Carlitos Balá, the comedian who brought joy to generations of children, turns 97 and is also celebrated by Chacarita Juniors, who has it his most prestigious fan.

Carlos Salim Balaá was born on August 13, 1925 in the Chacarita neighborhood of Buenos Aires.. Mustafa, his Lebanese father, and Juana Boglich, his mother daughter of Croats, preferred another profession for their son. Eventually they supported his artistic calling, but they didn’t want to have anything to do with the name change.

Carlitos Balá started the first laughs on bus line 39, near the house where he grew up, on Olleros street in the Federal Capital. From public transport he moved to radio and theater in the 1950s, to immediately reach television and cinema.

His first TV show was “Balamycin”on channel 9 in 1963. The following year he moved to channel 13 and began a long cycle of family programs with a large audience, such as “El Soldado Balá” and “El flequillo de Balá”, among many others.

But no doubt it was “The show of Carlitos Bala” where it has definitely conquered the hearts of young and old. There, while the little ones left their pacifiers in the “Lollipop Meter”, he made famous phrases that we still use today: “Look how I tremble”, “Mom, when do we leave?”, “Faster than a firefighter”, “One pound and two sandwiches ”,“ What does salt taste like? ”.

Chacarita, always present

Balá has always taken the opportunity to talk about the club of his loves in their TV shows. But the calendar of his life already marked him at 90 and he had never been on the pitch at San Martín.

For this reason the Club’s Board of Directors wanted to thank him and, following the idea of ​​the fanatic member Pablo Picarelli, organized a party in his honor on November 28, 2018. Carlitos was already 93 years old.

First, a mural painted by Jorge Pagliano with the red, white and black colors of Chacarita was discovered, where the phrase “What is the taste of the salt?” and the manager’s face. There, too, they gave him your honorary card.

“Chacarita is my neighborhood and my club, that is, it is my life Carlitos told the tribute. My origins are there, as well as my childhood, my adolescence and my youth. Thanks to those who created this wonderful mural and thanks to the people of the club “.

“I am very excited because they made me remember what Chacarita means to me“, he added that only then did he meet the field of his beloved team.

Carlitos Balá visited Pope Francis in the Vatican in 2016 and was designated “Ambassador of Peace” by the Voice for Peace Network of Rome. In 2009 he was also declared Outstanding Cultural Personality of the City of Buenos Aires and in 2011 he received the Martín Fierro Award in recognition of his career.