ABSTRACT
Alberto Vacarezza was one of Argentina’s most popular dramatists, outstanding among his one hundred or more works are sainetes (see sainete) (multi-sketch dramatic genre developed in the River Plate region). El conventillo de La Paloma (The Slum Where La Paloma Lived) (1929) was presented both in the Teatro Colon and in travelling circus tents, as well as adapted for radio, television and cinema. Tu cuna jue un conventillo (Born in the Slums) (1921) stood out for its self-conscious language born out of lunfardo and cocoliche. Vacarezza was notable for his dramatic skill, his versification and his ability to invent new words.
