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Ernesto Fonts y Sterling was born in Havana on September 27, 1869, the son of Juan Carlos Fonts y Palma and Leocadia Paula Sterling y Varona.

Not much is known about his first years. His father was exiled to Spain during the Cuban War of Independence that began in 1868. Ernesto remained under the guardianship of Miguel Aldama, who was married to Hilaria Fonts y Palma, Ernesto’s aunt on his father’s side. Exiles from the war in Cuba, Miguel and Hilaria resided in New York while Aldama represented the Government-in-Arms as the “Agente General” of the Republic of Cuba, appointed by President Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

By 1881, at 12 years of age, Ernesto had enrolled in Mount Pleasant Military Academy in New York’s Hudson Valley near the town of Ossining. The school emphasized for its students the values of “living with simplicity, honesty, rigor, kindness, and a true manhood in service of others,” qualities that were reflected in Ernesto’s adult character. In Mount Pleasant Ernesto also acquired a perfect command of the English language in addition to a military-like discipline, knowledge that would prove invaluable throughout his life.

In 1884, Ernesto returned to Havana, where Miguel Aldama was already living. He began working at the law firm of his older brother, Carlos Fonts y Sterling. On June 30, 1888, he graduated from the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de La Habana at 18 years of age with the degree “Perito Mercantil.” His development in the world of finance and accounting would mark his military and civic career. Miguel Aldama died that same year in 1888, and Ernesto continued working with his brother Carlos until 1895 when he enlisted in the revolutionary forces at the start of the War of Independence.

As a member of the Republic of Cuba’s revolutionary forces, Ernesto held roles with progressively more responsibility in the Government-in-Arms, excelling in financial administration. His first role, in 1895, was as the Administrador de Hacienda for the state of Las Villas. In July of 1896 he was named Subsecretario de Hacienda by the Consejo de Gobierno de la República. In February of 1897, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was named Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Segunda División, Quinto Cuerpo, of the Departamento Militar de Occidente of the Ejército Libertador. He was elected a Diputado to the Asamblea de Gobierno by the Quinto Cuerpo in July 1897. He was a signatory of the Constitución de La Yaya, and was named Secretario de Hacienda of the Government-in-Arms under the presidency of General Bartolomé Masó. By an order signed on May 17, 1898, by Bartolomé Masó and Domingo Méndez Capote, Ernesto ascended to the rank of Colonel de Caballería, effective August 6, 1897.

In 1899, when the war ended, Ernesto married María Luisa Acosta y Cruz-Muñoz; the couple had two children, Ernesto and Oscar. On January 27, 1899, Ernesto was named Interventor General del Estado of the Military Government of the Island of Cuba. At the beginning of 1901 (and possibly before) he took on the position of Assistant Auditor, and later, Deputy Auditor, of the military government during the first American intervention. At the inauguration of the Republic, he was named Interventor General de la República, a role that he executed during the administration of Tomás Estrada Palma. On March 26, 1906, Estrada Palma named him Secretario de Hacienda, a post that he was never able to carry out due to the second American intervention.

Ernesto later took on the role of Treasurer of the National Bank of Cuba, an institution for which his brother Oscar was a member of the board of directors. For some years he was unemployed and experienced economic difficulties, and as such was required to sell the home he had built in El Cerro, Calle Tulipán no. 6. In 1911 Mario García Menocal employed Ernesto to help him build the Central “Delicias,” of which Ernesto was named its first administrator. When Menocal assumed the presidency of the Republic in 1913, Ernesto also took charge of the Central “Chaparra,” both sugar mills belonging to the Cuban American Sugar Company, based out of New York with Menocal a member of the board of directors. In 1916, in addition to administering both sugar mills, Ernesto acquired a colony through the Alto Cedro Sugar Cane Company in Marcané, Oriente.

The events of 1916 and 1917, or, Menocal’s electoral fraud and the uprisings in the eastern region that threatened properties like “Delicias” and “Chaparra,” in addition to an accident that he suffered in Chaparra, served to worsen Ernesto’s health even more so than the war. There is fragmentary evidence in his personal archive of conflicts with Menocal as a result of armed confrontations in the sugar mill zone.

In August 1917, Ernesto resigned as administrator of the two centrales, effective December 31 of that year. He took on a position with less responsibilities as administrator of the Cuban Cane Sugar Corporation. In the last letter in his archive (a carbon copy of the original) he writes that he was still fighting to recuperate from the illness he experienced as a consequence of his final period as administrator of Chaparra. He wrote the letter on February 24, 1918. His address at that time was Calle 6 between 21 and 23 in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado. He died hardly three months later in that home, on May 20, 1918, at the age of 48. He was surrounded by his family. President Menocal immediately went to the residence upon hearing of Ernesto’s death. His coffin laid in state in the funeral chapel in City Hall, followed by his burial in Colón Cemetery.

On the first page of the June 1, 1918, Gaceta Oficial, a “parte oficial” from the Poder Ejecutivo was published, through which President Menocal let it be known that the Congress voted and approved an annual pension of 2,400 pesos for Sra. María Luisa Acosta, viuda de Fonts, and an annual pension of 600 pesos for each of his sons until they came of age.

Nace en La Habana el 27 de septiembre de 1869, hijo de Juan Carlos Fonts y Palma y Leocadia Paula Sterling y Varona.

Se conoce poco de sus primeros años. Su padre fue desterrado a España durante la guerra por la independencia de Cuba que se inició en 1868. Ernesto quedó bajo la tutela de Miguel Aldama, quien estaba casado con Hilaria Fonts y Palma, hermana del padre de Ernesto. Exiliados de la guerra en Cuba, Miguel e Hilaria residían en Nueva York mientras Aldama ocupaba la representación del gobierno en armas como Agente General de la República de Cuba por nombramiento del presidente Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

Ya para el año 1881, con doce años de edad, Ernesto había ingresado en Mount Pleasant Military Academy en el Valle del Hudson de Nueva York cerca del poblado de Ossining. La escuela enfatizaba a sus estudiantes los valores de “vivir con simplicidad, honestidad, rigurosidad, gentileza, y una verdadera hombría al servicio de los demás,” cualidades que se reflejan en el carácter adulto de Ernesto. En Mount Pleasant Ernesto también adquirió un dominio perfecto del idioma inglés además de una disciplina militar, conocimientos que le resultarían invaluables a lo largo de su vida.

En 1884 Ernesto regresa a La Habana, donde ya se había trasladado Miguel Aldama. Ingresa a trabajar en el bufete de su hermano mayor Carlos Fonts y Sterling. El 30 de junio de 1888, a la edad de diez y ocho, Ernesto se gradúa del Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de La Habana con el título de Perito Mercantil. Su formación en el mundo de las finanzas y la contabilidad marcarían su carrera militar y cívica. Miguel Aldama fallece ese mismo año de 1888, y Ernesto continúa trabajando con su hermano Carlos hasta 1895 cuando se alista en las fuerzas revolucionarias al estallar la guerra de independencia.

A la vez que formaba parte de las tropas del ejército de la República de Cuba, Ernesto ocupó cargos sucesivamente de mayor responsabilidad en el gobierno en armas, destacándose en la administración de finanzas. Su primer cargo, en 1895, fue el de Administrador de Hacienda del Estado de Las Villas. En julio de 1896 es nombrado Subsecretario de Hacienda por el Consejo de Gobierno de la República. En febrero de 1897, con el grado de Teniente Coronel, se le nombra Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Segunda División, Quinto Cuerpo, del Departamento Militar de Occidente del Ejército Libertador. Es electo Diputado a la Asamblea de Gobierno por el Quinto Cuerpo en julio de 1897. Firmante de la Constitución de La Yaya, es nombrado Secretario de Hacienda de la República en Armas bajo la presidencia del General Bartolomé Masó. Por orden firmada el 17 de mayo de 1898 por Bartolomé Masó y Domingo Méndez Capote, Ernesto es ascendido a Coronel de Caballería con fecha efectiva del 6 de agosto de 1897.

En 1899, al terminar la guerra, Ernesto se casa con María Luisa Acosta y Cruz-Muñoz, de cuyo matrimonio tuvieron dos hijos, Ernesto y Oscar.
El 27 de enero de 1899 Ernesto es nombrado Interventor General del Estado, Gobierno Militar de la Isla de Cuba. A principios de 1901 (y posiblemente antes) ocupa el cargo de Assistant Auditor, y después, Deputy Auditor del gobierno militar de la primera intervención estadounidense. Al inaugurarse la República, es nombrado Interventor General de la República, cargo que desempeña durante toda la administración de Tomás Estrada Palma. El 26 de marzo de 1906 Estrada Palma lo nombra Secretario de Hacienda, cargo que no llega a desempeñar por la imposición de una segunda intervención de Estados Unidos.

Posteriormente Ernesto ocupó el cargo de Tesorero del Banco Nacional de Cuba, institución en la cual su hermano Oscar fungía como miembro de la junta de directores. En algunos de esos años no siempre estuvo empleado y encaró dificultades económicas, por lo cual se vio obligado a vender la casa que había construido en El Cerro, no. 6 de la Calle Tulipán. En 1911 Mario García Menocal emplea a Ernesto para que lo ayude a construir el Central “Delicias” del cual Ernesto es nombrado su primer administrador. Cuando Menocal asume la presidencia de la República en 1913, Ernesto queda a cargo además del “Chaparra,” ambos ingenios de la Cuban American Sugar Company, compañía de Nueva York en la cual Menocal era miembro de la junta directiva. En 1916, además de administrar ambos ingenios, Ernesto adquirió una colonia con la Alto Cedro Sugar Cane Company en Marcané, Oriente.

Los eventos de 1916 y 1917, o sea, el fraude electoral de Menocal y los alzamientos en la región oriental que amenazaron propiedades como “Delicias” y “Chaparra”, sumados a un accidente que sufrió en el Chaparra, sirvieron para quebrar aún más un estado de salud que había quedado debilitado por la guerra. Hay evidencia fragmentaria en su archivo personal de conflictos con Menocal como resultado de los enfrentamientos armados en la zona de los ingenios.

En agosto de 1917 Ernesto dimite como administrador de los dos centrales, efectivo el 31 de diciembre de ese año. Toma una posición con menos responsabilidades como administrador de la Cuban Cane Sugar Corporation. En la última carta en su archivo (copia a carbón de la original) escribe que todavía luchaba para recuperarse de la enfermedad que sufrió como consecuencia de su última etapa como administrador del Chaparra. La carta la escribe el 24 de febrero de 1918. Su dirección en esa fecha era calle 6 entre 21 y 23 en el reparto habanero de El Vedado. Fallece apenas tres meses después en esa casa, el 20 de mayo de 1918, a los 48 años de edad. A su lado se encontraba su familia. El Presidente Menocal acudió inmediatamente a la residencia al enterarse del fallecimiento de Ernesto. El féretro con sus restos fue velado en capilla ardiente en el salón de sesiones del ayuntamiento de la ciudad, seguido por el entierro en la necrópolis de Colón.

En la primera página de la Gaceta Oficial del 1ro de junio de 1918 se publica un parte oficial del Poder Ejecutivo por el cual el Presidente Menocal hacer saber que el Congreso votó, y el sanciona, una pensión anual de 2.400 pesos a la Sra. María Luisa Acosta, viuda de Fonts, y a cada uno de sus hijos una pensión de 600 pesos anuales hasta que arriben a la mayoría de edad.

Miguel Rodez was born in 1956 in Casablanca, Cuba. Rodez and his family immigrated to Manhattan, New York, in 1969, later moving to Miami in 1973, where he currently resides. His art is made on multiple media including drawing, installation, painting, photography, and sculpture.

Norma Zúñiga is a Cuban-American comedy and drama actress. Born in Havana, Cuba, on October 20, 1940, Zúñiga’s flair for the arts was perceptible from an early age; at the age of eight she began dancing in her uncle’s theater tent called Carpa Alegría, and by the age of 14 she was a part of Enrique Arredondo’s - a comedic actor famous for Teatro Bufo among many other enterprises - theater company.1 Later, she joined a group of dancers who participated in the Palette Club show in Havana. In 1960, Zúñiga left Cuba and pursued a life in South Florida.

Zúñiga has had a prolific career, starring in multiple comedy shows and soap operas on television. In 1962, as well as much later in her career, she participated in Sábado Gigante (1962-2015), which was an eclectic entertainment show that was not only Univision’s longest-running TV series, but also the longest-running television variety series in world TV history. She also featured in the TV adaptation of La Tremenda Corte - originally a comedy radio show broadcast during World War II - in which she played the role of Nananina. In 1977 she appeared as a guest star on the program "¿Qué pasa, USA?,” which was significant in that it was the first bilingual television program (English / Spanish) produced by the WPBT channel, Miami's public television station. For her starring role in the play, "Enriqueta se ha puesto a dieta (Enriqueta Has Gone on a Diet)," described by Rodolfo J. Cortina as “address[ing] the ideal of feminine beauty in both cultural realms (Cuban/American) and explor[ing] the problems of culturally derived models of behavior,” (15) Zúñiga won an award in 1985. In addition, she has also acted in countless soap opera roles, including on the shows "Morelia;" "Acuamarina;" "Gata Salvaje;" "Enamorada;" "Bajo las riendas del amor;" and "Ángel rebelde," among others.

In terms of her personal and political views Zúñiga was anti-revolution, which led to her leaving Cuba for Miami; in 2001 she stated that she would never return to Cuba while Fidel Castro was still there. However, despite living happily in Miami since 1960, Zúñiga has never lost her sense of Cuban identity. She stated, “All the time I am thinking about Cuba and I cry to return … I constantly listen to Cuban music, I read Cuban literature, I watch television in Spanish … anything that reminds me of my homeland.” Though she has extended family still in Cuba, her closest family - including her two children, Ramiro and Barbie, and her grandchildren - reside with her in Miami.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

1. Teatro Bufo or Theater of the Baffoon is a form of Cuban musical theater that developed in the middle of the nineteenth century at the peak of the slave trade. As part of the show, white actors would perform in blackface - similarly, but distinct, to minstrel shows in the U.S. - and portray three main characters: el negrito, la mulata, and el gallego, who represented the three distinct social and ethnic groups of the Cuban nation. From the age of 17, Arrendondo played the role of el negrito. For more information see: Jill Lane. "Blackface Cuba 1840-1895." U of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.

Example fonds Creator history (ISAD 3.2.2). Note that this will be added to the related authority record for Creator (ISAD 3.2.1).

The building now known as the Coconut Grove Playhouse was built in 1926 and began its life as a movie theater in 1927. Built by real estate entrepreneurs, Irving J. Thomas and Fin L. Pierce, the property was constructed to echo “a Spanish rococo palace, fabulous for its time” (Cohan 3); its opulence was not merely superficial, however, for the Playhouse even featured a primitive (and, admittedly, largely unsuccessful) attempt at air conditioning. In the successive years after 1927, when the theater was partially rebuilt due to hurricane damage, the theater enjoyed success, screening films accompanied by music and hosting glamorous evenings, although this was not to last. Throughout the 1930s, the theater only screened serials, reruns, and the occasional amateur production; the beginning of the theater’s history evinced what architect Jorge L. Hernandez would decades later call the Playhouse’s “boom and bust cycle of patterns” (“Coconut Grove Playhouse Restoration Project”). After being used for air force classes during World War II and briefly functioning as a legitimate theater hosting four productions, the theater, dilapidated and in need of renovation, closed until it was purchased in 1954 by George Engle - beginning its modern history.

After 1954, the Playhouse’s history was simultaneously marred by accusations of management fraud and mismanagement, while also featuring as a central actor in wider aspects of South Florida history, such as the racial history of Miami. When the Playhouse opened in 1956, Miami was still a heavily segregated city under Jim Crow; it was indisputably a “southern white institution” (Cohan 54). However, due to the stalwart determination of a few key black figures, the racial history of the Playhouse would be irrevocably changed. In 1960, the African American actor Clarence Thomas, who was a long term resident of Hialeah, Florida, as well as a friend and frequent stage co-star of Black Miamian actor John Archie, challenged Owen Phillips (the producer at the time) to desegregate the Playhouse, four years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would mandate the desegregation of public places. Despite Thomas’ success, little changed at the Playhouse in terms of audience demographics until the intervention of two African American women: Vinnette Carroll and Corky Dozier.1 While black actors were beginning to achieve visibility onstage at the Playhouse, the seating area continued to be occupied by an almost exclusively white audience, necessarily, if black actors were in leading roles in an integration-resistant Miami, a “liberal white audience” (Fishko qtd. in Cohan 55). When Vinnette Carroll, who was the first African American woman to direct on Broadway, brought the touring company for her play "Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope to the Playhouse," it received a lukewarm reception despite the fact that it ran for over 1000 performances on Broadway and won four awards. The cast, led by actress Cornelia 'Corky' Dozier, who were unwilling to close the show prematurely, rallied in Miami’s black neighborhoods, performing in the street, in schools, and at churches, while also securing advertising space in local newspapers and promoting the show on radio stations with large numbers of black listeners. The effect both inside and outside of the theater was palpable, “Some white people in Miami had parties for the cast and invited blacks to their homes for the first times in their lives. At a time when there was so much unrest … Cope … delivered a universal message of understanding,” stated Dozier (qtd. in Cohan 56).

George Engle brought new meaning to the notion of a 'present' owner. In addition to the one million dollars he had spent on purchasing the Playhouse in 1954 and the subsequent four hundred thousand dollars he had spent on its renovation and upkeep by 1960, Engle put all of his energy into making the Playhouse a cultural center of his community - funding the building of a Celebrity Room and art gallery on the premises. More so, he also negotiated staff contracts and disputes, and even picked up litter. However, Engle had grown tired and in 1960 he named Owen Phillips as producer - in charge of all daily operations - of the Playhouse. This shift was not to last, however, as the theater closed early 1962. It was empty and unused for months until, with the assistance of Martin Caplan of the Roosevelt Theater of Miami Beach, Stan Seiden and Zev Bufman brought "Pajama Tops," based on the French play "Moumou", to the Playhouse. Upon visiting the Playhouse, despite the fact that “it was stuffy and smelled of mildew,” (Cohan 43) Bufman claimed that he had fallen “in love with that theater” (Cohan 39) and the Gala premiere for Pajama Tops was set for October 9th, 1962.

Bufman’s time at the Playhouse proved fruitful for both the theater and the wider Coconut Grove community. In 1963 when "A Thousand Clowns" opened, Bufman reopened the art gallery for an exhibit of clown paintings, which “set a precedent that gathered momentum with ensuing productions” (Cohan 45). What began as a quirky idea soon spawned a local tradition that captured the eyes of the country’s art world; Cohan writes, “Never before had the theme of a show extended beyond the doors of the Playhouse … Within a few months, the Coconut Grove Association was formed to manage what has become an annual event … What had begun as a gimmick grew into one of the most prestigious juried art shows in the nation” (45-46).

In 1965 Bufman purchased the Playhouse from George Engle and had a three-hundred-seat balcony installed; by 1970, he had “effectively used the Playhouse to catalyze his career” (Cohan 49) and sold it to comedian Eddie Bracken. Though Bracken’s management of the theater appeared sound initially, things soon started to disintegrate. In 1971, Bracken sought out subscriptions for the following season from the community, offering up a range of events such as champagne parties and guest speakers; he was sent checks exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, however, the season never happened because the Playhouse was bankrupt.

After much rumor concerning the fate of the Playhouse, it was bought a few months later by Arthur Canto and Robert Fishco - both of whom had worked at the Playhouse before. They spent over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on much-needed repairs and renovations, and on the premise of “ethical responsibility” (qtd. in Cohan 53) and regaining the trust of the community, they honored subscriptions Bracken had offered up previously. Under Fishco, the Playhouse enjoyed a few years of relatively unencumbered prosperity; however, in 1976 the theater both lost essential financial backing and also faced competition because of the opening of other theaters in the area, so Fishco decided to sell to the non-profit Players Repertory Theater. Though successful in terms of the art they produced, financial issues eventually forced the sale of the Playhouse to the State of Florida in 1979.

In 1985, Arnold Mittelman, founder and director of the New York Free Theater and the Whole Theater Company, assumed the role of producing artistic director at the Playhouse. Though in his first year he significantly reduced the Playhouse’s one-million-dollar debt and spearheaded many exciting plans for the Playhouse’s future, by 2006 - the fateful year the Playhouse closed its doors permanently - Mittelman’s name was tarnished by controversial accusations of mismanaged financial operations. By 2006, the Playhouse had accrued debts in excess of four million dollars and just ten days into a production of "Sonia Flew," which was meant to run for four weeks, the Playhouse’s doors were closed. The Playhouse’s Board authorized a committee to launch a forensic audit into the financial state of the theater, a necessary action given one Board member’s admission that “We weren't paying attention” (qtd. in Zink) to the finances, until it was too late.

Since the closure of the Playhouse in 2006, a number of proposals have been made for what should become of the abandoned building. In 2013, Miami-Dade County and Florida International University entered into a ninety-nine-year joint lease agreement with the State of Florida under the premise that the property would be used as a cultural facility to be managed by the company, GableStage. For the next six years, the administration of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez developed an agreement with the state to restore some aspects of the theater, such as the distinctive wing-shaped Mediterranean exterior, which is protected as a historic landmark. However, their plan would involve demolishing much of the interior and constructing a much smaller three-hundred-seat theater and large parking lot, deemed financially prudent in terms of construction and also profitable once finished. The project’s principal architect, Jorge L. Hernandez, stated “Something very special happened here and we’re going to bring it back” (“Coconut Grove Playhouse Restoration Project”). Gimenez’s plan was much to the remiss of many local preservationists and neighborhood activists, who argue that the entire building should be protected and renovated due to its local historical significance. Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor, is in agreement with the residents and in May 2019 he invoked the first veto of his administration by overturning a vote by the City Commission to approve the twenty-three-million-dollar redevelopment plan. Once again, the fate of the Coconut Grove Playhouse is undecided; however, thanks to the efforts of a team from the University of Miami Libraries Special Collections and the Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables, who went on a salvage mission in the Playhouse in 2013, up to eight-hundred boxes of historically-significant material was saved from the dilapidated building and is currently preserved to form the Coconut Grove Playhouse Collection.

Written By:

Laura Bass
UGrow fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited

“Coconut Grove Playhouse Restoration Project.” Jorge Graupera Films, March 2018, vimeo.com/260495579. Accessed Nov. 2019.

Cohan, Carol. "Broadway by the Bay: Thirty Years at the Coconut Grove Playhouse." The Pickering Press, 1987.

Zink, Jack. “Coconut Grove goes fallow.” Variety, vol. 402, no. 13, May 15 2006.

Notes

1. Corky Dozier is an important figure within the South Florida theater scene. She is an Emmy Award-winning director, playwright, producer and Broadway performer, a trailblazer for integrating theater in South Florida and expanding the scope of the arts for multicultural communities. She developed the first state-funded arts intervention program for social change following the McDuffie riots in Miami, and wrote and produced a nationally recognized PBS documentary about the incident that received several awards. As founder of the Coconut Grove Playhouse Children’s Theater, Dozier was instrumental in opening doors for aspiring actors by providing opportunities never before available. She has been recognized as an Ambassador of the Arts for children and minorities by Miami-Dade County, and in 1999 was honored by the state of Florida for her outstanding public service. In 2018, Dozier was honored at the African American Achievers Awards.

2. Coconut Grove Playhouse Records, Special Collections, University of Miami Libraries.