1967 Río Piedras, Puerto Rico
María Colón
Born 1952
Río Piedras Puerto Rico
Interviewed on Saturday, September 21, 2019
by Victoria Bonano
The first movie I remember seeing is “Amor en el Aire”, starring Mexican actress Rocío Durcal. It came out during the late 60s.
I went to see it with my best friend at the time. I was in my early teenage years; I must have been thirteen or fourteen. We lived close to each other, so we met up at my house and walked to the movie theater together.
We bought our tickets using our allowance and went in to get snacks from the concessions before sitting down. I got popcorn, but it wasn’t like the popcorn that they have in movie theaters now. It was sweet, not salty or buttery, but not sweet like the sweet popcorn they sell now. It was different.
There weren’t any ushers, so we just walked into the movie theater and sat down where we wanted. I enjoyed the movie, but I didn’t like the movie theater’s layout. It had two floors. I sat on the first floor, but there were guys sitting on the second floor who would throw candy down to the first. So, as you were trying to enjoy the movie you’d have Twizzlers and Chuckles flying around you. I remember being annoyed at that.
I don’t remember too many details about the movie’s plot. I do remember it was a love story. The main actress was Rocío Durcal. She had an amazing hairstyle with long bangs that were very much in style at the time. She played the role of a woman who was fired from her job as a stewardess and fell in love with a man, portrayed by Palito Ortega, who she had met on a flight and then reencountered at her new job. I can still remember some scenes from the film. It had such great scenography, combining the lights, clothing, and music amazingly.
There was also a lot of singing too, because Rocío Durcal was a very talented singer. I remember one scene where Rocío Durcal and Palito Ortega meet at a construction site and sing the film’s most popular song, which was really sweet. It went “amor en el aire, que nació del aire, que vive en el aire, no puedo olvidarlo” (love in the air, that lives in the air, I can’t forget it).
But more than the actual plot itself, I remember the woman’s style. I used to love going to films and seeing the actresses dresses and accessories. Rocío Durcal wore dresses and bell bottoms that looked very much like what all the women wanted to wear during the 60s. And she wore the most amazing colors, I vividly remember a red dress that stood out to me. I’ve always been very interested in fashion, so it’s not that unexpected for me to remember the dresses from the film more than the actual story. I later went on to own my own boutique that became very popular in Puerto Rico. I’d go on monthly shopping trips to New York with my daughter, to go find the next fashion trends and bring them back to sell in my store. So I think I have always had, and still have a natural tendency to focus on the costumes and fashion in both films and real life.
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Image source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061351/
