Sept. 19 (UPI) — Google released a Doodle celebrating Emerson Romero, who was known both for his contributions to the deaf community and the film industry. The image is part of the search engine’s nod to Hispanic Heritage Month.
Romero was a Cuban American actor who lost his hearing when he was six years old.
He starred in such shorts as The Cat’s Meow and Sappy Days prior to the influx of “talkies,” or movies that included sound.
“Studios stopped selecting actors with hearing impairments and eliminated title cards. They also removed subtitles from finished films, making it impossible for people with hearing impairments to enjoy the movie,” the Doodle description reads.
In response, Romero launched the Theatre Guild of the Deaf and created film captions “by slicing film strips and inserting images with captions in between frames.”
The Doodle was created by Derek Abella, a Cuban American artist.
“I was inspired by film noir/classic Hollywood aesthetics,” he said.