How the Name Cantinflas Came about
After Moreno left home and joined the tent show, he needed an alias and a stage name especially because he was convinced that his parents would never approve of his chosen career path. It happened that one night he heard the shout of a drunken heckler saying ‘En la cantina, tuinflas’ which means ‘in a bar, you drink’. The clause stuck in his head and he used it to coin the Cantinflas which became the name he was most known by.
First Career Endeavors
The early years after he left home were not rosy for Mario Moreno Cantinflas and this had him trying his hands at all possible career endeavors. He tried specialties like boxing, medicine, but none of that worked out for him. Moreno later became a dancer in the tent show, and in one of the ‘carpa’ shows, he was the master of the show, and as he was doing that, he became so nervous and he began to speak continuously and rapidly, saying whatever thing that crossed his mind. The audience was first amazed but as he kept talking, shock gave way to laughter. This became the early beginnings of his comedic career.
