Two Spanish Boys Are Mexico s Heroes of Bull-Ring

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 26

Two Spanish Boys Are Mexico s Heroes of Bull-Ring

I'LL ■ FIGHTING, o£ BE, course, is the supreme £ sport of the Spaniard, Tf whether in Spain or j|! Mexico. Considering S 3 the dangerous and sanguinary nature of the bull-fighting profession, one might innocently think that it was something to be exclusively practised by fullgrown men. But, strange to say, the most popular bull-fighters in Mexico to-day are two little boys. Manuel Bienvenida is thirteen and his little brother Jose is eleven. On the days they fight, writes Clare Ousley in “The World Traveller,” the huge Mexico City bull-ring is packed to its full capacity of thirty thousandsomething it takes the greatest of toreadors to do. As we are told: When the boys, dressed in the conventional costumes of bright silk and heavy gold braid, come out at the head of their cuadrilla for the usual parade around the ring before the fight, a stupendous roar of enthusiasm greets them. And during the rest of the afternoon, while they are parrying the charges of the bulls, first with quick, graceful swirls, of the ceriselined capes, and later with the smaller muleta, that sinister little red cloth which hides the steel sword, the roar of those thirty thousand aficionados can be heard all over that part of the town. The skill and audacity of the Bienvenida youngsters has captured the Mexicans, always receptive to that vicarious thrill which comes to the safely protected ringside spectator at a bull-fight. Manuel and Jose are quick and supple and often foolhardy. They do tricks which no mature fighter would ever think of risking. They look, from the higher seats in the ring, like midgets open to the charge of monstrous beasts, although the bulls they fight are smaller than the average, since obviously the boys are not tall enough or strong enough to tackle full-grown animals. They dart about with lightning speed under the very nose of the infuriated bull; the horns graze their gaudy gold braid; they stroll nonchalantly away, the red cloth dragging behind them; they pull the bull’s tail; they grab the horns; they kneel, muleta in hand, before the charge of the bull, deflecting the angry beast with a slight motion of the cloth and an almost imperceptible change of the body to the side; they grimace and gesture to the spectators; their favourite trick is the “pass of death,” a wickedly dangerous business which has caused the death of many an overly audacious matador. They play boldly and recklessly. They are born actors and they are born bull-fighters. And the crowds adore them. These boys come by their art naturally enough, it seems. Papa Bienvenida was a great matador in Spain in his day, but a couple of wounds

persuaded him to retire. He went into business, and he didn’t do so well. One day the Mayor of Seville called and asked him whether his two sons would be allowed to fight at a coming cliarlty right, or corrida. The parents -were astonished, but they learned that the boys had been playing at bull-fighting in the parks until they had won a city-wide reputation. And, anyway, the bulls would be small, and it would mean much money for the Bienvenidas. So, after much discussion and the setting of a high price on the parents’ permission, Manuel and Jose fought bulls in the charity corrida, and Seville went mad over them, and the fame and fortune of the family was assured.” After their first appearance, engagements came thick and fast for Manuel and Jose. At first they were paid five thousand pesetas for every fight. Their fame spread rapidly, and they were known throughout Spain. A promoter telegraphed for an engagemnt in San Sebastian. Papa Bienvenida had decided by that time that five thousand pesetas -was not enough. And when he wired his terms to the San Sebastian promoter, that amazed person replied: “I do not want to buy your sons.” "But he accepted the terms, and after that the Bienvenida family got twelve thousand pesetas, for all their fights. They became so popular that they took all the patronage away from the older toreadors. The crowds expected from the grown-up toreadors the same exciting tricks shown them by the Bienvenida boys. And the grown-up toreadors couldn’t deliver. It was a bad business. So the grown-up toreadors got busy, put political machinery to work and had a law passed prohibiting boys under fifteen years of age to fight.

After that there was nothing for them to do but search for new worlds to conquer. So they crossed the border into southern France, and from there they came to Mexico. The Mexican promoters considered their terms absurd, and refused to have anything to do with them. So Papa Bienvenida bought a few bulls of his own, rented the bull-ring, advertised the affair well, and after the startling success of the performance the promoters knuckled under. Now the boys receive twelve thousand pesos (six thousand dollars) every time they fight. From this Papa Bienvenida allows them each one peso (fifty cents) a day for pocket-money. The rest he puts in the bank. Their yearly income is about three hundred thousand dollars. When the boys fight, Papa Bienvenida is always in the ring with them, cape in hand, ready to rush to their assistance. And because of their dare-deviltries he is frequently forced into action. One afternoon Jose was tossed by a bull. Jose wasn’t used to such treatment, and he rushed at the bull without cape or sword, ready to grapple with the beast barehanded. Papa Bienvenida grabbed him and saved him from being gored, but Jose, instead of appreciating his paternal attention, kicked and bit furiously in a most unfilial fashion. Jose insists that he is the best bullfighter, because he was born in Seville, while Manuel was born in Madrid.