Claudio Amorim 1934 - 1993 (uncle)

Claudio Amorim's 'Carteira de Saúde' (Health book) issued on 11 June 1947; Claudio lived on Avenida Rio Claro, 69, Marília-SP; on the right Claudio's 'Carteira de Trabalho' (Worker's book) shows he started working at Hospital Maríla S.A. as a nurse-assistant on 1st January 1958, having left the job 3 months later on 31st March 1958. 

My Mother had 6 brothers & 5 sisters; my Father had 3 brothers & 3 sisters, so I ended up having 9 uncles and 8 aunts. Most married and had children too. I had a large family. From my Mother's side uncles & aunts were older people for she had been the baby daugher. On my Father's side they were younger for he was only the 2nd oldest. From all my 9 uncles, Claudio Amorim was # 7 and perhaps the one I had most contact with for a variety of reasons. 

1958 is the farthest back in time I remember uncle Claudio Amorim, when he lived with his wife Francisca and their 4 children in Lácio-SP, a town 8 km east of Marília. He probably lived there for rents must have been lower in the outskirts. One day I went to Lácio with him. He probably needed to fetch something at home and took his 9 year nephew along. It didn't take long for Claudio & his family to move back to Marília, to live on the small wooden house built on the backyard of aunt Dulce's brick house on Avenida Independência between rua Mato Grosso & rua Inconfidência. 

Claudio & his family must have lived in that small house for a few weeks for before 1958 was out they said goodbye and moved to São Paulo, where his brother Mario Amorim worked as a social worker at Hospital das Clinicas and managed to find Claudio employment at that hospital. 

I remember the day Claudio & family left Marília to move to São Paulo, 500 km east. It must have been September 1958, for Reinaldo, their fourth child had been born on 18 May 1958, was still a baby being carried in his mother's arms when they all walked past our house on Rua Mato Grosso, 393, on their way to Marília railway station to get the 7:00 o'clock evening train to São Paulo. Aunt Francisca waved goodbye to my Mother and us all who were at the balcony. 

It would be more than 2 years the next time I would see them again. My own family finally moved to São Paulo on 16 December 1960. My father with Dulce's husband José Coelho, had already moved there circa May 1960. Father & Zé Coelho rented a small place on Rua da Consolação where they set up a shoe repair shop while we waited in Marília until the school year was through for us to join them there. 

We went to live at Rua Simpatia, 42, in Vila Madalena. The very first week we were in the new house, Claudio showed up after work and took me with him to Rua Iperó, 11-A, where he lived with Francisca (29), Claudinho (8), Claudete (5), Jacinto (4) and Reinaldo (2). Francisca had yet another pregnancy while living in Vila Madalena but the baby-girl was still-born on 22nd November 1959.  

I still remember that particular day for Claudio and I walked up rua Simpatia all the way until we reached rua João Moura, turned left, went past rua Madalena and turned the next street which was rua Iperó and got to his place which was actually a bedroom with a double-bed, one bunkbed and a small kitchen. Claudio and family wouldn't live too much longer in Vila Madelena, for he had bought a lot in far-away Rio Pequeno where he planned to build a house so he didn't have to pay rent any more.

Vila Madalena-Pinheiros region: we lived on Rua Simpatia, 42; so to get to Uncle Claudio's place we went up rua Simpatia until we got to Rua João Moura, turned left, went past Rua Madalena, turned left the next street which was Rua Iperó, walked up some 100 metres and got to his little house. The irony of it all was that Uncle Mário (Claudio's older brother) lived at the beginning of Rua João Moura but on the other side of a great hill one could not cross. Much later circa 1964, aunt Dulce & family  moved up from Rua Girassol, next to São Paulo Cemetery to Rua Girassol corner with Rua Rodésia which was not far from Rua Iperó. 

5 March 1961 - I'm not sure the exact day I went to see Cecil B. de Mile's 'The Ten Commandments' at Cine Boulevard, but it was around this time. It could have been late January or early February. My uncle Claudio, who worked the night shift at the orthopaedic section of Hospital das Clínicas dropped by us and asked me if I wanted to go and see it. I jumped at the idea of going to the pictures in São Paulo, for I had just moved in from Marília-SP in late December 1960, and had never had the chance to visit any movie theatre in the big city. 

Little did I know that day will stay in my memory until the day I die. We took the Praça Ramos de Azevedo tram car # 28 in front of Padaria Novera at the corner of Rua Fradique Coutinho & Rua Aspicuelta and off we went downtown. I still looked at São Paulo's skyline with awe when we got off the tram at the final stop next to the imposing Theatro Municipal.  

I felt Uncle Claudio was proud to know how to move easily in such a tumultous city as São Paulo, having only been living here for 2 years. We walked down rua Conselheiro Crispiniano, crossed Largo do Paisandú into rua Antonio de Godoy where dazzling Cine Boulevard was, having been opened in 1958, so it was less than 3 years old. I think we went to the 12:30 session. It lasted 4 hours including an intermission and when we left the cinema at 4:30 pm I was walking on clouds bedazzled by the enormity of the spectacle.

From that day on I found out São Paulo had a world of wonders concentrated in the its centre. There were countless cinema houses on the axis of Avenida São João and Avenida Ipiranga. In Rio de Janeiro they called it 'Cinelândia' (Land of Cinema) but in São Paulo they didn't bother to find a name for it. Sooner than later, I made a point of watching at least one major movie a week there. It was a pleasure to walk downtown streets looking at cinema's boards announcing next attractions.   

Three months after I had seen 'The 10 Commandments', uncle Claudio had some news for me. He found me employment at a laboratory on on the 2nd floor of a medium-sized building on Rua Theodoro Sampaio, 2112. It was a small private lab owned by doctor Flávio da Silveira Miranda, a scion of a Paulista family who never hit the big time but liked to be independent. He needed a boy to wash glassware used in the preparations of tests of blood, urine & faeces. Not a very healthy job for a 12 year boy. I started working for Laboratório Universal on 28 June 1961. At first it was only  part-time, from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm. I used to go to night school at Ginásio da Vila Madalena, on Rua Morás (it can be seen at the above map below at the extreme left. I worked part-time in 1961, 1962 and 1963. From 1964 to 1967 I worked full time.

Around 1961 & 1962, uncle Claudio used to show up at Laboratório for he was the one who collected blood for tests. He stayed there for a couple of hours and only in the morning shift so I hardly ever saw him. Claudio taught Luiz Antonio Signore, a tall boy 1 year older than I to collect blood so after 1963, Claudio was out of his morning job. But I don't think he cared much for he was in the process of building his house in Rio Pequeno, so he needed time to help bricklayers to put up the house. 

Sometime in 1962, Claudio took me on another memorable trip. This time we took a bus on Rua Paes Leme next to Largo de Pinheiros and went all the way to Rio Pequeno, some 12 km away. I remember the year for the song that was playing then was 'As folhas verdes de verão' (The green leaves of summer) sung by Wilma Bentivegna (written by Dimitri Tionkin for the sound-track of 'Alamo'). 

The house where they lived was made out of wood, there was a deep water well where they got the water they needed by pumping it with a bucket attached to a long rope. The area was bare of resources. Hardly a bakery around... most streets were not paved and one could see an extensive vegetable plantation owned by Japanese who were the best growers of lettuce, tomatoes, cabbages etc. There was a clean rivulet that crossed the main road called Estrada do Rio Pequeno, where the Japanese got the water to irrigate their plantation.