Cacho Fontana (1932-2022) *90

was an Argentine radio and television personality. Born Norberto Palese in the Barracas section of Buenos Aires, he was the only child of Nieves Filgueiras and Antonio Palese. He began his career in show business at age sixteen, when Jorge Loguarro, a friend and coworker who moonlighted as a stage presenter, invited him to do likewise at the Salón Argentino on Corrientes Avenue. The company hired Palese as a presenter for their traveling show, and the young man adopted his stage name: Jorge "Cacho" Fontana.

He debuted on the radio in Argentina in 1950 when a chance encounter with radio host Roberto González Rivero ("Riverito") at the Huracán Stadium resulted in his being hired as an announcer on Riverito's Peña de tango, on Radio del Pueblo. He then worked with radio theater host Julio César Barton, and as a sportscaster for Chacarita Juniors. He replaced Carlos Carella, who began a career in film, at the popular El Chantecler revue and became acquainted with Argentine comedy greats Tita Merello and Luis Sandrini as a stand-in for host Jaime Font Saravia in El Relámpago ("The Thunderbolt"), where Merello and Sandrini starred under the direction of Miguel Coronatto Paz. Coronatto Paz later hired Fontana on a permanent basis. His first marriage, to Dora Palma, ended after two years; they had one daughter.