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Israel Castro Vélez, better known asShorty Castro (January 28, 1928 – January 22, 2018) was a Puerto Rican comedian, actor, comedy writer, stage director, radio host, singer, dancer, composer and musician, with a career spanning over 60 years. During his youth, Castro spent time working with several orquestas in the west coast of Puerto Rico.^[1]

Castro was born in Mayagüez's in La Quinta barrio^[2] to Juan Castro Ayala and Victoria Vélez Cuevas, the second and oldest male child of twelve siblings. During his youth, Castro worked in a laundry, where he met baseball player Artie Wilson, who would bestow upon him the nickname of "Shorty" when picking up his uniform.^[1]

He developed the skills necessary to become an entertainer: good singing voice, talent as a percussionist, and good timing for comedy. While working full-time as a messenger for the municipality of Mayagüez, Castro held odd jobs in numerous local orchestras, mostly as a singer and percussionist. These orchestras included William Manzano's and Carlos López's (for both,Mon Rivera had also been a singer and percussionist), Mingo and his Whoopee Kids; Charlie Miró y sus Pájaros Locos; andSan Germán's Happy Hills' Orchestra.

One of these orchestras performed a gig at theBaños de Coamo, where producerTommy Muñiz took notice of Castro's performance.^[3] After meeting him, Muñiz asked Castro to perform in La Taberna India, Muñiz's best rated television show, alongsideRafael Cortijo's band.^[3] Castro then returned to Mayagüez to prepare for his move to San Juan, which was supposed to occur on August 24, 1956, when he took a public bus halfway across the island.^[1] At a road stop inQuebradillas, however, Castro learned about the sudden death ofRamón Ortiz del Rivero (Diplo), Puerto Rico's most popular comedian at the time.^[3]

With the country in mourning, Castro was forced to return to Mayagüez and wait one week for his television debut, on August 31.^[4] He played congas and sang a few of Mon Rivera's plenas with the Cortijo band that day. He later became a stagehand (first) and musical bit player within the program. When his contracts ran out, Castro returned to singing, and made a second tour of New York with the Happy Hills' Orchestra.

Muñiz and other producers regularly staged shows with Puerto Rican talent at the Puerto Rico Theater near Spanish Harlem, inNew York City. Asked to return to Puerto Rico by Muñiz, Castro left his orchestra and started playing regular comedy roles in Tommy Muñiz's productions such as "Hogar, Dulce Hogar" where he played Napoleoncito, the romantic interest of María Antonieta, a maid played byCarmen Belén Richardson.^[5] He later played a similar role, "Medio Metro", alongVelda González's Azucena in"La Criada Malcriada", first on television, later on film. He andJosé Miguel Agrelot worked together in many comedy television programs and live appearances. Their professional relationship and friendship lasted over 40 years. Agrelot once joked about Castro: "we get along so well that I'll probably die in his birthday."^{[citation needed]}

During the 1960s, comedian Castro would occasionally mimic the look of the current Miss Universe in his cross dressing character of "Ramoneta Cienfuegos de la O", making appearances in the second version ofDesafiando a los Genios.^[6] With the makeup and wigs being prepared by Carmen Andino and Carmen Ayala of WAPA-TV.^[6] He also used the characters of Armando Galán y Figura and Don Bernabé as alternates.^[7] In 1967, Castro was given the role of Tito in the military comedyEl special de Corona.^[8] He was one of several script writers and performers for the sketch showEsto no tiene nombre, which required several hours of writing per episode since it aired over a hundred different jokes per hour.^[9] His character of Ángelo became popular with the segment.^[10]

Actor José Reymundí began a strike against Producciones Tommy Muñiz in 1973, in particular against its administrator Hérnan Nigaglioni, claiming that he had been left out of a local production to favor foreigners.^[11] Soon afterwards, he was joined by more people as APATE joined and people like Castro decided not to cross the protest lines, while others like Candal actively joined the protests.^[11] Morales in turn decided to quit on the air.^[11] Only Alida Arizmendi challenged the protests.^[12] WAPA-TV decided not to intervene and distanced itself from the issue.^[13] In the end, Muñiz granted the demands of the protestors, such as health coverage or six month contracts, but Reymundí was unable to benefit due to the cancellation of the production due to the strike.^[14]

He hosted Máxima 940 am radio show "Shorty Castro a las 11", on weekday noons, together with long-time friend and fellow comedian Tito Negrón. After this show ended suddenly, Shorty stayed unemployed for a while until he started hosting "Shortyoganes", a new show in the same radio station and at the same daytime, along with his old friend Dr. Oswaldo Oganes. This show also ended quickly. He later hosted a third show, "Nuestras Raíces", again with Tito Negrón, on weekday mornings. On February 3, 1997, he participated inLos 75 años de don Tommy, a special dedicated to Muñiz's career.^[15]

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Shorty had a son and a daughter, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. In the 1970s, he almost died in a car crash with his red Corvette. Also Shorty was a fan of the Mayagüez Indios a baseball team in Puerto Rico's Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente.

Castro eventually became a major player in Muñiz's productions, developing comedic characters of his own. Among these were:

• Ángelo - a mischievous angel that played pranks on other angels that lived among the clouds in heaven, generally annoyingÁngel Guardián, the head angel, played byJacobo Morales. This character was a favorite ofBenicio del Toro's, who claims to have mimicked it as a child.
• Armando Galán y Figura - a ladies' man, always on the prowl for female company and constantly acting the part
• Ramoneta Cienfuegos de la O - an old maid, constantly craving male companionship, in a way similar toJosé Miguel Agrelot's Pasión character
• Camellito - a clever drunkard, named for his prodigious consumption of alcohol, which resembled that of acamel drinking water
• El Conde de París - an enigmatic, silent character -nominally acount- dressed in 1870s garb and atop hat who acted physical comedy bits that were the complete opposite of what was logically expected: pulling a ladder from behind a painter who had to hang from a ceiling, for example. The character's name is a play on Castro's home neighborhood in Mayagüez, named afterParis, France. The character played its bits against a musical backdrop:Ennio Morricone'sMuscoli di Velluto, an instrumental song written for the Italian film "I Malamondo". This European-themed character was a personal favorite ofRaul Julia's, who would later dress similarly in the final scene ofLa Gran Fiesta, a Puerto Rican film.
• Don Bernabé - a brash millionaire, dressed in a white suit and Knudsen hat, who would buy out anything and anybody who would stand in his way.
• Don Celedonio - an old man who plays domino in the park with three other old men in the TV show "Los Kakukómicos". Celedonio always makes fun of the one of them which always arrives late, calling him "Quick Arrow" ("Flecha Veloz").
• Panchito Zapata y Correa - a short Mexican revolutionary soldier with a large sombrero and wide moustache.
• Cabo Alejo - a short policeman with a large baton.
• Policarpio - a short, skilled, quick handyman who goes by the nickname "Poli"; he is the boyfriend of a handmaid named Enriqueta in the TV show "Entrando por la cocina".
• El Otro Gemelo - one of a comic duo of singing twins called "Los Gemelos del Oeste", a parody of real life duo "Los Gemelos del Sur", in the TV show "Esto no tiene nombre". The other twin was Shorty's real life brother, David. They opened their act by dancing to the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila", then told several jokes, and always ended their part fighting with each other.
• Teniente Tito - also called "Tenientito" (Little Lieutenant), a short, grouchy army officer.
• Rolo - a short look-alike of Shorty's friend, Cuban singer Rolando Laserie, who is always watching TV. After each news or ad he listens to, he asks his wife in a loud voice: "¿Oíste eso, Tita?" (Did you hear that, Tita?), as the real Rolando always did.

Two of Castro'splenas are particularly better known."Pa' los caborrojeños" is an ode to the people ofCabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, written to coincide with his stints as a singer and percussionist in one of the town's local orchestras, that of Roberto Ortiz. On the other hand, the novelty song"Por dos pulgadas" ("By two inches") was a sleeper hit for fellow comedianJuan Manuel Lebrón during Puerto Rico's 1997 Christmas season which became a #1 hit on theBillboard Latin Tropical Airplay chart.^[16]

Puerto Rican Public Law 186 (2010) honored Castro by naming a newly constructed shoreline park in Mayagüez, theParque del Litoral, after him.^[17][18]

Citations

Bibliography

• García, María "Beba" (2009).¡Juan, Juan, Juan! Crónicas de la televisión en los tiempos de don Tommy. Terranova Editores.ISBN 9781935163206.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

• 1928 births
• 2018 deaths
• Deaths from cancer in Florida
• Puerto Rican comedians
• Puerto Rican male actors
• People from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
• 20th-century Puerto Rican male actors

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