Prime Mexican actress Carmen Salinas just passed away, and while the country is mourning this terrible loss, they’re all remembering the iconic characters that made her career such a legendary one. However, ‘Carmelita,’ as people called her, was much more than her artistic career; she was a very friendly woman who always made people smile. Carmen Salinas was even considered the ‘mother of journalists’ because of the loving and amicable way in which she treated the press, and it is perhaps due to the good vibes that even luck seemed to like her a lot.
As you got from the title, we’re particularly talking about that time when she hit the jackpot and took home the main prize at the lottery, with a gifted ticket! This is how the story goes.
It was 1966 and Carmen Salinas was still working hard to make it in the showbiz business. She was married to musician Pedro Plascencia, and the couple had two children, Pedro and María Eugenia. The family’s economy wasn’t at its best, and they were really struggling to pay the bills and keep up with rent. Still, Pedro and Carmen were happily working together, making small private shows to make a living.
On December 23, of that year, the couple was performing at a Christmas event at a restaurant. At these shows, the actress used to imitate famous characters and it was while making her stunt of the great María Conesa, that she decided to make things more entertaining and ask an old man from the audience to dance with her. By the end of the song, the man thanked her and gave her what she thought was just a tip. She finished her show and back in the dressing room she realized the man had given her a lottery ticket.
“I remember that night at El Parador, when as part of my performance imitating the great María Conesa, I had the idea of asking an elderly man to dance. When I walked into the dressing room, I realized it was a lottery ticket for the next day,” says Carmen Salinas.
The next day, on Christmas Eve, Salinas invited her musicians to dine with the family. When they talked about the ticket show, one of them decided to check out the winning numbers of the Christmas prize in the newspaper. To everybody’s surprise, Carmen had the winning ticket! The prize was 350 thousand pesos, which back in the day was really a fortune.
The evening went by with everybody suggesting things she could spend her prize on. But she had it all clear; she knew that her family needed a stable home without the pressure of making enough money by the end of the month to pay the rent. She bought the house she lived in for the rest of her life. It was just the beginning of a wonderful life and an iconic career for the great Carmelita Salinas.
Photos from IG: @carmensalinas_56