Shorty Castro
Israel Castro Vélez, better known as Shorty Castro was a Puerto Rican comedian, actor, comedy writer, stage director, radio host, singer, dancer, composer and musician, with a career spanning over 60 years. During his youth, Castro spent time working with several orquestas in the west coast of Puerto Rico.
Early career
Castro was born in Mayagüez's in La Quinta barrio to Juan Castro Ayala and Victoria Vélez Cuevas, the second and oldest male child of twelve siblings. During his youth, Castro worked in a laundry, where he met baseball player Artie Wilson, who would bestow upon him the nickname of "Shorty" when picking up his uniform.He developed the skills necessary to become an entertainer: good singing voice, talent as a percussionist, and good timing for comedy. While working full-time as a messenger for the municipality of Mayagüez, Castro held odd jobs in numerous local orchestras, mostly as a singer and percussionist. These orchestras included William Manzano's and Carlos López's, Mingo and his Whoopee Kids; Charlie Miró y sus Pájaros Locos; and San Germán's Happy Hills' Orchestra.
One of these orchestras performed a gig at the Baños de Coamo, where producer Tommy Muñiz took notice of Castro's performance. After meeting him, Muñiz asked Castro to perform in La Taberna India, Muñiz's best rated television show, alongside Rafael Cortijo's band. Castro then returned to Mayagüez to prepare for his move to San Juan, which was supposed to occur on August 24, 1956, when he took a public bus halfway across the island. At a road stop in Quebradillas, however, Castro learned about the sudden death of Ramón Ortiz del Rivero, Puerto Rico's most popular comedian at the time.
With the country in mourning, Castro was forced to return to Mayagüez and wait one week for his television debut, on August 31. He played congas and sang a few of Mon Rivera's plenas with the Cortijo band that day. He later became a stagehand and musical bit player within the program. When his contracts ran out, Castro returned to singing, and made a second tour of New York with the Happy Hills' Orchestra.
Muñiz and other producers regularly staged shows with Puerto Rican talent at the Puerto Rico Theater near Spanish Harlem, in New York City. Asked to return to Puerto Rico by Muñiz, Castro left his orchestra and started playing regular comedy roles in Tommy Muñiz's productions such as "Hogar, Dulce Hogar" where he played Napoleoncito, the romantic interest of María Antonieta, a maid played by Carmen Belén Richardson. He later played a similar role, "Medio Metro", along Velda González's Azucena in "La Criada Malcriada", first on television, later on film. He and José Miguel Agrelot worked together in many comedy television programs and live appearances. Their professional relationship and friendship lasted over 40 years. Agrelot once joked about Castro: "we get along so well that I'll probably die in his birthday."
During the 1960s, comedian Castro would occasionally mimic the look of the current Miss Universe in his cross dressing character of "Ramoneta Cienfuegos de la O", making appearances in the second version of Desafiando a los Genios. With the makeup and wigs being prepared by Carmen Andino and Carmen Ayala of WAPA-TV. He also used the characters of Armando Galán y Figura and Don Bernabé as alternates. In 1967, Castro was given the role of Tito in the military comedy El special de Corona. He was one of several script writers and performers for the sketch show Esto no tiene nombre, which required several hours of writing per episode since it aired over a hundred different jokes per hour. His character of Ángelo became popular with the segment.
Actor José Reymundí began a strike against Producciones Tommy Muñiz in 1973, in particular against its administrator Hérnan Nigaglioni, claiming that he had been left out of a local production to favor foreigners. Soon afterwards, he was joined by more people as APATE joined and people like Castro decided not to cross the protest lines, while others like Candal actively joined the protests. Morales in turn decided to quit on the air. Only Alida Arizmendi challenged the protests. WAPA-TV decided not to intervene and distanced itself from the issue. In the end, Muñiz granted the demands of the protestors, such as health coverage or six month contracts, but Reymundí was unable to benefit due to the cancellation of the production due to the strike.
He hosted Máxima 940 am radio show "Shorty Castro a las 11", on weekday noons, together with long-time friend and fellow comedian Tito Negrón. After this show ended suddenly, Shorty stayed unemployed for a while until he started hosting "Shortyoganes", a new show in the same radio station and at the same daytime, along with his old friend Dr. Oswaldo Oganes. This show also ended quickly. He later hosted a third show, "Nuestras Raíces", again with Tito Negrón, on weekday mornings. On February 3, 1997, he participated in Los 75 años de don Tommy, a special dedicated to Muñiz's career.