Candita Quintana (1912-77), Afro-Cuban soprano, actress, and dancer famous for her roles as mulatas (women of both African and European descent), stock characters in the Cuban genre of Blackface theater called teatro bufo. Robin Moore explains,
The first actresses to depict the mulata in the comic theater [were] primarily white women…Famous mulatas of the twenties and thirties, by contrast, came more often from working-class families and had little or no formal training. These included Luz Gil, Blanca Becerra, and Candita Quintana. Some of these women were white but darkened their skin artificially when they performed as mulatas; others were actually light-skinned mulatas and accepted as such. In the tradition of the guaracha, musical sketches and dialogues depicting mulatas tended to emphasize the association between women of color with promiscuity and forbidden desire.
Ramón Espigul remembers,
I first met her when she shared the stage with my father, Ramón Espigul, the famous ‘‘Negrito’’ (the Black) of Alhambra Theatre. The last period they worked together was from 1965 to 1970, at Marti theatre, where my father was ‘‘The Black’’ and she was ‘‘The Mulatto’’…She was a vigorous woman, who did not just perform, but played other roles at Alhambra theatre as well.
She used to be a very friendly person, enthusiastic, with such a funny voice, who used to sing and dance; qualities of folk theatre artists, who used not to be great dancers and singers. She was also very serious and responsible at work…
I never heard her to speak ill of anyone…she couldn’t even see a helpless animal on the street since she usually used to carry it. By the way, I remember she had many cats at home. Moreover, she exceedingly loved elder people and helped retired artists…
She looked so relaxed on stage. However, she was quite different outside the stage. People who saw her, used to say that she was a ‘‘guarachera’’ (party-loving woman), but she was not, just when performing.