Correos issues a stamp dedicated to Elena Jordi, the first film director in Spain as part of ‘8MtodoElAño’

This Friday, Correos issued a stamp dedicated to Montserrat Casals and Baqué, better known by her pseudonym Elena Jordi, actress, vaudeville theater entrepreneur and the first film director in Spain. The new stamp is the twenty-third to be issued within the ‘8MtodoElAño’ collection, dedicated to emblematic women in the fight for equality.

As reported by the public company, Elena Jordi She was a “fascinating, multifaceted and ahead of her time” woman.“. Throughout his life, he worked in different professions, all related to the world of entertainment.

Elena Jordi became an actress and created her own vaudeville company at the Spanish Theater in Barcelona. His interest in the world of entertainment made him decide in 1918 to jump into the world of silent films, becoming the first director.

Born on November 20, 1882 in Cercs (Barcelona). At the age of 19, she married the veterinarian Josep Capellera and after several years together, and two daughters, they separated and she moved to Barcelona in 1905, with her mother, her daughters and her little sister. Settling in the city of Barcelona, ​​the family ran a tobacconist’s shop which they turned into a meeting point where well-known figures from the cultural, artistic and journalistic world of Barcelona met.

Was Alexandre Soler Maryé, who introduced the young woman to the theatrical environment. Friend and companion, translator and set designer, artistic director and economic advisor, he shared successes and failures with her. In 1908, now Elena Jordi, she debuted as an actress in small roles without text.

During his artistic life, he performed with Margarita Xirgu and met the writer Santiago Rusiñol. She also belonged to and worked as an actress in the companies of Enric Borrás and Josep Santpere.

YOUR OWN THEATER COMPANY

She emerged as the favorite actress of Parallel, the artery of Barcelona and the magazine. Six years after its premiere, she decided to form her own theater company, the Compañía Catalana de Vaudeville Elena Jordi. Being a businesswoman, she polished this type of shows following in the footsteps of Paris (France), a city to which she traveled on different occasions.

Jordi achieved great success with his performances of ‘Salomé’ by Oscar Wilde; ‘La Lepra’, by Rusiñol; or ‘The Naked Woman’, by Henry Bataille. The experience acquired during those eight years led him to make a leap into cinema. Thus, starting in 1916, Elena Jordi began making films with her sister Tina and collaborating with the production company Studio Films.

In 1918, Jordi entered the world of production and direction with her first short film, ‘Thais’, based on the opera by Jules Massenet, and became the first woman to direct a film in Spain. One of the performers who participated in this director’s only film was Rafael Bardem, father of the actress Pilar Bardem and grandfather of the brothers Javier and Carlos Bardem.

The same year as the publication of her short film, the actress and businesswoman wanted to build a theater on Vía Layetana, which would receive her name. What had initially been projected as a theater became the Pathé Palace, and from 1940 onwards, the Cinema Palace. His last performance was in 1929 and, little by little, he moved away from the world of entertainment until he died in 1945.

This seal joins those dedicated to Clara Campoamor, Dolors Aleu Riera, Luisa Roldán (La Roldana), Isabel Zendal, María Blanchard, Concepción Arenal, Elidà Amigó, Maruja Mallo, María de Maeztu, Almudena Grandes, Federica Montseny, Elena Fortún, Justa Freire, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Ana Carmona, Carmen de Burgos, Ascensión Chirivella, María Bernaldo de Quirós and Hildegart Rodríguez, who are part of the ‘8MtodoElAño’ collection. All of them have been designed by the artist Isa Muguruza, Spanish illustrator.