'Cane' confirms that Latinos have broken through
September 4, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
When I was a little kid in a whiter America, all I knew about Latinos I learned from Don Rickles and "Chico and the Man." Both Rickles and "the Man" kept telling me Latinos were lazy thieves. Then I grew up and got angry at their nasty jokes.
I mention this to Rita Moreno of "Cane," the new CBS drama starring Jimmy Smits, and she looks at me crestfallen.
"And that became your perception of Latinos," she sighs.
TV has improved, of course. But Latinos are only now gaining more positive attention, as networks discover there's money in that huge demographic.
Last year's debut of "Ugly Betty" established -- on a network -- a hit series with a constructive image of an ensemble cast of Latino heritage.
"Betty" co-star Ana Ortiz, a New Yorker with Puerto Rican heritage, told me her job offers before "Betty" fit cliches.
"It's Maria the maid, or Maria the drug-dealer's girlfriend, or Maria the sassy spitfire," Ortiz, 36, said. Or, "We come in and we have an affair with the husband, we ruin the family, and then we leave."
On Sept. 25, CBS debuts the Tuesday night serial drama "Cane." Moreno, who plays the mother to Jimmy Smits' lead character, points out the series may be the first show on English-speaking, American TV that revolves around a rich, successful and assimilated Latino family.
Moreno was, you know, a Puerto Rican-American who wasn't even the Maria in "West Side Story"; she played Anita to white Natalie Wood's Puerto Rican Maria. Since she's seen the business evolve, I ask her if we are living during the dawn of actual Latino integration on English-speaking TV.
"The door is finally not ajar, it's open," she says. "The door is finally open."
Moreno, 75, pried her way into closed doors for generations. She says she suffered Hollywood indignities -- as both a Latina and as a woman -- even though she established a stellar career, with roles growing from "Singin' in the Rain" to "West Side Story" and "The King and I."
There was, for instance, the movie producer who'd never look her in the eyes and referred to Moreno as "her" in her presence.
"What made it even worse is I accepted it. But you have to remember it was the times. It's very hard for me to talk about this without getting very emotional," she says, looking close to weeping, despite her usual cheerfulness.
"But because it still hurts, I get angry at myself for still smarting."
Moreno credits Smits with breaking a barrier in the 1980s by commanding a central role in "L.A. Law."
"You cannot imagine the effect that Jimmy has had on the perception of Latinos," Moreno says. "For me, that was the changing point, when Jimmy got the part of Victor Sifuentes. See, I even remember the character name. I never do that. He was fabulous."
I tell Smits, who's both producing and starring in "Cane," my angry story about Don Rickles and "Chico and the Man." He reminds me I was also watching reruns of the beloved and successful Desi Arnaz in "I Love Lucy."
"I think it's part of the history of America, in terms of what the assimilation process is," says Smits, 52. "Go back to the '20s and '30s, [and look at] how different groups have had stereotypes. And through the assimilation process, [they] have become part of the mainstream.
"That's true of Latinos in this country, as well."
It's interesting to hear Smits talk about assimilation, since there's a part in "Cane" where Smits' character tells a hard laborer in his employ that it's time to talk English, because he's been in the States for 10 months -- plenty of time to have learned it, he says.
Smits says he was drawn to "Cane" by the writing, the production team and the character-based story about a family running a rum and sugar company in Florida.
"Does it have a cultural specificity to it? Absolutely," he says. "It has a kind of an aspirational quality, in terms of a family you might not have seen before. I just think, on a week-to-week basis: We're doing an American television show on CBS."
Smits, whose character was elected president at the end of "The West Wing," is humble about his own role as a groundbreaker.
"It's not lost upon me that the work I've amassed these past years has had a positive impact," he says. "But I'm not walking around as a role model. I'm just trying to keep the work honest and as challenging to me as possible."
delfman@suntimes.com
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
When I was a little kid in a whiter America, all I knew about Latinos I learned from Don Rickles and "Chico and the Man." Both Rickles and "the Man" kept telling me Latinos were lazy thieves. Then I grew up and got angry at their nasty jokes.
I mention this to Rita Moreno of "Cane," the new CBS drama starring Jimmy Smits, and she looks at me crestfallen.
"And that became your perception of Latinos," she sighs.
TV has improved, of course. But Latinos are only now gaining more positive attention, as networks discover there's money in that huge demographic.
Last year's debut of "Ugly Betty" established -- on a network -- a hit series with a constructive image of an ensemble cast of Latino heritage.
"Betty" co-star Ana Ortiz, a New Yorker with Puerto Rican heritage, told me her job offers before "Betty" fit cliches.
"It's Maria the maid, or Maria the drug-dealer's girlfriend, or Maria the sassy spitfire," Ortiz, 36, said. Or, "We come in and we have an affair with the husband, we ruin the family, and then we leave."
On Sept. 25, CBS debuts the Tuesday night serial drama "Cane." Moreno, who plays the mother to Jimmy Smits' lead character, points out the series may be the first show on English-speaking, American TV that revolves around a rich, successful and assimilated Latino family.
Moreno was, you know, a Puerto Rican-American who wasn't even the Maria in "West Side Story"; she played Anita to white Natalie Wood's Puerto Rican Maria. Since she's seen the business evolve, I ask her if we are living during the dawn of actual Latino integration on English-speaking TV.
"The door is finally not ajar, it's open," she says. "The door is finally open."
Moreno, 75, pried her way into closed doors for generations. She says she suffered Hollywood indignities -- as both a Latina and as a woman -- even though she established a stellar career, with roles growing from "Singin' in the Rain" to "West Side Story" and "The King and I."
There was, for instance, the movie producer who'd never look her in the eyes and referred to Moreno as "her" in her presence.
"What made it even worse is I accepted it. But you have to remember it was the times. It's very hard for me to talk about this without getting very emotional," she says, looking close to weeping, despite her usual cheerfulness.
"But because it still hurts, I get angry at myself for still smarting."
Moreno credits Smits with breaking a barrier in the 1980s by commanding a central role in "L.A. Law."
"You cannot imagine the effect that Jimmy has had on the perception of Latinos," Moreno says. "For me, that was the changing point, when Jimmy got the part of Victor Sifuentes. See, I even remember the character name. I never do that. He was fabulous."
I tell Smits, who's both producing and starring in "Cane," my angry story about Don Rickles and "Chico and the Man." He reminds me I was also watching reruns of the beloved and successful Desi Arnaz in "I Love Lucy."
"I think it's part of the history of America, in terms of what the assimilation process is," says Smits, 52. "Go back to the '20s and '30s, [and look at] how different groups have had stereotypes. And through the assimilation process, [they] have become part of the mainstream.
"That's true of Latinos in this country, as well."
It's interesting to hear Smits talk about assimilation, since there's a part in "Cane" where Smits' character tells a hard laborer in his employ that it's time to talk English, because he's been in the States for 10 months -- plenty of time to have learned it, he says.
Smits says he was drawn to "Cane" by the writing, the production team and the character-based story about a family running a rum and sugar company in Florida.
"Does it have a cultural specificity to it? Absolutely," he says. "It has a kind of an aspirational quality, in terms of a family you might not have seen before. I just think, on a week-to-week basis: We're doing an American television show on CBS."
Smits, whose character was elected president at the end of "The West Wing," is humble about his own role as a groundbreaker.
"It's not lost upon me that the work I've amassed these past years has had a positive impact," he says. "But I'm not walking around as a role model. I'm just trying to keep the work honest and as challenging to me as possible."
delfman@suntimes.com
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