DOORS OPEN CALIFORNIA:
A Tribute to Opera Singer & Hollywood Film Star José Mojica (1896-1974)

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September 14th and 15th, 2024

​ La Señora Research Institute
(former residence of José Mojica)
565 Dryad Road,
Santa Monica, CA 90402​​

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A celebration of the remarkable life and career of the opera singer, Hollywood film star and Franciscan Friar.

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Program will feature lectures in English and Spanish, photo exhibition display, and grounds tour of the botanical gardens of the Santa Monica Canyon hacienda designed by John Byers for Mojica in 1929.

 

José Mojica in his Pacific Palisades residence. Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library.
 

Los Angeles, CA, September 8th, 2024 – For the California Preservation Foundation’s Third Annual “Open Doors California” project La Señora and L.A. Cultural Heritage Preservation Society will present a celebration of the life and career of famed Hollywood film star, opera singer and friar JOSÉ MOJICA (1896-1974).
 

The weekend celebrations of September 14th-15th, will include lectures in English and Spanish by historian John Koegel and archivist Alejandra Espasande; a photographic exhibition; a tour of the Mojica Hacienda’s botanical gardens and the screening of the rarely seen Hollywood Spanish-language feature film EL REY DE LOS GITANOS / THE KING OF THE GYPSIES (1933, Fox), presented with English Subtitles, shown courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Walt Disney Studios.
 

JOSÉ MOJICA (1896-1974)
A native of Jalisco, Mexico, José Mojica was a successful opera singer from the Chicago Civic Opera who also appeared with the San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Grand Opera Company, and other companies in the USA and Mexico. His recordings included a collaboration with Thomas Edison’s Diamond Disk recordings as one of Edison’s Three Tenors. 
 

In Los Angeles Mojica landed a contract with Fox Film Corporation, becoming one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s Spanish-language cinema (1929-1939).  Filmmaker King Vidor introduced him to architect John Byers from whom he commissioned the design of his Santa Monica Canyon hacienda named “La Finca de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” (The Farm of Our Lady of Guadalupe) where he hosted musical gatherings and entertained friends from the music and film industry, including his neighbor Leo Carrillo, who lived a block away, Dolores del Río, Ramón Novarro and Rita Hayworth.   

 

During his spare time, he contributed free performances to local fundraisers that supported the needs of the Mexican community in Los Angeles, and abroad. Following the passing of his mother In 1942,  Mojica, a fervent Catholic and follower of Our Lady of Guadalupe, announced his decision to enter the Franciscan Order.  He left his considerable fortune to a home for orphaned children in San Miguel de Allende, and joined a monastery in Peru where in 1948 he was ordained a priest. For the remainder of his life, Fray José de Guadalupe Mojica continued singing and making films to fundraise for the Catholic Church. His autobiography “Yo, Pecador” (I, a Sinner), written to raise monastery funding, became the source of a 1959 Mexican film adaptation.
 

PUBLIC PROGRAMS 

Note: Your ticket purchases will benefit the preservation of the Mojica residence and botanical gardens 

where all programs will take place, located at: 565 Dryad Rd. Santa Monica, CA 90402. 

To purchase tickets, visit: laculturalheritage.org 

 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14th

 

• 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm | Doors open & Check-in

 

• 1:00 pm - 2:55 pm   | Bilingual lectures

        1:00 pm - 1:50 pm | José Mojica in Opera, Concert, and the Franciscan Order
        Presented by John Koegel (in English)

        2:05 pm - 2:55 pm | José Mojica: Hollywood Film Star! (1930-1934)
        Presented by Alejandra Espasande (n English)

 

        1:00 pm - 1:50 pm | José Mojica: ¡Estrella de Hollywood! (1930-1934)
        Presented by Alejandra Espasande (in Spanish)

       2:05 pm - 2:55 pm | José Mojica en la Ópera, Conciertos, y la Orden Franciscana  
        Presented by John Koegel (in Spanish)
 

• 3:00 pm - 3:20 pm | Welcoming remarks by La Señora Research Institute and LACHPS 

              

• 3:20 pm - 4:00 pm | José Mojica's birthday celebration and Garden tours 

 

• 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm | Screening - EL REY DE LOS GITANOS (1933, Fox)

                                             With English subtitles. Running time 83 minutes.

 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th

 

• 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm | Doors open & Check-in

 

• 1:00 pm - 1:20 pm   | Welcoming remarks by La Señora Research Institute  and LACHPS 

 

• 1:20 pm - 2:10 pm   | José Mojica in Opera, Concert, and the Franciscan Order
          Presented by John Koegel (in English)

 

• 2:15 pm - 3:05 pm  | José Mojica: Hollywood Film Star! (1930-1934)
          Presented by Alejandra Espasande (in English)

 

• 3:10 pm - 3:55 pm  | Refreshments and Garden tours  

 

• 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm  | Screening - EL REY DE LOS GITANOS (1933, Fox)

                                        With English subtitles. Running time 83 minutes.

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Special thanks to:
Instituto Cervantes of Los Angeles, Consulate General of Mexico and The Walt Disney Studios

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LOS ANGELES CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION SOCIETY is a Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation dedicated to fostering awareness and appreciation of the diverse legacies of our communities through the production of educational and cultural public programs, including exhibitions, film screenings, lectures and book presentations. https://laculturalheritage.org

 

LA SEÑORA RESEARCH INSTITUTE 

Established in 2006, La Señora Research Institute is a public nonprofit foundation open to the public only during its annual  Summer Season Education programming. La Señora is focused on the history of the settling of Alta California by Spain in the 1700s, then narrows its focus first to life on the 1839 Rancho Boca de Santa Monica Mexican Land Grant before coming to focus on the significant artistic treasures of the 1920's-50's created by the former owners of the Mojica Hacienda. https://laseñora.org

 

DOORS OPEN CALIFORNIA

Doors Open California is the largest statewide celebration of historic places in California. Enthusiasts of historic architecture, design, and cultural heritage will have access to over 80 sites across the state. This project has been funded in part by a grant from the National Trust Preservation Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. https://californiapreservation.org

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UCLA FILM AND TELEVISION ARCHIVE

The UCLA Film & Television Archive is renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media, and is dedicated to ensuring that the collective visual memory of our time is explored and enjoyed for generations to come.  This Archive is the second-largest repository of motion pictures and broadcast programming in the United States, after the Library of Congress, and the world's largest university-held collection. More than 520,000 holdings of films, television programs, news footage and radio recordings are conserved in a state-of-the-art facility. https://www.cinema.ucla.edu

 

PRESS CONTACT

Alejandra Espasande

aespasande@laculturalheritage.org

(310) 422-8261