Learning a new profession at the age of 90: María Lejárraga (María Martínez Sierra) and the radio in her exile in Buenos Aires

Abstract

This article addresses a little-known aspect of the life and work of the Spanish playwright María de la O Lejárraga (María Martínez Sierra): her relationship with the radio, especially during her exile in Buenos Aires between 1951 and 1974. First, we offer a brief overview of her participation in radio broadcast in Spain, from the beginning of her collaboration to the end of her republican period and her first exile in France. In addition to a short collaboration with the BBC’s Hispanic American section in 1946, we analyze Lejárraga’s radio collaborations in Buenos Aires, many of them unpublished, especially with Radio Nacional Argentina, to a lesser extent, with Radio Municipal. For the state-owned radio station, she wrote several series on different subjects (Cómo sueñan los hombres a las mujeres and Mis fantasmas) and played a prominent role in the radio drama program Las dos carátulas. Las dos carátulas broadcasted plays of her signature, where she premiered texts and adaptations there, such as Rinconete y Cortadillo or La muerte de la matriarca. Moreover, in this radio broadcast she made presentations of other contemporary authors, such as Emilia Pardo Bazán or Jacinto Benavente, and even tried to promote young Spanish writers of the time, including Lauro Olmo, Antonio Gala or José Luis Sampedro.