Mexico

"Trends, colors, successes of each season arrived at the design tables of Arteixo from all over Europe and beyond the seas. This was always this man's obsession: reworked, reinvented clothes, in direct connection with what consumers expected. Clothes that appeared very shortly after hanging in Madrid, Barcelona, and other cities in Spain; in Porto, Paris, or Mexico."

"The Slim philosophy The first era lasts twenty years, beginning in 1952 and ending in 1972. The second era, which does not reach ten years, ends in 1981, when the sources that gave it life run out: external credit, the high price of oil and the deficit public spending. The third era, the crisis, takes seven years, from 1982 to the present. A new era is currently foreseen that should start in the first months of 1989. First era 1952-1972: During these years, substantial development is achieved while maintaining a balanced budget, price stability and moderate external debt. The internal debt is reduced, as is the deficit, despite significant population growth and a great effort to provide public services. The internal product almost quadruples; per capita income doubles. Income is distributed through increasingly well-paid employment, although it is far from desired levels, and through public spending that benefits the most needy and increasingly covers more Mexicans."

"Azcárraga Vidaurreta was annoyed by his son’s recklessness. Although not too much; on second thought, he had good reasons to accept the boy’s decision. What he wanted most was for his son to become a businessman in his own image. It was not necessary for Emilio Jr. to have a graduation certificate; after all, he himself had not even finished high school. He also feared that if his son, an American by birth, stayed at Culver until graduation, he could be drafted by the United States Army, which maintained the selective draft system after the war. He was also worried about the economic crisis in Mexico. With a devaluation that seemed imminent, it was time to tighten belts, and Don Emilio was surely glad to be able to save the cost of another round trip to Indiana and the inevitable parents’ visit for the graduation ceremony."

"A few years later, the German emigrated to Mexico, became involved in the import business, and soon built himself a residence in Polanco. His charm and sophisticated style opened the doors to the high social circles of the capital. Shondube married the shy Aurora, whose family was originally from Sinaloa, and on January 6, 1930, Aurora gave birth to Gina, her only daughter."

"The most popular radio soap opera, which would later be adapted for television in Mexico and in other countries, was El derecho de nacer. Written by the Cuban Félix B. Caignet and first produced in 1948, the serial tells the story of any mother’s nightmare: a woman is separated from her son shortly after he is born and spends several years in tears and feelings of guilt, trying to find him. (The theme would resurface in many successful Mexican telenovelas, including in María la del barrio from 1995.) Thanks in part to Azcárraga Vidaurreta’s radio stations, radio soap operas were also very popular in Mexico. However, the change of format to television originated once again in Cuba, where by 1951 radio soap operas were beginning to be readapted for the small screen."

"But the media monarch in Mexico was not about to deny his son a wedding for the ages, and the capital’s newspapers made sure to widely promote the big event. Often, the front page of the society section would include a photo of Gina dining with her friends. In those days it was customary for the popoff girls (as upper-class girls were called) to have dozens of bridal showers, organized by each of their friends, in their residences in Las Lomas and Polanco. But Gina was so popular that it seemed all the rich people in the capital wanted to celebrate her engagement. A few days before the religious ceremony it was learned that Gina had attended a record 103 bridal showers."

"The earliest telenovelas were not revolutionary; they had already been presented on radio and were, after all, melodramas, a kind of fantasy. However, the government was concerned about the influence of that fiction and the potential threat to social stability. So was the Catholic Church. The concerns grew when it became evident that television would very soon become the principal mass entertainment medium, as was already happening in the United States. With television sets being manufactured in Mexico, prices were falling and sales increasing. The growing popularity of television also led the ailing film industry to join the attack against the new medium."