18. Puppets In the Park

The stage stood to the photographer's left

The first ever performance of Maese Villarejo in Ferrol took place on Tuesday August 23, 1955. Villarejo's puppet show was a highlight of the summer holidays for many children. The main characters that I remember were Gorgorito (Squeaky Voice) La Bruja Curuja (unofficial name of the witch) and Rosalinda (Gorgorito's girlfriend). The book explains that Gorgorito is a "7-year-old boy" lone-ranger type and that Rosalinda was first a brunette. The Rosalinda I recall was blonde.

With the back cloth depicting a gloomy forest, there was Gorgorito facing the audience and asking perplexed, "What's the matter, what are you saying?" "SPIDER!!!" (a huge black one was dropping haltingly upper right). Gorgorito, cudgel slung over his shoulder, looks behind him, but the spider has (been) pulled back up out of sight. "Don't be afraid," Gorgorito tells the children, "there are no spiders here." "SPIDER!!!" (descending gingerly again). A darting glance backwards, spider is gone. Gorgorito turns to his small friends again, "Even if there were spiders I have the cudgel with me." "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" (the spider has plumped down on Gorgorito).

The real name of Maese Villarejo was Juan Antonio Díaz Gómez de la Serna (b. 1922, d. 1986). Born in Madrid, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War found him in San Sebastián, city that fell to the Nationalists within two months. He started doing puppetry in the campsites of Frente de Juventudes (Youth Front) where he created a character named Flecha Juanín which later became Gorgorito. The puppet show became profitable in the nineteen fifties. From October to April he and his wife worked the theaters of Madrid, their repertoire included puppets for adults. From April to October they took the children's show on the road. They spent three months of 1956 doing a television show in the South American country of Colombia and in 1971 they contributed to the Spanish movie, "Varietés."

Here is how Maese Villarejo defined Gorgorito,

I believe that he is my alter ego. He is the character I always dreamt with, a bit Tarzan and a bit Quixote. When I was a child I wanted to be like Tarzan, that's why I gave Gorgorito his parabá, parabá, parabá call which is in reality a parody of the ululating yell of the king of the apes. Like Don Quixote, Gorgorito is something of a knight errant. He roams about, always attempting to right wrongs, aiding the weak and defending justice.

As my parents and I passed by the back of the puppet stage well ahead of showtime one afternoon, a tall, slim man with a cigarette in his mouth exited the small cabin. A park hand loitering about asked the man, "So, is everything ready?" The other replied skilfully, nodding back toward the cabin, "Naw, they're still in there getting everything done." And I quit thinking that I had just seen the man behind the curtain, Maese Villarejo himself.

Té, Chocolate y Café (Tea, Chocolate and Coffee)