Chabelo

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Xavier Lopez, better known as "Chabelo," is a Mexican actor and a TV host. He has been working on television for about 45 years. "Chabelo" has participated in more than thirty movies and recorded more than thirty CDs. He also has produced many shows like “La Cuchufleta” and “La Güereja y Algo Más” [1]. However, his most famous TV show is En Familia con Chabelo, which has been on the air more than 36 years and is broadcast every Sunday on Televisa. This show has contests, gifts and games and is mainly for kids.[2]

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[edit] Biography

“Chabelo” was born on February 17, 1935 in Chicago[3], USA, he was a soldier in the US Army in San Diego during the Korean War, later, his parents returned to Mexico City and finally lived in León, Guanajuato and he became a Mexican citizen. He decided to study medicine, but discovered TV was his real passion. He started as an extra in some TV shows, but Ramiro Gamboa "Tio Gambóín", invited to him to work in a comedy act, once, one script of a comedy act of "Father an son", contained the name of a boy called "Chabelo", a character for Xavier López and Ramiro Gamboa (the father), he had the opportunity to enter the TV world with this name. He was offered a job in production which he accepted. He started to take dramatic art lessons and learned about television production. Chabelo has three children: Oscar, Gabo y Xavier. Xavier produced a CD called 'Los Cuates de Chabelo' in which musicians as Tania Libertad, Kabah and Celia Cruz honor Chabelo's work. Chabelo's children selected careers related to the artistic environment because of their father's influence. [4]

[edit] Beginning of his career

Chabelo started to work on TV as a cameraman, production assistant, then floor manager. After this, he started to appear on television shows as minor characters (most of the time acting as an old man).[4] While he was working on TV, he was also studying medicine, so he slept few hours and had no time to eat. All these things make him sick, and he began to suffer anemia. Because of this situation, Chabelo decided to work on TV instead of studying medicine.

[edit] Artistic career

Xavier Lopez's career really began when he met a famous couple of actors whose names were "Panseco y Gamboa". Panseco (Arturo Manrique) worked on radio, and Gamboa (Ramiro), worked on TV. This pair was already known in Mexico and they taught Chabelo the basics of TV business.

Gamboa gave him the chance to get involved on TV as a character called Chabelo. Gamboa told him that he had some jokes that could be useful for a sketch geared towards children. Chabelo liked this idea and begun to work with the children's project.[2]

Xavier Lopez was hired as his “Chabelo” character to be the spokesman of a soda company. This project made him travel for five years all over North and South America. After the contract finished, Chabelo decided to live in New York working at Puerto Rican theatre.

He returned to Mexico and began a TV show called “La Hora de Chabelo” (Chabelo's Hour). Although Chabelo started to have success, he decided to learn how to sing and started to get involved with the cinema. Since then appeared other shows like Carrusel Musical, La Carabina de Ambrosio, etc. [1]

[edit] En Familia con Chabelo

Since he was a child he noticed that most children spent on Sunday mornings in their parents’ bed. Forty three years later, he had the idea of doing a show where parents and children could participate and enjoy these mornings together. [5]

En Familia con Chabelo is well known by Mexicans because of the time it has been on air (36 years). It is a show with games, contests and gifts where Chabelo plays the role of TV host. The people that are involved in this program are children and their parents, with whom Chabelo interacts and gets them to participate in many contests.[6]

At the end of the show there is a famous contest called the Catafixia. This contest allows players exchange their gifts for another which is hidden. This gift could be better than the one they have (living rooms, video games, TVs, DVDs, home theaters, microwaves, etc) or it could be worse (jokes, candies).[7]

During these 36 years Chabelo has only been absent from the show two times: once because of his father's death and the other because of bladder surgery in 2005. [8]

[edit] Other shows

"Chabelo" has acted in more than thirty movies and recorded more than thirty CDs. Some movies in which he has participated are: Autopsia de un Fantasma and Chabelo y Pepito contra los Monstruos. He also has produced many programs like La Cuchufleta and La Güereja y Algo Más. However, his most famous TV show is En Familia con Chabelo.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c El Sol. Cumple Chabelo 70 años. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  2. ^ a b Televisa. Chabelo. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  3. ^ Mexico Nuevo Siglo, "Chabelo, amigo de todos los niños"
  4. ^ a b Reforma. Chabelo: Que padre cuate!. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  5. ^ Morillo Rocio. Chabelo: El niño mas grandote de Mexico. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  6. ^ El Sol. Vuelve Chabelo a 'En Familia...' tras operacion. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  7. ^ Palabra. ”Chabelo: Pantalones cortos, largo éxito”. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
  8. ^ El Sol. Pasa 'Chabelo' por quirofano. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.

[edit] External links