Back by popular demand! “When the World Came to San Francisco” (2015, 79 min.) is a drama-documentary about the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. The film is based on Reyna Belasco Rosenthal’s (1895–1976) 1965 interview with a reporter, where she tells of the Vaudeville era at the turn-of-the-century, the 1906 earthquake, Luisa Tetrazzini celebrating reconstruction, and finally, how the idea for the 1915 world’s fair came about and visiting the fair itself.
The Danzon was born in Matanzas, Cuba in the 1870s, and descended from the Contradanza, Danza Criolla, and Habanera styles. By the turn of the century, it became Cuba’s national dance, and beginning with the first decade of the 20th century, it held the distinction of being the first widely distributed Black music of the Americas, thanks to the fledgling recording industry and US companies such as RCA, Victor, Columbia, and Brunswick.
