brunswick NYC	E31808	41075		Tango	Armando Baliotti - César Ginzo	Eduardo Calvo
1930-03-30	Has cambiado por completo	Brunswick NYC	E32155	[Melotone MS16069]	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Juan Carlos Cobian	Enrique Dizeo
1930-04-01	Barrio viejo	Brunswick NYC	E32478	[Melotone MS16069]	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri
1930-05-15	Serpentina doble	Brunswick NYC	E32491	40999	Genaro Veiga	Tango	Juan Bautista Rezzano		Con Mama yo quiero de eso de Pilar Arcos
1930-05-15	Flor de un día	Brunswick NYC	E32492	41157	Fortunio Bonanova	Tango	Pedro Datta	Francisco N. Bianco
1930-05-27	Soy tuya	Brunswick NYC	E32512	41070	Pilar Arcos	Tango	Edgardo Donato		Con Idilio eterno de Pilar Arcos

 

Acknowledgements

1. Total thanks to Camilo Gatica for listening, advising, and his encyclopedic knowledge.

2. Pablo Darío Taboada contributed to this story.

3. Fabio Daniel Cernuda for the Veiga version of En la mala.

4. Maestro Emmanuel Arias Luna in Mexico, Luiz Pareja in Arequipa, Richard Markowitz in NYC, Iván Araque, and many others who helped in tidying up the loose ends.

5. Mark John

6. Lola ❤️

Dedicatory

To my beloved Camila, always on my mind.

Bibliography

1. Ross Laird's "Brunswick Records: A discography of recordings, 1916-1931” (Greenwood Press, 2001) is a monumental and invaluable resource.

    https://books.google.com/books/about/Brunswick_Records.html?id=GAerQSlFjPgC

2. The University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB) has created the “Discography of American Historical Recordings” as a searchable website that includes Laird’s work, and other material

    https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/resources/detail/191

3. The Strachwitz Frontera Collection has recently digitized and published a huge stash of Brunswick recordings from the Louis Katzman days.

    http://frontera.library.ucla.edu

    https://www.youtube.com/c/fronteracollection

4. Michael Katzman wrote an awesome paper on Louis Katzman for the 2013 Conference of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections

    http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference/audio/ARSC_conf_2013_Katzman_slides.pptx

5. Abel Green and Joe Laurie Jr.’s “Show Biz: from Vaude to Video” is an incredible book published in 1951 on the history of (what else?) Showbiz in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century.

    https://www.amazon.com/Show-Biz-Variety-Vaude-Video/dp/B01N2P3NMT

6. Nick & Melissa Enge have written an extensive study of how tango was danced in the 1910s in America. It includes a trove of video demonstrations.

    https://www.libraryofdance.org/dances/early-tango

7. Ted Gioia wrote about the boom of Jazz in New York for The Observer
    https://observer.com/2016/09/how-new-york-city-became-the-epicenter-of-jazz

8. The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation has a database of passengers arriving in New York during the last great age of maritime travel

    https://heritage.statueofliberty.org