The following is a guest post by Stacey Jocoy, Music Reference Specialist. Special thanks to Dr. Lauryn Salazar, Associate Professor of Music, Tarleton State University, for sharing her expertise for this post.
The Good Neighbor Policy was the popular name for the Latin American foreign policy adopted by the President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in effect from 1933 to c.1945. This attempt to fight the forces of extreme ideological movements in Latin America was, however, problematic due to trust issues and negative cultural stereotypes on both sides of the U.S. southern border. To socially reinforce the new policy, Hollywood and American popular entertainment in general needed to rethink and alter these views. This called for a new approach to creative projects that would signal cultural cooperation to both Latin American and American audiences. This effort was aided to no small degree by Walt Disney, mariachi music, and “The Three Caballeros” (1944) film. To dig deeper into this history, Mariachi specialist and ethnomusicologist, Dr. Lauryn Salazar has offered some insights to the study of mariachi in the United States through an interview with the author.
During World War II, the newly created Office of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA) sought to control Axis propaganda through media. To this end, the Motion Picture Division, headed by John Hay Whitney, and the Music Division Committee, including Aaron Copland and Carleton Sprague Smith (Chief of New York Public Library’s Music Division) were tasked to work with American artists, musicians and filmmakers to increase sympathy between the Americas. Cultural tours, featuring figures such as Bing Crosby, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles, were organized to demonstrate American interest in Latin American culture and tourism. Additionally, animation was considered, due to Disney’s successes and the ability of animation to engage in rich sociocultural debate via an accessible medium. The OIAA encouraged Walt Disney to tour Latin America with his team, including composer, Chuck Wolcott.
Disney’s team was tasked with collecting imagery, cultural information and music. To this end, Wolcott worked with musicians, including performers and composers, across Mexico (and the rest of Latin America) to identify traditional music, folkloric pieces and popular works that could be translated into film music, starting with the film “Saludos Amigos” (1942). Salazar notes that they were, “looking to find characteristic regional works across Mexico.” During their travels they encountered Mexican songwriter Manuel Esperón and his already popular piece “Ay Jalisco no te rajes” with text by Ernesto Cortázar, a piece described by Dr. Salazar, as “a mariachi anthem.” Disney was interested in the piece and Salazar notes that Walt Disney called Cortázar directly to use the work in the next film project. This then, became the theme song for the Disney movie “The Three Caballeros” (1944), a cartoon version of the singing cowboy trope that had developed in Mexican film of the 1930s. Upon inspection of the full score, Salazar noticed that Esperón is credited throughout the score for “The Three Caballeros,” along with Disney composers Wolcott and Paul J. Smith. This is particularly significant in that his involvement was not limited to a single work but was instrumental in the film’s musical representation of mariachi and Mexico as a whole.
In portions of the movie that feature Mexico, the pistol-packing rooster, Panchito Pistoles introduces Donald Duck to the tradition of the piñata among other cultural adventures. Salazar explained that the fact that Panchito is a rooster reflects period gendered slang for powerful, leading men in Mexican cinema, like Cortázar. The traditional children’s song “La Piñata” is the basis for the multi-movement fantasy piece that rounds out the movie. Salazar noted that the piece was most likely collected during the Disney tour and that it employs a song-form also used in mariachi. The piece was expanded with the inclusion of other works including “Jesusita en Chihuahua” and “Jarabe Pateño,” realized by both Esperón and Disney composers.
Having worked as a cultural consultant to Disney/Pixar for the movie Coco (2017), Salazar emphasized that the involvement of Mexican composers, especially Esperón, highlighted authentic Mexican music and brought the sounds of urban mariachi to broader U.S. audiences for the first time. This early and appealing 1940s incorporation of mariachi, arranging existing Mexican music with the work of important Mexican composers, was innovative and showed an appreciation for the original musical source material, helping to shift some Americans’ perspectives of Mexico through a more wholesome, albeit “Disney-fied,” image. While this did not completely negate negative cultural stereotypes, and the movie is still a product of its time in history, it was at least a musical step toward being “good neighbors” from a Hollywood perspective.
For further information on music related to the “Good Neighbor” policy, especially related to popular media, please visit the Performing Arts Reading Room of the Library of Congress. For broader research on Mexico, consult the Hispanic Reading Room’s Mexico Country Guide. Read more about Disney film music in the Library’s collections.
The author interviewed Dr. Lauryn Salazar as part of research for this blog post.
March 21 marks the birthday of Benito Juárez, President of Mexico (1858-1872).