Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Paris (1923-1929) 85from their trucks, yellow clubs in their hands, and start beating upthe m'tiques on the sidewalks of even the most elegant cafes. (I hadmy fair share of fist fights with them myself.)Around this time, I moved to a furnished room at 3 bis, placede la Sorbonne, a quiet little square surrounded by trees very muchlike those in the provinces. Automobiles were still rare; the streetswere full of carriages. I dressed with studied concern-gaiters, awaistcoat with the fashionable four pockets, and a bowler hat. (Allmen at that time wore either hats or caps; in fact, there was a storyabout a group of young men in San Sebastian who went out bareheadedand were attacked for being mancones.) It was a great reliefwhen I found myself one day taking off my bowler, placing it carefullyon the edge of the sidewalk on the boulevard St.-Michel, andjumping up and down on it in a definitive adieu to tradition.One day at the Select I met a slender, dark-haired young Frenchwomannamed Rita. She had an Argentinian lover, whom I neversaw, and they lived in a small hotel on the rue Delambre. We oftenwent out together to cabarets or the movies, but there was nothingserious between us. I knew she was interested in me, and I wasn'texactly indifferent, but a while later, when I'd gone home to Saragossato ask my mother (once again) for money, I received a telegramfrom Vicens announcing Rita's suicide. An investigation revealedthat relations had been stormy between her and her lover (perhapsbecause of me?). The day I left the city, he'd waited outside the hoteluntil he saw her go in, then followed her to their room. No oneknew exactly what happened afterward, but it appeared that Ritahad a gun and had shot first her lover, then herself.Joaquin Peinado and Hernando Viiies shared a studio, where Iwent to visit them about a week after I arrived in Paris. While I wasthere, three charming young women appeared. The most beautifulone, Jeanne Rucar, was originally from the north of France; thanksto her dressmaker, she knew the Spanish milieu in Paris very well.A student of anatomy, she was also a serious gymnast who studiedwith Irene Poppart and had won a bronze medal at the 1924 Olympic