Lupe Vélez: The Mexican Spitfire! Great Compilation Video on YouTube

The most challenging chapter of Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America* appears near the end and treats with the life, career, and tragic suicide of Mexico's version of Lucille Ball, Lupe Vélez--maybe it's better to say that Lucille Ball was the U.S. version of Lupe Vélez as certain aspects of the ballyhooed redhead's act no doubt derived from screenings of Lupe's amazing cinematic antics--for the record, Vélez was born in '08; Ball in '11.

In any event, they were BOTH funny and both had an impact on American cinematic comedy that lasts to the present day. Check out Lupe's amazing range in this YouTube compilation video I just ran across:

*An early incarnation of the Lupe Vélez chapter appears here. Another version appears in Myra Mendible's From Bananas to Buttocks (you've got to love that title!); the final version appears in Tex[t]-Mex. As for the chapter being "challenging", I don't really know, but my undergraduates do give me grief for it from time to time!