NY station to rerelease Puerto Rico program in August
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 30, 2006
Jimmy Smits prepares for his first childhood visit to la Isla, circa 1963
Photos: courtesy of Jimmy Smits and WLIW New York
WLIW will distribute “The Puerto Ricans: Our American Story,” a program about Puerto Rico originally produced in 1999, a second time nationwide in August 2006. Entertainer Rita Moreno, late musician Tito Puente, actors Ricardo Montalban, Jimmy Smits and Miriam Colón, singers Justino Díaz and Ednita Nazario, author Esmeralda Santiago, tennis player Gigi Fernández, and former Governor Pedro J. Rosselló share their personal stories.
Filmed in the continental United States and on the island of Puerto Rico, the program explores the customs and traditions that have bonded Puerto Rican families for generations.
The show’s producers set out to illustrate how Puerto Rico’s customs, traditions, music, and dances define the identity of a growing American community. According to them, these cultural connections are so powerful for Puerto Rican families they exist even for those living on the mainland who have never been to the island. They say that for those who have been to Puerto Rico there is an inextricable bond to the island.
The spectrum of Puerto Rican music and dance includes plena, whose rhythms and traditional costume reflect the island’s African influence, Hispanic Day Parade, New York City, October 1998
Jimmy Smits describes the preparations for his first childhood visit at age five as if it were a religious ceremony; with starched white shirt, vest, suit and tie. According to author Esmeralda Santiago (When I Was Puerto Rican), being Puerto Rican American is “like a child jumping double Dutch… two ropes [Puerto Rican and American identity] going in opposite directions very quickly… it is a constant juggling, a constant jumping up and down trying to be in one place or another.”
This duality put tennis player Gigi Fernandez at a crossroads as she prepared for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and had to choose between representing the mainland or the island. Fernandez talks in the program about her personal struggle with the two worlds of Puerto Rican life as “a hard emotional decision but a very easy career decision” because she knew the only way she would win was on the U.S. team. Representing the United States that summer, Fernandez became the first Puerto Rican woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
“The Puerto Ricans: Our American Story” was produced by WLIW New York. They have produced other public television specials celebrating the diversity and ethnic character in America such as “A Laugh, a Tear, a Mitzvah” (Jewish Americans); “The Cuban Americans;” “The Polish Americans” and “The Mexican Americans.” The production team included Ron Rudaitis, director; Roy Hammond, executive producer; Ron Rudaitis and Sam Toperoff, producers; Yvonne Rodriguez Sanchez and Robin Llompart, associate producers; and Sam Toperoff, writer.
Apreciados amigos;
Me parece fantástico que celebren el vínculo Puerto Rico-USA y como muchos boricuas han dejado una profunda huella en el acontecer de los Estados Unidos y por ende a nivel mundial siendo este país la superpotencia que es.
Ahora, exite otro grupo de boricuas que también emigraron inmediatamente depués de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y en vez de rumbo al Norte, eligieron varios países de América Latina y también aportaron su granito de arena en el progreso de estos países.
Mi familia, precisamente, dio mucho de si para que grandes obras de ingeniería sean un gran exponente curricular de los esfuerzos hechos durante la década de los 50.
Mi tío Rafael Héreter, quien llegó a Caracas a mediado de los 40, fundó una gran compañía de concreto premezclado (Pre Mex) la cual contribuyó en la construcción del Metro de Caracas entre otras grandes obras. Mi padre, Héctor Héreter, quien arribó en 1949 ayudó a mi tío en la construcción de las súper autopistas (para su época) Caracas-Valencia y Caracas-Maiquetía-La Guaira.
Así como mi familia hay muchos otros apellidos boricuas que han contribuido en la historia de Latinoamericana, por ejemplo la familia Ferré, ya que don Don Luis también fundó varias compañías de gran envergadura aquí en Venezuela.
Por favor no olviden a esos otros boricuas que emprendieron el camino hacia el Sur.
Saludos;
Héctor Héreter
Dir. Relaciones Públicas
Aeropostal Alas de América
I am so pleased to have found this documentary that bridges Puerto Rican life of my parents to my life. I have always tried to keep my culture alive and truly enjoyed reliving and relating so well to that of the participants in the documentary. I plan to use this in my Spanish language classroom this fall in ways to identify cultural diversity within on nationality and the differences and similarities within the Hispanic culture altogether. Muchisimas gracias!! I’ve been looking for something like this y por fin lo encontre!