MEXICAN CLOWN
Born Xavier Lopez Rodriguez in Chicago, his parents were Mexican and they moved the family back to the city of Leon when he was just two years old.
They moved onto Mexico City when he was eight.
As Xavier was officially an American citizen, he was drafted into the US Army during the Korean War. He served on a military base in California, before being allowed to return to Mexico.
Xavier went to university to study medicine. He earned money to pay for his course by being a TV assistant for the channel Televisia. His job was a substitute actor.
Whilst working there, Xavier met two famous actors, Panseca y Gamboa. They asked him to read a joke about a boy called Chabelo. He immediately put on a child-like voice. The actors liked his performance so much that they played the joke on Panseca’s radio programme. “I read it in the voice same as like a child – and that’s where Chabelo was born.”
Xavier was chosen to be the face of Pepsi Cola and toured Mexico advertising the product – and he even went further throughout Latin America.
Once his contract with Pepsi had ended, acting work dried up as he had become typecast – people considered him synonymous with the fizzy drink.
By now, Xavier had given up his medical studies – much to his father’s fury. He was grateful to Panseca who taught him the rudiments about working in television.
Xavier then got a job working in a show in New York, for minimal pay, before touring the USA with Tongolele (Yolanda Montes), an American dancer.
He also made a brief appearance in the film ‘El Extra’, starring Cantinflas.
Xavier married Cuban actress Angelita Castary, but the marriage only lasted three years.
Shortly after, Xavier got married again, to Teresa Miranda, known as ‘Teresita’.
They were to have three children; Oscar, Xavier Junior and Juan Gabriel.
Mexican TV recalled Xavier to recreate Chabelo with a show called ‘La Media Hora de Chabelo’ (the Chabelo half-hour).
From now on, Chabelo was his stage name, and everybody called him that – even his wife and family.
A new show quickly followed – ‘En Familia Con Chabelo’ (Family Time with Chabelo). This was a morning programme, first broadcast on November 26th, 1967. He played a TV host dressed as a child (with a distinctive squeaky voice) even though he was a full-grown man. It was a programme full of competitions, games, gifts and lots of clowning around.
There was a scandal in 1969, when Oralia Perez claimed that Chabelo was the father of her 9-month-old daughter, Leslie Lopez Perez – the result of an illicit affair. She challenged him to take a DNA test, which he refused. He paid the money she demanded – but continued to deny the child was his. It didn’t damage the show’s popularity.
During his programme, Chabelo climbed greased poles, ran around enlarged hamster wheels and crossed the TV studio with massive water balloons attached to both legs.
The highlight of the show was the final slot called ‘La Catafix’. Here the winners of the most prizes were able to gamble everything for an even bigger prize, hidden behind one of three doors – you just had to choose the right one.
Companies fell over themselves to donate to the programme (e.g. cars, boats, sweets, toys) and some even became famous because of their gifts, such as the Meubles Troncoso furniture company.
There is a phrase in the Mexican language for a risky gamble – ‘I’m not going to Catafix my dreams for something,’
There was also a slot on the show in which Chabelo inserted himself into famous moments in history, such as the Last Supper or the Big Bang.
The programme became so popular that it was broadcast throughout Latin America – and Chabelo became a household name. Millions of children throughout the continent watched it. He said, “Parents used the show to keep children quiet while they were trying to get more of a snooze”.
It became a world record breaking show, being live on air for 45 years. It was only off air twice – in 2009 during the Swine Flu pandemic and in 2012 when Pope Benedict 16th visited Mexico.
Chabelo even insisted on performing in the show when he was unwell.
Chabelo was included in the Guinness Book of Records for having played the same role for 57 years. He said, “For generations it’s been the same programme, same show, every Sunday, live”.
Meanwhile, he kept trying to make his film career take off. He fought mummies, vampires and monsters. Nothing worked…because he wasn’t playing Chabelo. His most popular film was ‘Coco’, because he used Chabelo’s voice.
In total, he appeared in thirty films and released many LPs – and had a spell as a TV producer.
His last show was broadcast on the 20th of December 2015. There was absolute fury in Mexico at its cancellation.
A Mexican journalist said at the end of the show, “I think this is why there is this image that he’s been here forever – not so much that he’s old, but because his show spans so many generations”.
Chabelo disappeared from public life suddenly. There were rumours his health was not good – suggestions of cancer and Alzheimer’s.
His son, Xavier Junior, has become a well-known music and theatre producer.
His first wife, Angelita, died, aged 86, during the Covid Pandemic of 2020.
Abdominal problems resulted in Chabelo’s death.
RIP – Relieving Irritated Parents
