Marisol: from child prodigy of Francoism to communist militant.

On January 25, 2020, Pepa Flores, better known as Marisol, received the Goya de Honor from the Spanish Film Academy in commemoration of her long career as an actress and singer. The figure of Marisol is unequivocally linked to her childhood career, to the blonde girl who was the exemplary and kind image of Francoism.

Marisol is one of the icons of Francoist cinema not only for her professional life, but for everything that her private life gave of herself before the pink press. A mass phenomenon that, in her adulthood, she went from being the pretty girl of the regime to a convinced communist militant. Marisol had a life that is, in itself, a reflection of the Spain of her time. If you want to know more about Pepa Flores, keep reading this article.

A ray of sunshine: Marisol, the child prodigy of the Franco regime

Pepa Flores was born in Malaga in 1948. Like so many daughters of the popular classes, she was born in a corrala where she lived during her childhood. Far from the version of Malaga that we know today, derived from the boom of the tourism that the Spanish coasts experienced since the 1960s, the Malaga in which Pepa was born was a fairly economically depressed city. Music, despite the conditions that surrounded it, dotted her childhood. This hobby of hers led her, despite not being her only reason, to join the Choirs and Dances of the Women’s Sectionthe Falange women’s organization.

In 1959, at the age of 11, the group of Choirs and Dances in which Pepa Flores participated traveled to Madrid. There the film producer Manuel Jose Goyanes, one of the figures that most strongly marked Marisol’s life, discovered her. Goyanes’ interest in little Pepa was such that she traveled to Malaga from Madrid with the intention of taking her with him to the capital to raise her to stardom.

The conditions surrounding Pepa’s family made her parents consent to Pepa moving to Madrid. Pepa grew up there, in the Goyanes house, like one of her children, in all aspects. Pepa went from having a humble life to a more than comfortable one in which she, however, barely had contact with her family.

Shortly after, Goyanes introduced little Pepa in his first film. A ray of light, by Luis Lucía, will push Pepa to stardom. However, the changes to which she has to undergo for this happened even through his own name. It is at this time that Pepa Flores becomes known as Marisol. In addition, they dye her hair blonde to reinforce the image of an angelic girl that she gave off.

Marisol’s success was instantaneous, like that of many other child prodigies of the time. Others can be mentioned such as Joselito, the little nightingale The Spain of the 1960s was a factory of child prodigies that, subsequently, has been harshly criticized. However, they were the friendly and well-used face of a dictatorship that used these figures as a mechanism for reproducing the morality of the regime.

“The singing children who spread the slogans of the dominant morality were propagated in a multitude of films, repeating themselves, lulling the viewers to sleep with their jokes, who, by decree, should not grow up. Marisol, years later, has expressed her dislike for that time of her childhood in which she had to feign happiness and faithfulness that did not coincide with her desire for independence. Other former child prodigies have also revealed the lies of that consumer cinema that was originally mass-produced in the company of Manuel Goyanes” (Diego Galán in El País, March 9, 1983).

Her success was circumscribed not only at the state level, where Marisol was a phenomenon. In 1960, only a year after her journey began, at the age of 12, she received the Venice Mostra award for best child actress. The award was due to her performance in A ray of light. A ray of light It was directed, as mentioned, by Luis Lucía Mingarro, who also directed other of Marisol’s best-known films: an angel has come, raffle, Marisol’s four weddings Y Only the two.

In 1961 the international jump of Pepa Flores, who was already using Marisol as her artistic name by decision of Goyanes, was a fact. Marisol goes on an international tour, due to her sudden success. In fact, it appeared that same year in “The Ed Sullivan Show” with Harpo Marx.

In just one year the life of Pepa Flores had changed drastically, from the childhood of a girl raised in a poor neighborhood of Malaga to another of world tours and all kinds of luxuries. But also with a level of stress and exploitation that took its toll on Pepa.

In 1961, already a mass phenomenon, she shot her second film, an angel has come. Marisol was, at the moment, the goose that lays the golden eggs. Marisol’s films, at the moment, try to exploit the adorable side of Pepa Flores and for this they did not hesitate to show her as childish and helpless as possible in her films. an angel has come It is about a girl named Marisol who, being orphaned, moves to Madrid to live with her uncles. Her adoptive family despises her at one point, until they discover that the girl carries with her a small inheritance. However, the house maid watches over her and protects her. Little by little, little Marisol and her charm and friendliness make her cousins ​​fall for the little girl’s charms.

Marisol’s success at this time was unstoppable. However, it was at the cost of an abusive work rate, especially considering his young age. That frenetic pace, together with the anxiety generated by the separation of her family, affected Pepa’s health. Her mother moves to live with the Goyanes so that the pressure does not have a negative impact on Pepa.

an angel has come it was another hit. The Marisol phenomenon was not exhausted, but, as is logical, Peppa grew up. She did it in the eyes of others, because the perception of him, on the contrary, was very different. For Pepa, her childhood had ended long before.

“I am a young lady who spent her entire childhood dining in the company of older men, hearing about business, contracts, filming… while I remained like a piece of furniture” (black and white1973)

Adolescence could overwhelm the image of a model girl that was bringing so much success and benefits to Pepa and Goyanes, respectively. Especially considering that Marisol’s children’s movies revolved around Marisol herself. The arguments are much less important than showing off Marisol, than the image of it. In fact, a good part of her characters in the different films that she starred in did not have a fictitious name, but were called Marisol. It is not strange, despite everything, that at a time when the pop the cultural products that arose from said hatching were oriented to show off a product. It is not, in any case, an exclusive phenomenon of Francoist Spain.

Pepa’s natural growth was about to ruin that image or, at least, forced her to redirect it. In 1962, trying to hide Pepa’s growth by bandaging her chest, he filmed raffle, possibly Marisol’s most famous movie and song. In it, Marisol plays a girl who has an overflowing imagination and who lives in her fantasy world. Little Marisol accidentally witnesses the theft of some works of art. However, no one believes a fantasy girl. in addition, the thieves decide to kidnap her from her. With raffleIn addition, Marisol’s childhood stage ends. It is impossible to extend Pepa’s childhood any longer, so her career will, at this time, take a necessary turn to maintain itself. Marisol will go from being the daughter that all of Spain had wanted to have to embody youthful roles.

Young Marisol: the adolescence of a child star

Marisol’s adolescent and youth stage brought with it a change in her image. Marisol goes from being considered the ideal girl to the daughter-in-law that everyone would like to have. In (1963), Pepa Flores plays, now yes, the role of a Teen. Or, rather, two. Pepa plays two sisters, Marisol and Mariluz, in a I to Boston and you to California to the Spanish.

A year later he recorded The new Cinderella. Marisol’s move to a youth career was definitive. However, she is related to another of the protagonists, Antonio Ruiz, known as Antonio el Bailarín. The rumors in the press provoke an immediate reaction from Goyanes, who did not like the fact that Marisol started dating boys her age. However, it harmed the Marisol brand, so the representative nipped that romance in the bud, or at least the rumors around it.

During the 1960s, she was associated with mel ferrer, Cordobés or Palomo Linares, among others. That same year, in addition to The new Cinderella rolled find me that girlnext to Dynamic duo. Pepa Flores has been related to one of the members of the group, but it is not a confirmed fact, so it could also be the result of the gossip of the moment.

In 1965 he shot Caper (Everyday is a holiday for the American public) in this case under the direction of Mel Ferrer. A well-known actor who was also the husband of Audrey Hepburn. The film is inserted within a common cinematographic topic during the Franco regime: the bullfighter movies. In them, in essence, romance and bullfighting are mixed, which is what happens in Caper.

The youthful Marisol remained a mass phenomenon, which affected the health of Pepa Flores, who at the age of 15 suffered a stomach ulcer caused by stress and the long working hours to which she was subjected. Endless working hours, lack of freedom and family contact and obligations that probably overwhelmed a girl and adolescent -such as singing in front of the dictator Francisco Franco-, affected Pepa Flores’ health. Marisol’s contact with her family was limited. In addition, the shadow of sexual abuse and physical abuse weigh on this stage of his life, although this is something that will not be discovered until years later. Goyanes’ children were, on the other hand, his only company in terms of people his age.

In this context, the friction made love between Carlos Goyanes, son of Manuel Goyanes, and Pepa Flores. Carlos, who had grown up with Pepa as her brothers, begins to change her vision of her and both begin a relationship. In May 1969, at the age of 21, she married Carlos Goyanes, the son of her producer. Her foster brother now became her husband. The wedding, as expected, was one of the most famous events of the moment. Fans crowded into the church entrance. The images of the wedding invaded the pink press of the time. The face of the pretty girl from Franco’s Spain dressed as a bride flooded the newspapers.

The perfect married woman: Marisol’s marriage to Carlos Goyanes

Marisol then began to embody the role of what Fray Luis de León called, during the 16th century, the perfect marriedthe home angel that had cornered nineteenth-century literature and whose relief had been taken up by the most traditionalist sector of Francoism. In the eyes of the…