Realidades; La Carreta
- Series
- Realidades
- Episode
- La Carreta
- Producing Organization
- WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/516-vm42r3q38k
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- Description
- Episode Description
- "La Carreta" ("The Ox Cart") was the premier of WNET's bilingual Puerto Rican/Latin American program series "Realidades". The episode includes an adaptation of the original highly-acclaimed drama by Puerto Rican novelist/playwright Rene Marques and follows through with a series of impressions on the socioeconomic conditions encountered by Puerto Ricans and other Latins in the granite metropolis of the north - New York City. Laced with humor and tragedy, "La Carreta," which Marques wrote in 1953, is revealing social commentary, spotlighting as it does the exodus of the poor from the land, in this case a Puerto Rican "jibaro" (peasant) family, who seek a better life in what they believe to be the greener pastures of industrial America. The ox cart, once the typical means of transportation for the island's "jibaros," is the symbolic vehicle which takes Dona Gabriela, played by Lucy Boscana, and her family from their mountain home to the capital, San Juan, from where they fly to New York. It is the classic trifold journey made by so many thousands of poverty-haunted Puerto Ricans. Symbolic of the land is Gabriela's father, the aging Don Chago, played by Luis Vera, who pleads with the family to stay: "In the past," he says, "there was something to believe in - God, man, the land." But Gabriela's adopted son, Luis, portrayed by Jaime Sanchez, counters that the land is being swallowed up by corporations and syndicates: "the future is in industry, in New York. The land is dead. I'm not going to dedicate myself to the dead." And so Luis, Dona Gabriela and her two teenage children, Juanita (Janice Marrionati) and little Chaguito (Ramon Navarro) set out on their journey to "the better life." REALIDADES then focuses its cameras on the family in selected scenes illustrating the conditions which greet so many thousands of Puerto Ricans and Latin Americans in New York City - the cold and empty stares of strangers; the slums and substandard housing; the lack of job opportunities; and the final, culminating tragedy - the lack of proper education for Spanish-speaking children, who are often doomed to ignorance and inferior employment because they do not understand English. Lucy Boscano has appeared in theatre, films and on television in both Puerto Rico, she is producer/director of Tablado Puertorriqueno, which performs in San Juan's Tapia Theatre and tours different towns of the island. Jaime Sanchez, who made his Broadway debut in 1957 in "West Side Story," has appeared in scores of critically-acclaimed stage, screen and TV productions. Among his film credits are "David and Lisa," "The Wild Bunch" and "The Pawnbroker." "La Carreta" was filmed in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The program was directed by REALIDADES producer Jose Garcia, who wrote the adaptation of the play in collaboration with the author. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting supplied the initial grant for the launching of the series. The latter scenes in the premiere half-hour show were filmed in New York City. The production, which carries English subtitles, was presented over various stations of the eastern Educational Network. Simulcasts of REALIDADES were carried on WBNX "La Grande" radio in New York City. Executive producer for the producer for the series is Humberto Cintron. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- Realidades is a series of at least two bilingual Puerto Rican/Latin American programs produced by WNET in 1972.
- Broadcast Date
- 1972-10-31
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Documentary
- Drama
- Media type
- other
- Credits
-
-
Actor: Marrionati, Janice
Actor: Vera, Luis
Actor: Navarro, Ramon
Actor: Boscana, Lucy
Actor: Sanchez, Jamie
Producer: Cintron, Humberto, 1936-
Producer: Garcia, Jose
Producing Organization: WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.)
Writer: Marqu?s, Ren?
Writer: Garcia, Jose
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Realidades; La Carreta,” 1972-10-31, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 13, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-vm42r3q38k.
- MLA: “Realidades; La Carreta.” 1972-10-31. American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 13, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-vm42r3q38k>.
- APA: Realidades; La Carreta. Boston, MA: American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-vm42r3q38k