May 09, 2007, 06:46 PM
Posted on Wed, May. 09, 2007
Fight rages over Celia Cruz's fortune
By LYDIA MARTIN
Over the next few days, crates filled with the Queen of Salsa's iconic wigs and shoes and gowns will get white-glove treatment at Miami Beach's Bass Museum of Art in preparation for Wednesday's opening of the Smithsonian Institute's traveling exhibitionAzucar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.
The electric blue wig Celia sported at the Grammys, the gray Narciso Rodriguez dress that she wore at Telemundo's tribute to her near the very end, the 1962 marriage license issued in Connecticut when she wed Pedro Knight -- all of it will be painstakingly unpacked by specialists trained to respectfully handle history's important artifacts.
Somewhere in Anaheim, Calif., another cache of Celia objects -- at least 36 items --is being treated lord knows how. There's a mink coat, the Celia Cruz Day proclamation issued by the city of Miami, several keys to several cities, photos, Celia's personal address book. Some of it is coveted by the Smithsonian, which owns a handful of the items in its exhibition and has the rest on loan from Cruz's estate and others.
But the stuff in Anaheim is in the hands Michael Payan, a California memorabilia dealer who says he bought it from someone who bought it at an auction after folks in charge of Cruz's estate failed to pay rent on the warehouse where it was kept.
Payan listed the items on eBay, but took them down within a few days without any of it selling, after a temporary injunction was filed. On May 4, a New Jersey court ordered the objects returned to the estate. Payan's lawyer says his client bought the stuff fair and square. Payan is expected fight the ruling.
It's one more chapter in a not-so-pretty part of the Celia story, unfolding after she was silenced by brain cancer on July 16, 2003. The woman who moved generations of fans with her booming contralto had twin funerals befitting royalty, drawing tens of thousands of mourners in Miami and Manhattan. Treated like a diva even in death, she had a costume change between memorials.
Then the legal drama began. Cruz's younger sister, Gladys Becquer, and Pedro Knight's daughter from a previous marriage, Ernestina Knight, both accused Knight, Cruz's manager Omer Pardillo-Cid and family friend Luis Falcón (who Knight lived with near Los Angeles after Cruz's death), of misleading them into giving back more than $400,000 that each received as beneficiaries of an annuity the couple held. Becquer claimed Falcón was a santeria priest, which he denied, and said that as spiritual advisor to Cruz and Knight he had begun encroaching on business decisions even before Cruz's death.
Later, Knight and Pardillo were dropped from the suits, and Pardillo in turn sued Falcón (who had been president of Celia's fan club when he was a kid), accusing him of misspending the estate's money and failing to provide adequate care to Knight, who in the end suffered from dementia. Knight died Feb. 3 in an Arcadia, Calif., hospital after suffering complications from diabetes.
A New Jersey court recently removed Falcón as co-executor of the estate, and named Pardillo sole executor. Falcón, who lawyers say blew through Cruz's $4 million, has until May 23 to provide the court with an accounting. He did not return calls to last-known phone numbers and does not have legal representation, according to lawyers for Cruz's estate.
''She and Pedro led such an impeccable life,'' said Pardillo, who managed Cruz's career for five years. ``None of this should have happened. Celia's legacy should be only about her music and the joy she brought to so many people.''
Now that Cruz has been gone almost four years and Knight is resting next to her in a mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, Pardillo and others close to the couple say it's time to move forward. They want the Bass show to mark the end of the dark chapters.
''It's so important that the younger generations never forget her. Her image can never die,'' said producer Emilio Estefan. ``The legal issues are lamentable, but they can never tarnish Celia's memory''
''It's time to put the drama aside and remember the beauty of Celia,'' said salsa star Willy Chirino, who plans to attend Wednesday's reception along with Cachao, Albita and others who over the years shared the stage with Cruz. ``She brought so much pride to Latins all over the world. We can never forget that.''
Also expected at the Bass opening is Becquer, Cruz's sister, who because of the bad blood that led to the lawsuits, was a no-show at the unveiling of Cruz's mausoleum on the first anniversary of her death and didn't make the Smithsonian's gala in Washington, DC in 2005.
''I also didn't go to the show in Washington because I don't have money to travel like that,'' said Becquer, reached at her New York home. ``And I am very private, but you can imagine how I feel about my sister's illness and death and all of the problems that came after. What I can say is that I am very happy that Omer is once again in charge and glad about everything he is doing [to preserve] my sister's memory.''
The traveling show, which went to Los Angeles before Miami and next goes to San Antonio and New York, includes 85 percent of the items shown at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, home to the Star-Spangled Banner, the walking cane Ben Franklin bequeathed to George Washington and Dorothy's ruby slippers.
The exhibition, which cost $1.5 million to put together, begins with Cruz's childhood in Havana and her early appearances with La Sonora Matancera. It also features rare film footage and recordings, a short documentary by Miami filmmaker Joe Cardona, a rendering of Havana's Tropicana nightclub and Cruz's ''dressing room,'' complete with her makeup case, false eyelashes and the collection of dashboard-size saints that Cruz unpacked everywhere she went in the in world. Missing from the exhibit is La Caridad del Cobre, patron saint of Cuba, which rests with Cruz in her coffin.
''Her dressing room is important because it was her space of transformation,'' said Marvette Perez, the Puerto Rican curator of the Smithsonian's show, who is at the Bass helping to organize the show. ``She spent most of her life in dressing rooms. It's the space where the persona was created and in that sense, it's almost a ritual space.''
In DC, Celia's music blasted through the most American of museums for five months and brought larger Hispanic audiences than the place had ever seen, Smithsonian spokeswoman Melinda Machado said. The Bass is expecting a fresh wave of visitors, too.
''We are thrilled about reaching out to the Latino community,'' said Bass director Diane Camber. ``But I think it's going to be successful across the board. There are so many devotees of Celia Cruz. She crossed over so many lines with her music and her persona.''
Some criticized the show when it opened in DC, saying it did not offer enough political context about Cruz's departure from Cuba. But the show's curator said she wanted to focus on the bigger picture.
''This exhibit is about her musical genius,'' Perez said. ``I didn't want the other stuff to cloud that. Not that it's not important, but maybe that part is for another exhibition. I wanted to focus on the fact that she was a top-rate musician, in the way some men have been considered. She was a true salsa great, a woman with a voice that was a powerhouse.''
Pardillo says that musical genius can still make things right for Cruz and Knight's relatives, who never received money the couple intended for them after their deaths.
``I can't tell you details, but there is a singer who wants to record a duets CD with Celia. There will be other projects. Celia will live forever and will generate finances forever. I want to do whatever I can to make sure that her wishes to provide for her family are finally met.''
Fight rages over Celia Cruz's fortune
By LYDIA MARTIN
Over the next few days, crates filled with the Queen of Salsa's iconic wigs and shoes and gowns will get white-glove treatment at Miami Beach's Bass Museum of Art in preparation for Wednesday's opening of the Smithsonian Institute's traveling exhibitionAzucar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.
The electric blue wig Celia sported at the Grammys, the gray Narciso Rodriguez dress that she wore at Telemundo's tribute to her near the very end, the 1962 marriage license issued in Connecticut when she wed Pedro Knight -- all of it will be painstakingly unpacked by specialists trained to respectfully handle history's important artifacts.
Somewhere in Anaheim, Calif., another cache of Celia objects -- at least 36 items --is being treated lord knows how. There's a mink coat, the Celia Cruz Day proclamation issued by the city of Miami, several keys to several cities, photos, Celia's personal address book. Some of it is coveted by the Smithsonian, which owns a handful of the items in its exhibition and has the rest on loan from Cruz's estate and others.
But the stuff in Anaheim is in the hands Michael Payan, a California memorabilia dealer who says he bought it from someone who bought it at an auction after folks in charge of Cruz's estate failed to pay rent on the warehouse where it was kept.
Payan listed the items on eBay, but took them down within a few days without any of it selling, after a temporary injunction was filed. On May 4, a New Jersey court ordered the objects returned to the estate. Payan's lawyer says his client bought the stuff fair and square. Payan is expected fight the ruling.
It's one more chapter in a not-so-pretty part of the Celia story, unfolding after she was silenced by brain cancer on July 16, 2003. The woman who moved generations of fans with her booming contralto had twin funerals befitting royalty, drawing tens of thousands of mourners in Miami and Manhattan. Treated like a diva even in death, she had a costume change between memorials.
Then the legal drama began. Cruz's younger sister, Gladys Becquer, and Pedro Knight's daughter from a previous marriage, Ernestina Knight, both accused Knight, Cruz's manager Omer Pardillo-Cid and family friend Luis Falcón (who Knight lived with near Los Angeles after Cruz's death), of misleading them into giving back more than $400,000 that each received as beneficiaries of an annuity the couple held. Becquer claimed Falcón was a santeria priest, which he denied, and said that as spiritual advisor to Cruz and Knight he had begun encroaching on business decisions even before Cruz's death.
Later, Knight and Pardillo were dropped from the suits, and Pardillo in turn sued Falcón (who had been president of Celia's fan club when he was a kid), accusing him of misspending the estate's money and failing to provide adequate care to Knight, who in the end suffered from dementia. Knight died Feb. 3 in an Arcadia, Calif., hospital after suffering complications from diabetes.
A New Jersey court recently removed Falcón as co-executor of the estate, and named Pardillo sole executor. Falcón, who lawyers say blew through Cruz's $4 million, has until May 23 to provide the court with an accounting. He did not return calls to last-known phone numbers and does not have legal representation, according to lawyers for Cruz's estate.
''She and Pedro led such an impeccable life,'' said Pardillo, who managed Cruz's career for five years. ``None of this should have happened. Celia's legacy should be only about her music and the joy she brought to so many people.''
Now that Cruz has been gone almost four years and Knight is resting next to her in a mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, Pardillo and others close to the couple say it's time to move forward. They want the Bass show to mark the end of the dark chapters.
''It's so important that the younger generations never forget her. Her image can never die,'' said producer Emilio Estefan. ``The legal issues are lamentable, but they can never tarnish Celia's memory''
''It's time to put the drama aside and remember the beauty of Celia,'' said salsa star Willy Chirino, who plans to attend Wednesday's reception along with Cachao, Albita and others who over the years shared the stage with Cruz. ``She brought so much pride to Latins all over the world. We can never forget that.''
Also expected at the Bass opening is Becquer, Cruz's sister, who because of the bad blood that led to the lawsuits, was a no-show at the unveiling of Cruz's mausoleum on the first anniversary of her death and didn't make the Smithsonian's gala in Washington, DC in 2005.
''I also didn't go to the show in Washington because I don't have money to travel like that,'' said Becquer, reached at her New York home. ``And I am very private, but you can imagine how I feel about my sister's illness and death and all of the problems that came after. What I can say is that I am very happy that Omer is once again in charge and glad about everything he is doing [to preserve] my sister's memory.''
The traveling show, which went to Los Angeles before Miami and next goes to San Antonio and New York, includes 85 percent of the items shown at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, home to the Star-Spangled Banner, the walking cane Ben Franklin bequeathed to George Washington and Dorothy's ruby slippers.
The exhibition, which cost $1.5 million to put together, begins with Cruz's childhood in Havana and her early appearances with La Sonora Matancera. It also features rare film footage and recordings, a short documentary by Miami filmmaker Joe Cardona, a rendering of Havana's Tropicana nightclub and Cruz's ''dressing room,'' complete with her makeup case, false eyelashes and the collection of dashboard-size saints that Cruz unpacked everywhere she went in the in world. Missing from the exhibit is La Caridad del Cobre, patron saint of Cuba, which rests with Cruz in her coffin.
''Her dressing room is important because it was her space of transformation,'' said Marvette Perez, the Puerto Rican curator of the Smithsonian's show, who is at the Bass helping to organize the show. ``She spent most of her life in dressing rooms. It's the space where the persona was created and in that sense, it's almost a ritual space.''
In DC, Celia's music blasted through the most American of museums for five months and brought larger Hispanic audiences than the place had ever seen, Smithsonian spokeswoman Melinda Machado said. The Bass is expecting a fresh wave of visitors, too.
''We are thrilled about reaching out to the Latino community,'' said Bass director Diane Camber. ``But I think it's going to be successful across the board. There are so many devotees of Celia Cruz. She crossed over so many lines with her music and her persona.''
Some criticized the show when it opened in DC, saying it did not offer enough political context about Cruz's departure from Cuba. But the show's curator said she wanted to focus on the bigger picture.
''This exhibit is about her musical genius,'' Perez said. ``I didn't want the other stuff to cloud that. Not that it's not important, but maybe that part is for another exhibition. I wanted to focus on the fact that she was a top-rate musician, in the way some men have been considered. She was a true salsa great, a woman with a voice that was a powerhouse.''
Pardillo says that musical genius can still make things right for Cruz and Knight's relatives, who never received money the couple intended for them after their deaths.
``I can't tell you details, but there is a singer who wants to record a duets CD with Celia. There will be other projects. Celia will live forever and will generate finances forever. I want to do whatever I can to make sure that her wishes to provide for her family are finally met.''