Abel Posse
The novelist's father, Ernesto Parentini, a porteño of Italian parents, was one of the founders of Artistas Argentinos Asociados and was the producer of the legendary feature film La guerra gaucha (1942), based on the text by the poet Leopoldo Lugones. The young Abel Posse grew up in the Argentine capital near Rivadavia street, and given his father's profession was exposed to the artistic and cultural milieu this most sophisticated of the South American capitals had to offer. The “Queen of the River Plate”, as Buenos Aires came to be known, fascinated the young man, (4) and his memories are evoked in his novel Los demonios ocultos (1987).
He was able to mingle with the glamorous stars of Argentine show business, like Chas de Cruz, Pierina Dealessi, Ulises Petit de Murat, Muñoz Azpiri, the writer of radioplays which were performed by Eva Duarte (de Perón), as well as the tango composers Aníbal Troilo and Homero Manzi. Such were the family connections to show business that one of his aunts, Esmeralda Leiva de Heredia, better known as “La Jardín”, was an actress friend of Eva Duarte. (5) Growing up in this environment enabled him to obtain an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the tango repertoire and its culture, (6) which imbues his novel La reina del Plata (1988).
Paul Abels
Abels was born on August 4, 1937, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, to Carrie Mae (Atkins) and James Albert Abels. He attended public schools in Yellow Springs and Cedarville, Ohio. As a teenager, he was editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper and wrote a column in the local newspaper, the "Cedarville Herald". After graduating from high school, Abels moved to Madison, New Jersey, to study at the College of Liberal Arts at Drew University, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959. He was commissioned as a deacon in 1961 by the Newark Conference of the Methodist Church. Abels went on to attend Drew Theological School, from which he received a Master of Divinity degree in 1963. He was ordained as an elder the same year. He received a Master of Sacred Music degree from United Theological Seminary in 1965 following approval of his thesis entitled "An Ecumenical Manual of Song for Young Churchmen". He served as music minister for churches in Towaco and Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, and as pastor in West New York, New Jersey.