Death in the afternoon
Page 37
R. S. — 28 years old; American; male; successful writer without private means; college education; enjoyed bullfights greatly; fond of music of fashionable composers, but not a musician; little esthetic appreciation other than music; no horseman; was not at all distressed by horses; went into amateur fights in the morning and was a great crowd pleaser: came to Pamplona two years. Seemed very fond of the fights, but has not followed them since his marriage although he often says he would like to. May possibly go to them again some time. Seemed genuinely fond of them, but has no time now for non-social or non-money-making manifestations. Is genuinely fond of golf. Does very little gambling, but makes a few bets on questions of veracity, opinion, college loyalty, etc.
P. M. — 28 years old; American; convent and college graduate; not a musician; no musical ability or appreciation; intelligent appreciation of painting and letters; rode horses and owned pony as child. Saw first fight in Madrid in which three men were gored. Did not like it, and left before end. Saw fairly good fight second time and liked it. Completely unaffected by the horses. Came to understand fights and enjoyed them more than any other spectacle. Has attended them steadily. Does not care for boxing or football — enjoys bicycle-racing. Likes shooting, fishing. Does not like to gamble.
V. R. — 25 years old; American; convent and college education; good horsewoman; liked fights tremendously from start; completely unaffected by horses; has attended fights whenever possible ever since seeing her first one. Enjoys boxing very much — enjoys horse-racing — does not care for bicycle-racing — likes to gamble.
A. U. — 32 years old; American; college education; poet; great sensitivity; all-around athlete; keen esthetic appreciation, of music, painting, letters; rode horses in the army; not a horseman. Does not care for gambling — deeply affected by seeing bulls charge horses in first fight, but this did not prevent his enjoyment of bullfight. Appreciated matadors' work intensely and was ready to row with spectators who were hooting them. Has not been where he could see bullfights since that fall.
S. A. — Internationally famous novelist writing in Yiddish. Had luck to see excellent bullfight his first time in Madrid — declared there was no emotion comparable in intensity except first sexual intercourse.
Mrs. M. W. — 40 years old; American; education, private schools; not good at sports; has ridden horses; keen esthetic appreciation of music, painting, writing; generous, intelligent, loyal, attractive; very good mother. Did not look at horses — kept her eyes away — enjoyed rest of bullfight, but would not care to see many. Very fond of having a good time and very intelligent about knowing what it consists in.
W. A. — 29 years old; American; male; successful journalist; college education; no horseman; very civilized appreciation of food and drink; well read and wide experience; was disappointed in first fight, but not at all shocked by horses; in fact enjoyed horse part, but tended to be bored by the rest of fight; became rather interested in fights finally and brought wife to Spain, but she disliked them and the next year W. A. no longer followed them. Had bad luck nearly always to see bad fights — was close follower of boxing for a time, but no longer goes to fights. Does little gambling — loves food, drink and good conversation. Extremely intelligent.
In these few reactions of individuals I have tried to be completely accurate as to their first and ultimate impressions of the bullfight. The only conclusion I draw from these reactions is that some people will like the fights and others will not. Because I had never seen her before I could not chronicle the history of an Englishwoman who looked to be about thirty-five I saw once at San Sebastian who was attending the bullfight with her husband and was so overcome by the horses being charged by the bulls that she cried as though they were her own horses or her own children who were being gored. She left the ring crying but urging her husband to stay. She had not meant to make a demonstration, it had only been too horrible for her to stand. She looked a very fine and pleasant woman and I felt very sorry for her. Nor have I described the reactions of a Spanish girl who attended a fight at La Coruña with either her young husband or fiancé and who cried very much and suffered all through the corrida but remained in her seat. These are, speaking absolutely truthfully, the only women I have seen cry at over three hundred bullfights. It is to be understood, of course, that at these fights I could only observe my very immediate neighbors.
A SHORT ESTIMATE OF THE AMERICAN, SIDNEY FRANKLIN, AS A MATADOR
Most Spaniards do not go to bull fights, only a small proportion do, and of those who attend, the competent aficionados are limited in number. Yet many times I have heard people say that they asked a Spaniard, an actual Spaniard, mind you, what sort of bullfighter Sidney Franklin was, and the Spaniard said he was very brave but very awkward and did not know what it was all about. If you asked that Spaniard if he had seen Franklin fight he would say no; what has happened is that he has told the way, from national pride, the Spaniards hoped he would fight. He does not fight that way at all.
Franklin is brave with a cold, serene, and intelligent valor but instead of being awkward and ignorant he is one of the most skillful, graceful, and slow manipulators of a cape fighting to-day. His repertoire with the cape is enormous but he does not attempt by a varied repertoire to escape from the performance of the veronica as the base of his cape work and his veronicas are classical, very emotional, and beautifully timed and executed. You will find no Spaniard who ever saw him fight who will deny his artistry and excellence with the cape.
He does not place banderillas, never having studied or practiced this properly, and this is a serious omission since, with his physique, judgment of distance, and coolness, he could have been a very good banderillero.
Franklin manages the muleta well with his right hand but uses his left hand far too little. He kills easily and well. He does not give the importance to killing that it merits, since it is easy for him and because he ignores the danger. Profiling with more style his kills would gain greatly in emotion.
He is a better, more scientific, more intelligent, and more finished matador than all but about six of the full matadors in Spain to-day and the bullfighters know it and have the utmost respect for him.
It is too late for him to become a good banderillero, but he understands his other faults and is constantly correcting them. With the cape he has no improvement to make; he is a professor, a Doctor of Tauromachia, and not only a classic artist but an inventor and innovator as well.
He was formed and taught by Rodolfo Gaona, the Mexican, the only matador who ever competed on equal terms with Joselito and Belmonte and who himself was formed and taught by a banderillero of the great Frascuelo, who gave him the most complete training in the classic fundamentals of bullfighting which are ignored by most young matadors who have much courage, a little grace and youth, and posture and hope for the best; and it was the art and soundness of Franklin's fighting which he learned in the best school possible which so amazed and enthused the Spaniards.
He had great and legitimate artistic triumphs in Sevilla, Madrid, and San Sebastian before the elite of the aficionados as well as triumphs in Cadiz, Ceuta, and other towns in the provinces. He filled the Madrid ring so there was not a ticket to be had three times running, the first time as an American and a novelty every one was curious to see after his great success in Sevilla, but the next two on his merits as a bullfighter. That was in 1929 and that year he could have taken the alternative as a formal matador de toros at any one of half a dozen cities, and I would then have written of him in the body of this book with the other matadors de toros, but he wisely wanted another year as a novillero, he was fighting as often as he wished and getting more as a novillero than many matadors de toros, and another year as a novillero would give him that much more time to perfect his work with the muleta and his experience and knowledge of the Spanish bulls, which are quite different from the Mexican. He ran into bad luck on his second fight early in March of 1930, when he was gored by a bull he had turned his back to after hav
ing put the sword in and received a tremendous wound that perforated the rectum, sphincter muscle and large intestine, and when he was able to start filling his contracts his wound was still open and he fought through the season in bad physical shape. During the winter of 1930-31 he fought in Mexico and alternating with Marcial Lalanda in Nuevo Laredo he received an unimportant horn wound in the calf of the leg which would have caused him no inconvenience (he fought the following Sunday), except that the surgeon who attended him insisted on administering antitetanus and anti-gangrene vaccine. These injections coming too soon after the usual injections of the same serums he had received when he was wounded in Madrid caused a breaking out in a sort of boil on his left arm which swelled and made the arm nearly useless and spoiled his 1931 season in Spain. Then too he came to Spain from Mexico with plenty of money from his winter campaign and more desire to enjoy life than to start in fighting at once. He had made the Madrid ring pay him the very top price when he was in such demand the year before and as soon as he decided that he was ready to fight the management took their revenge by the typically Spanish method of putting him off on one pretext or another until they had all their dates contracted for.
He has the ability in languages, the cold courage and the ability to command of the typical soldier of fortune, he is a charming companion, one of the best story tellers I have ever heard, has enormous and omnivorous curiosity about everything but gets his information through the eye and ear and reads only The Saturday Evening Post, which he goes through from cover to cover each week, usually finishing it in about three days and then having four bad days of waiting for the next number. He is a very hard master to those who work for him, yet commands amazing loyalty. He speaks Spanish not only perfectly but with the accent of whatever place he may be; he does all his own business and is very proud of his business judgment, which is terrible. He believes in himself as confidently as an opera singer does but he is not conceited.
I have purposely written nothing about his life, since having led it at great peril and in an utterly fantastic manner he would seem to be entitled to whatever profits the story of it might bring. At one time and another I have heard the whole story from the beginning through the fall of 1931 and I have been present while certain chapters of it were happening and it is better than any picaresque novel you ever read. Any man's life, told truly, is a novel, but the bullfighter's life has an order in the tragedy of its progression which tends to formalize the story into a groove. Sidney's life has escaped this and he has truly lived three lives, one Mexican, one Spanish, and one American, in a way that is unbelievable. The story of those lives belongs to him and I will not tell it to you. But I can tell you truly, all question of race and nationality aside, that with the cape he is a great and fine artist and no history of bullfighting that is ever written can be complete unless it gives him the space he is entitled to.
DATES ON WHICH BULLFIGHTS WILL ORDINARILY BE HELD IN SPAIN, FRANCE, MEXICO, AND CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
PROSPECTIVE SPECTATORS ARE WARNED NOT TO TAKE SERIOUSLY ANY BULLFIGHTS HELD IN FRANCE, CENTRAL OR SOUTH AMERICA EXCEPT, POSSIBLY, AT LIMA, PERU
January
Bullfights every Sunday in Mexico City, Lima, Peru, and Caracas, Venezuela.
On January 1st there is always a fight at San Luis de Potosi in Mexico.
In the states of Tampico, Vera Cruz, Torreon, Puebla, Leon, Zacatecas, Ciudad Juarez, and Monterey occasional fights will be given on Sundays.
In Casablanca in Spanish Morocco one or more bullfights are given on Sundays in January.
Valencia, Maracay, and Maracaibo in Venezuela give occasional fights on Sundays.
Cartagena de Indias in Colombia also usually has fights in January.
February
Bullfights every Sunday in Mexico City, Lima, and Caracas, and occasionally a benefit fight announced for a week day in Mexico City.
Formal fights or novilladas on Sundays in San Luis de Potosi, Ciudad Juarez, Puebla, Torreon, Monterey, Aguas Calientes, Tampico, Leon, Zacatecas in Mexico, and fights in Bogota, Baranquilla, and Panama in Central America.
Novilladas start in Madrid and Barcelona if the weather is favorable on Sundays and usually in Valencia.
March
Bullfights every Sunday in Mexico City and Caracas (Venezuela). Occasionally fights will be given in Malaga, Barcelona, and Valencia in March and there is always a fight at Castellon de la Plana for the fiestas of the Magdalena, which you may look up in any religious calendar.
Novilladas are usually given, weather permitting, every Sunday in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, and on one or two Sundays in Bilbao.
April
Bullfights on Easter Sunday at Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Malaga, Murcia, Granada.
On the Monday after Easter the first subscription fight starts in Madrid.
The feria at Sevilla starts within a week after Easter and has three fights on successive days.
25th, feria at Lorca.
29th, feria at Jerez de la Frontera.
Bullfights each Sunday after Easter in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and novilladas on Sundays in Zaragoza, Bilbao, and usually at the minor rings of Vista Alegre and Tetuan de las Victorias in Madrid. If you go to either one be careful not to have your pocket picked.
May
If Easter is early and Corpus Christi comes in May there will be bullfights on that day in Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Malaga, Toledo, and Bilbao, possibly also at Zaragoza.
Fixed Dates for Fights
May 2 — Bilbao, Lucena.
May 3 — Bilbao, Figueras, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
May 4 — Puertollano, Jerez de los Caballeros.
Between May 8 and 10 — Ecija and Caravaca.
Between May 13 and 15 — Osuna and Badajoz.
May 15 — Madrid.
May 16 — Madrid and Talavera de la Reina.
May 17 — Madrid. These three fights are for the feria of San Isidro, patron of Madrid. There is no longer much of a feria but the fights remain.
May 18-19-20 — Ronda, Olivenza, Baeza.
May 21-22 — Zaragoza.
May 25-26 — Cordoba
May 30 — Aranjuez and Cáceres (novillada in Madrid).
May 31 — Cáceres, Teruel, and Antequera.
On the last Sunday in May there is usually a bullfight in the Roman arena in Béziers, France.
In May the season of the summer novilladas starts in Mexico.
June
Bullfights every Thursday and Sunday in Madrid and every Sunday in Barcelona.
June 2-4 — Trujillo.
June 9 — Placencia.
June 9 — 11 — Big fair at Algeciras — usually three fights.
June 13 — 17 — Feria at Granada — usually three fights.
June 22 — Avila.
June 24j — Tolosa, Medina del Rio Seco, Cabra, Barcelona, Zafra, Badojoz — Feria at Badajoz with two fights.
June 25 — Tolosa, Badajoz.
June 27-29 — Feria at Segovia — usually two fights.
June 29 — Alicante.
June 29-30 — Feria at Burgos — usually two fights.
July
First Sunday in July — Fights at Palma de Mallorca.
July 6 to 12 — Feria of San Fermín at Pamplona, with five fights on successive days, starting July 7. Amateur fights each morning at 7 o'clock. Bulls run through the street the mornings of all bullfights. Better be at the ring by six a.m. to buy seats in the boxes. Other seats are free and filled. Tickets may usually be bought the night before between 6 and 7 at the booths on the square.
July 14 — Bullfights at Bordeaux and Bayonne.
Between the 15th and 18th, fights at La Linea, near Gibraltar.
July 23 — Alcira. Usually a good fight.
July 25 — Big fight at San Sebastian and Santander. First fight of feria at Valencia, where there will be seven to nine fights on successive days until and through August 2.
The first Sunday of July ther
e is a fight at Nîmes, France.
All through July there will be novilladas on every Thursday or Sunday, on which formal fights are not given, in Madrid or Barcelona. The big ferias, not to be missed, are Pamplona and Valencia.
August
On August 2 there is a feria at Vitoria, with three fights on successive days, and another at La Coruña, also with three fights. Vitoria is easily reached by motor in three hours from the French frontier at Hendaye. In case of a Sunday coming opportunely these fights will sometimes start as late as the 4th or 5th.
Between August 2 and 5 there are fights at Santander, San Sebastian, Cartagena, and Tomellosa.
Between the 8th and 10th there is a feria at Pontevedra in Galicia, usually with only one fight.
August 10 — Manzanares.
August 15, 16, and 17 is the Grande Semaine at San Sebastian, with three successive fights on those days. In case of Sunday coming earlier or later the fights may be on the 14th, 15th, and 16th, promoters always trying to bring one of the series of fights in a feria on a Sunday.
On August 15 and 16 there are also ferias at Gijon, Badajoz, and Almendralejo, with two fights each and single fights on those days at Puerto de Santa Maria (15th), Palma de Mallorca (15th), Jaén, Tafalla, and Jatiba (15th). Tafalla can be reached from Biarritz in 4 1/2 hours by car.