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 having 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 there 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.

August 16 — Orihuela, Burgode, Osma, and Jumilla.

August 17 to 20 — Ciudad Real, Sanlucar, Toledo, Malaga, Antequera, and, sometimes, Guadalajara.

August 21 — The summer fair at Bilbao starts with usually five successive fights. During this week there are fights on Sunday at San Sebastian, Oviedo, Almagro — two fights, As-torga, two fights (24th and 25th), Almeria, two fights, usually the 26th and 27th, Tarazona de la Mancha (24th), Alcala de Henares (25th).

August 28 — Tarazona de Aragon and Toro. San Sebastian if it is a Sunday.

August 28 to August 30 — Malaga, Puerto de Santa Maria, Linares, Colmenar Viejo (sometimes two fights).

August 29 — Malaga (second fight of feria).

August 30 — Linares (second fight of feria).

August 31 — Calahorra, Pequena, Constantina.

All of August there will be novilladas in Madrid and Barcelona and usually Zaragoza and Valencia every Sunday and usually every Thursday. The big fairs from a bullfighting standpoint in August are those of Bilbao and San Sebastian. If you want to see country go to Colmenar Viejo, Astorga or Toro.

 

September

 

The great feria month.

2nd and 3rd — Palencia — usually good fights — intelligent public. Nice Castillian town with good beer and excellent quail shooting.

3rd and 4th — Merida, Villarobledo, and Priego. Usually two fights at Merida, one at each of the others.

The first Sunday of September there is a fight at San Sebastian, and if Sunday comes after the 4th, at Aranjuez.

5th and 6th — Feria at Cuenca, with usually two fights and a novillada. Wonderful town, terrible road there. Same dates, feria at Castellar, with two fights. Between 4th and 6th either fights or novilladas at Segovia, Huelva, Requena, Jerez de los Caballeros.

Feria starts at Murcia either 7th or 8th. Usually two fights.

7th or 8th — Utrera, Palma de Mallorca, Cabra, Bélmez, Tortosa, Ayamonte, Cáceres, Barbastro, Santoña, Benavente, and occasionally Valdepeñas and Lorca.

September 9 — A two-fight feria starts at Calatayud, and on the 10th Albacete commences a feria with three successive fights, although sometimes as many as five are given. Either of these is good.

9th, also, San Martin de Valdeiglesias, on the road from Madrid to the Sierra de Gredos, Villanueva del Arzobispo, Barcarrota, and Andújar.

10th or 11th — Usually two-fight feria starts at Zamora, and on the 11th there will usually be fights at Haro, Utiel, and Cehegin.

September 12 — The feria starts àt Salamanca, with three fights on successive days.

There are also fights at San Sebastian the second Sunday in September, this usually a cheap fight though sometimes good, and at Utiel, Mellila, and Barcelona.

The third Sunday in September the fall subscription season usually starts in Madrid, with fights each Sunday until the middle of October.

September 14 or 15 — There will usually be fights or novilladas at Jerez de la Frontera, Aranda de Duero, Castuera, and Aracena.

On the 15th or 16th there will usually be fights at San Clemente, Mora, Trujillo, and Tomelloso.

On either the 18th, 19th, or 20th, depending on where the Sunday comes in the month, three days of successive fights start for the feria of Valladolid. The town is easy to reach by rail or road. These are often good fights and the public is intelligent. On one of these three days fights are usually given for the ferias of Oviedo, Olivenza, and Zalamea la Real.

On the 21st of September a three-day bullfight feria starts at Logroño. This is the easiest of the September ferias to reach from the French frontier via Hendaye and Irun. The fights are usually of a high standard.

On the 21st, 22nd, or 23rd there will ordinarily be one fight at Talavera de la Reina, Fregenal de la Sierra, Soria, and Requena.

On the third Sunday in September, if the weather has been good in the north and visitors plenty, there will sometimes be a fight at San Sebastian. There will nearly always be a fight at Tarrogona, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Malaga, Bilbao, and Cordoba. These were usually formerly held on the Feast of the Blessed Virgin.

Between September 25 and 28 there will usually be one fight at Quintanar de la Orden, Torrijos, Hellin, and Béjar.

On September 28 is the first fight of the two-fight feria of San Miguel in Sevilla. These two fights are usually much better than the spring feria corridas.

Fights may be given on the last three days of September in Caravaca, Ubeda, Jaen, Almendralejo, and Belmonte.

The most important ferias in September are those of Salamanca, Calatayud, Albacete, Valladolid, Logroño, and Sevilla. All of these are worth going to.

 

October

 

On the first, second, and usually third Sundays in October there will be fights at Madrid and Barcelona, and usually Valencia.

October 1 and 2 — Ubeda, feria.

October 3 — Soria, feria.

Between October 2 and 4 — Zafra, feria.

Usually there will be a fight during the first week in October at Aranjuez.

On either the 12th or 13th of October commences the feria of Pilar in Zaragoza, consisting of four to five fights. This is the last important feria of the season.

Between the 15th and 20th there will be a feria at Guadalajara, with one fight, and on the 18th and 19th another at Jaén, with two. On either the 18th or 19th there will sometimes be fights at Gandia and Játiva.

The last Sunday in October there will be fights at Barcelona and Valencia if the weather has been good, and occasionally a fight on the last day of October at Gerona.

The great feria of the month is that of Pilar at Zaragoza.

Toward the middle of October the formal bullfight season starts in Mexico City and throughout the country.

 

November

 

In case of good weather bullfights may be given the first week of November in Barcelona or Valencia. They will be given each Sunday in Mexico City and in various Mexican cities, bullfighters contracted for Mexico usually leaving immediately after the feria of Pilar at Zaragoza.

The last fight in Spain is usually at Ondara, in the province of Alicante, between the 16th and 20th of November.

 

December

 

The second big month of the Mexican season, with fights every Sunday in Mexico City and frequently in various other Mexican cities.

In Lima (Peru), Caracas (Venezuela), and Bogotá (Colombia) the bullfight season commences around the middle of December, usually with Spanish matadors in addition to whatever local phenomenons are in fashion. In Venezuela there are occasional fights in Valencia and Maracaibo, as well as more or less serious occasional bullfights in Panama and Guatemala. To see bullfights in November or December, Mexico City is the place.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

 

For a list of 2077 books and pamphlets in Spanish dealing with or touching on tauromaquia, to the authors of all of which the writer of this book wishes to acknowledge his deep indebtedness and to apologize for his intrusion, the reader who wishes to make a study of the history of the Spanish bullfight is referred to Libros y Folletos de Toros, Bibliografía Taurina, Compuesta Con Vista de la Biblioteca Taurómaca de Don José Luis de Ybarra y Lopez de Calle por Graciano Diaz Arquer and published in Madrid at the Library of Pedro Vindel.

The present volume, Death in the Afternoon, is not intended to be either historical or exhaustive. It is intended as an introduction to the modern Spanish bullfight and attempts to explain that spectacle both emotionally and practically. It was written because there was no book which did this in Spanish or in English. The writer asks the indulgence of competent aficionados for his technical explanations. When a volume of controversy may be written on the execution of a single suerte one man's arbitrary explanation is certain to be unacceptable to many.

E. H.

 

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[1]Mr. Shipman having read this informs me that Uncas after having broken down is now used as a hack by Mr. Victor Emanuel. This news does not move me one way or another.

 

[2]You can no longer walk about in the ring by government order. You may visit the patio de caballos and other dependencies.

 

[3]See Glossary, under Vara.