Elena Torres

Elena Torres Cuéllar (3 June 1893 – 19 October 1970) was a leading Mexican revolutionary, feminist, progressive educator and writer. A member of the communist party, in 1917 she was the only woman to participate on behalf of the Liga Central de Resistencia at the first meeting of the Yucatán Socialist Party in Mérida. In 1919, she founded the Mexican Feminist Council campaigning for better social and economic conditions for women as well as the right to vote. She devoted considerable efforts to improving education in Mexico, especially by facilitating the training of primary school teachers in rural areas.

Biography

Elena Torres Cuéllar was born 3 (or 23) June 1893 in Mineral de Mellado, Guanajuato, to Macedonio Torres and Francisca Cuéllar. She graduated from the public schools and attended night classes at the Guanajuato State Normal School, working at the mine hospital during the day. Studying accounting, typing and drawing, Torres graduated in 1912 and became principal of the Normal School. She also taught at the Silao Elementary School and the Casa del Obrero Mundial (The House of the World Worker), an anarchist-union organization which had branches throughout Mexico. Socialist schooling methods, based on "scientific" principals had been brought to Mexico at this time from Spain. Torres and the teachers she worked with became increasingly radicalized and favored the rational Spanish method over the Catholic parochial schools.

Torres

Torres may refer to:

Places

Spain

Elena

Elena may refer to:

People

Places

Fictional characters

Film

Music

Maria Elena

"María Elena" is a 1932 popular song written by Lorenzo Barcelata (Spanish words and music). It was published by Peer International Corporation of Mexico. The English lyrics are by Bob Russell.

Song background

The song was dedicated to María Elena, the wife of Mexican President Emilio Portes Gil.

An instrumental version of the song was used for the background theme of the film Bordertown, starring Paul Muni and Bette Davis, in 1935. The next year the words and music were used in the Mexican film María Elena.

Cover versions

Lawrence Welk later introduced the tune in the United States on his radio program, then in 1941 on the Okeh Records label.

The song was a hit for the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra with Bob Eberly doing the vocals. The recording was made on March 19, 1941 by Decca Records as catalog number 3698. The flip side was "Green Eyes." The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on May 16, 1941 and lasted 17 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1 on June 14, 1941. Since "Green Eyes" was also a #1 hit, this was a major double-sided hit recording. In the same year the Wayne King Orchestra also had a #2 hit with "Maria Elena".