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Xavier Cugat was a Catalan-Cuban-American bandleader born on January 1, 1900, in Girona, Spain. He emigrated with his family to Cuba at the age of five and trained as a classical violinist, performing with the Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional in Havana. Cugat arrived in New York on July 6, 1915, where he entered the world of show business, initially playing with a band called “The Gigolos” during the tango craze. He also worked as a cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times, with his caricatures being nationally syndicated. In the late 1920s, Cugat formed a tango band that gained some success in early short musical films. By the early 1930s, he began appearing with his group in feature films and took his band to New York for the 1931 opening of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where they became the resident band. Known for holding a small Chihuahua dog while conducting, Cugat alternated between New York and Los Angeles for the next thirty years, performing at hotels, on the radio, and in films such as Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) and Neptune's Daughter (1949). In 1940, he recorded the hit song "Perfidia" with singer Miguelito Valdés. Cugat was adept at following musical trends, recording hits for the conga, mambo, cha-cha-cha, and twist when they were popular. He was

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