his year 2008 will be the thirtieth anniversary of Norberto Aroldi's death and it seems, as Alfredo Le Pera wrote, that life is like a short breath and, in this case, thirty years is just nothing. Aroldi’s was cut when he was 47.

This Discepolian skinny guy did not belong to that pleiad of poets and bohemians that preceded him but he had a chronologically short life like most them, and he also encompassed a lot. Maybe he needed more breath to write some more tangos.

The theatre and the movies called him and he gave back his happy smile and boastingly showed his Belmondian ugliness (after Jean Paul Belmondo). In every field he fought with a singular talent, he evidenced his capacity of observer tinged with a local color: playwright, poet, TV and movie script writer, actor.

He created characters closely linked to Buenos Aires and its people. Among them, Cacho de la esquina and Los chantas. He knew how to laugh at himself: «I don’t even cast a shadow», he used to say ironically, and when he was not allowed to smoke, he spliced the cigarettes in two aiming to smoke less.

He announced the chronicle of his death on television or at any venue when he was asked to recite a poem. At El Viejo Almacén he used to recite a poem dedicated to his children Sebastián and María Florencia.

He affirmed that nobody would tie him to the casket (coffin). His soul would go to the Obelisk straight ahead. The medical report said that he had had an acute pancreatitis. In 1977 he had undergone a serious surgical procedure that undermined his reserves.

Deeply soaked with the essence of Buenos Aires, a true tango man, he wrote his first piece at age 16 together with the musician Tito Ferrari, and he entitled it “Mi eterna cuna”. This waltz tells us about his early world of tenderness forged by blows of street poetry.

Julio Sosa recorded with the Francini-Pontier Orchestra his tango, “Pa' que sepan como soy”. Some of his numbers are: “Volvamos a la vida”, “Bien de bute”, “A los muchachos de mi barrio”, “Muchachos, a mí no me cambia nadie”.

Published in Clarín on March 21, 1998. In the first phrase we have changed 1998 for 2008 and 20 years for 30.

Director’s Note: He wrote the script for 20 motion pictures between 1964 and 1981. Among the most well-known we have El andador (1967) —based on a story he also wrote—, directed by Enrique Carreras. A curiosity: the starring couple of the film was Tita Merello and Jorge Salcedo. Several years later, the play was premiered on theatre with the same actress and its author, Norberto Aroldi, in the male role.

Other films: Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina and Amor libre (both in 1969), Amalio Reyes, un hombre, directed by Enrique Carreras with Hugo Del Carril as lead actor and David Kohon’s Con alma y vida, (both in 1970), and En el gran circo (1974).

He also wrote the plot of Los chantas (1975). And he appeared in several films, the most well-known: Con alma y vida (music by Astor Piazzolla), in which he placed the main role alongside the actress María Aurelia Bisutti and Beba Bidart as guest artist.

His first appearance in the movies was in Pobres habrá siempre in 1954. He also performed in theatre and, in the early 60s he was given a grant to travel to Italy where he furthered his studies and besides came to know the cinema director Federico Fellini and other great creators of Europe. He also lived in Mexico, a country where he started his career as writer and script writer.