Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Madrid-The Reszdmcia (I 9 I 7-1 9.23) 5 7Even though Madrid was an administrative and artistic capital,it was in many ways still a small town. People walked great distancesto get from one place to another; everyone knew everyone else; allsorts of encounters were possible. I remember arriving one eveningat the Cafe Castilla with a friend and seeing screens set up whichdivided the room in half. A waiter told us that Primo de Rivera andcompany were expected for dinner! He did in fact arrive, and thefirst thing he did was to order the screens removed. When he sawus, he shouted, "Hola, jkes! Una copita!" The dictator was buyingthe leftists drinks!I also remember the day I met King Alfonso XIII. I was standingat my window at the Residencia, my hair slicked back fashionablywith brilliantine under my boater. Suddenly the royal carriage, completewith two drivers and someone young and female, pulled up tothe curb directly below me; the king himself got out of the car toask directions. Speechless at first (I was theoretically an anarchist atthat moment), I somehow replied with perfectly shameful politeness,addressing him correctly as "Majestad. " Only when the carriage pulledaway did I realize that I hadn't removed my hat. The relief wasoverwhelming: my honor was still intact. When I told the story tothe director of the Residencia, my reputation as a teller of tall taleswas already so great that he called up a secretary in the royal palacefor verification.Sometimes during a pefia there is a moment when everyonesuddenly shuts his mouth and lowers his eyes. A gafe has enteredanevil eye, a bearer of bad tidings. People in Madrid honestlybelieved that there were such characters and that they had to beavoided at all costs. My brother-in-law, Conchita's husband, onceknew a captain whom everyone believed was a gafe and who wasfeared by all his associates. The same was true of the playwrightJacinto Grau, whose name it was best not even to mention. Whereverhe went, bad luck seemed to dog him with uncanny perseverance.Once when he was giving a speech in Buenos Aires, the chandeliersuddenly crashed to the floor, seriously wounding several people inthe audience. Some of my friends even used to accuse me of being a