Argentina Mercedes Gonzalez Morel Valerio Urea, commonly known as Monica Boyar, was a Dominican-born American nightclub singer, who was popular in the 1940s and 1950s for her calypso, and Afro-Cuban style songs.
22 Facts About Monica Boyar
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2.
Monica Boyar was an actress, primarily on stage; and a fashion designer, focused on celebrity outfits and costume design.
3.
Monica Boyar introduced merengue dance to the United States in 1939.
4.
Monica Boyar was a dedicated student of the folk music of all countries.
5.
Monica Boyar was initially a soprano singing voice, but found that she disliked that and switched to a tenor, which was followed by a contralto in her later years.
6.
Monica Boyar taught the dance to Arthur Murray during the 1939 event.
7.
When Monica Boyar introduced calypso songs to America, many felt the music was not commercial.
8.
Monica Boyar introduced a new song, That's Why A Woman Loves A Heel, in October 1945.
9.
Monica Boyar entertained at Ciro's in Mexico City and the Hotel Nacional in Havana.
10.
Monica Boyar contended that Boyar's bongo drummer kept him awake.
11.
Monica Boyar was a fashion designer for stage and motion picture stars.
12.
Monica Boyar had over two hundred gowns to wear to performances in her New York City apartment.
13.
Monica Boyar appeared in the three-minute short film, Princess Papaya.
14.
Monica Boyar played a singer in an episode of the American television show Mister Peepers, in 1952.
15.
Monica Boyar appeared in the Broadway production by Tennessee Williams, Summer and Smoke, as the character "Rosa Gonzalez".
16.
Monica Boyar starred as the Hawaiian wife named Emmaloa in the stage production of 13 Daughters, a short-lived Broadway musical by Eaton Magoon Jr.
17.
Monica Boyar was widowed when her husband was captured and executed after landing at Luperon, Puerto Plata in 1949 as part of a plot against Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.
18.
Monica Boyar agreed to pay US $19,000 in lieu of alimony, by monthly installments of $500.
19.
Monica Boyar married comedian Lee Tully in March 1958, and divorced him in Mexico three months later.
20.
Monica Boyar was friends with Marlon Brando, who visited her when she was hospitalized at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, in January 1955.
21.
Monica Boyar lived in Las Vegas, Nevada in late life, after her retirement.
22.
Monica Boyar died on October 2,2013, in Las Vegas, from complications due to stroke at age 92.