Espiridiona Cenda

Alize Espiridiona Cenda del Castillo (14 December 1869 – 11 December 1945), known on stage as Chiquita, was a Cuban dwarf singer and performer.[1]

Cenda as sketched by Marguerite Martyn for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, published January 5, 1910

Standing 26 inches tall, Cenda was fluent in Spanish, Italian, and English.[2] She was married and had one child, who weighed no more than two pounds and died at an early age.[2]

In 1901, she commissioned C. Francis Jenkins to build what was at the time the smallest automobile ever produced.[3][4]

Cuban author Antonio Orlando Rodríguez won the Premio Alfaguara for his 2008 novel Chiquita, based on Cenda's life.

References

  1. ↑ "The Cuban Lady Who Dances" (PDF). The New York Times. July 24, 1896.
  2. 1 2 "Actress Who Is 28 Inches Tells Miss Martyn She Would Like to Keep House", Marguerite Martyn, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 5, 1910
  3. ↑ The Motor Way Volumes 4-5 - Page 15 1901 The smallest automobile yet built is that made by the Jenkins Automobile Company, of Washington, D. C, for Chiquita, the little 26-inch atom of humanity, who is now using it at the Pan-American Exposition. It is a little electric Victoria, complete with top, electric lights and gong, fenders and wheel steering gear. It is. in fact, so exact a miniature duplicate of a full grown..."
  4. ↑ Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark, Henry Austin Jr. (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942. Krause Publications. p. 783. ISBN 0873414284. With a 24-inch tread and 24-inch wheelbase, this 'littlest automobile ever built,' as Jenkins claimed, was a victoria specially made for a Cuban midget named Chiquita who was 26 inches tall. Chiquita drove the car as personal transport and in…


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