Manolete

Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, better known as Manolete (Córdoba, July 4, 1917-Linares, August 29, 1947), was one of the great bullfighters of the history of bullfighting in Spain in the 1940s. He died in the Hospital of San José and San Raimundo de Linares. After the deep mortal goring that the Miura Islero gave him in the Linares bullring, he became a myth of post-war Spain.

Fourth Caliph of Bullfighting, he is considered one of the greatest teachers of all time and one of the icons of bullfighting. His style, elegant and vertical, evolved the art of the muleta, bullfighting from the front and quoting from the profile. He brought to its maximum expression the revolution of José Gómez "Joselito" and the aesthetics of Juan Belmonte, which had transformed bullfighting a few decades before. His influence has been enormous, since his style was noticeable in all subsequent bullfighters.

Biography

Early years

Manolete was the son of a bullfighter (also nicknamed Manolete). and Angustias Sánchez, better known as "doña Angustias", who was previously married to Lagartijo Chico. His great-uncle, José Rodríguez, Pepete and their uncle, Baby boy, were also bullfighters.

Alternative in the Real Maestranza of Seville

He bullfighted for the first time in Cabra, Córdoba, on Easter Sunday (April 16), 1933. There he alternated as a bullfighter with Baby Chico and the bullfighter Juanita Cruz. In June 1932 he had a brief stint at the Montilla bullfighting school (Córdoba), where he killed his first calf.

Once the Civil War was over, he took the alternative on July 2, 1939, at the age of 21, at the Maestranza in Seville. He confirmed the alternative at Las Ventas in Madrid on October 12, 1939.

In 1943 he placed himself at the head of the ranks. He achieved his best performance with the bull Ratón in 1944, during the Press bullfight in Las Ventas. His last performance in Madrid took place on July 16, 1947 in the traditional Corrida de la Beneficencia, chaired by Francisco Franco. In his first bull he went around the ring and in the second he was caught. Despite this, he continued until he killed the bull, cut off two ears and entered the infirmary.

He shared the bill at Las Ventas with Gitanillo de Triana II on the afternoon in which Pepín Martín Vázquez triumphed, whom all eyes began to see as the future boss of the party.

At the Linares Fair the year before his last bullfight, the anecdote occurred that he had to visit the Municipal Hospital of said town, where a year later an Eduardo Miura bull would end his life. Upon arriving in the town and when he was heading to the Hotel Cervantes driving his blue Buick car with registration number M-75.545, on Tetuán Street n°5 he ran over a girl, to personally transport her in his arms to said hospital to cure her of the fractures and injuries caused., being treated by Dr. Fernando Garrido who had his home near the scene of the accident. Later the bullfighter would have the opportunity to slaughter a bull for the girl after her recovery.

Death

On August 28, 1947, 'Gitanillo de Triana II' appeared in the Linares bullring, along with Luis Miguel Dominguín and Rafael Vega de los Reyes. That afternoon, he received a fatal goring of Islero, a 495 kg miura, the fifth of the afternoon, which pierced his right thigh with one of its pitons, destroying Scarpa's triangle.

The wound caused incessant bleeding and he was taken on a stretcher to the San José and San Raimundo Hospital in Linares where he died at 05:07 hours^{[citation required]} of the next day. The only striking photographs that exist of the tragedy were taken by the photojournalist Paco Cano «Canito». That same year, the matador planned to leave the world of bullfighting.^{[citation required]}

He was buried on August 29 in the pantheon of the Sánchez de Puerta family, close friends of the bullfighter, where he remained for just over four years, until October 15, 1951, when, after finishing Manolete's mausoleum, he was built by the sculptor Amadeo Ruiz Olmos, his remains were moved to their final location in the Nuestra Señora de la Salud cemetery in the capital of Córdoba.

Urban legends

• He was one of the bullfighters who acted on the first inauguration poster at the Monumental Bullring in Mexico, on February 5, 1946, together with Luis Procuna "El Berrendito de San Juan" and Luis Castro "El Soldado", although it is not true that he refused to play until they removed the flag of the Second Republic, because in Mexico Square he never waved any flag. The origin of this diver could come from an occasion, when he was abroad, he was going to go to a meal and told him that they would come exiled with a Republican flag, so he advised that in such a case he would not go because in a meeting of friends the policy should not enter.
• In recent times, the theory that Manolete's death was not a direct consequence of the Islero bull's catch, but of a disseminated intravascular clotting (CID) or defibination syndrome, as a result of a blood transfusion incompatible or, more likely, of plasma in poor condition that was performed at the Linares hospital by order of Dr. Giménez, caused the wound correctly to have been caused by the doctor.
• The most recent investigations into his death raise the possibility that Alvaro Domecq Díez, a friend and albacea of the slaughterer, and the mother of Manolete prevented Lupe Sino, her partner, from entering the infirmary and consummating, there, the last will of the diester: to marry her, which would have made her heir to the fortune of the bullfighter.

Monuments

The city of Córdoba maintains two sculptural groups in his memory: a bust in the Plaza de la Lagunilla, and a sculptural group in the Plaza del Conde de Priego, looking at Santa Marina, a church where bullfighters like Finito de have married. Cordova.

In Linares, the city where he died, there is a bust in his honor presiding over the Plaza de Santa Margarita, which gives its name to the bullring and is surrounded by the bullfighters' promenade.

Movies

Manolete in culture

• Brindis a Manoleteinterpreted by Pedro Ortega—his physical resemblance is overwhelming—and Paquita Rico in 1948. Filmed in the Hércules de Madrid studios the film is intersected with scenes of actual performances of the diestro that were recorded in life.
• In the series The Chavo of 8 In the Toreros episode it refers to Manolete as the best bullfighter in the world.
• In the movie Toy Story 3 is mentioned by Sheriff Woody when Buzz Lightyear is accidentally restarted into Spanish mode.
• In the series The Blacklist In episode 13 of season 10, Raymond Reddington characterized by James Spader gets Islero's asses and tells Agent Malik the story of the famous Manolete.

Manolete in music

• 1939: Pedro Orozco and José Ramos Celares composed and dedicated the Pasodoble Taurino Manolete.
• 1950: Juan Legido and La Banda Taurina de Miguel Ángel Sarralde: Pasodoble Manolete (Ay Manuel Rodríguez!) (Quintero, Leon and Quiroga, 1947), Orfeón.
• 1963: Herb Alpert " The Tijuana Brass: The great Manolete (La Virgen de la Macarena)A fakem records.
• 1985: The Dead Toreros: Disco: 30 years of successTitle: "The Dead Bullfighters."
• 1996: Don't step on me wearing flip flops: Disco: The greatest successes of the chanclas; Title: "Tiritri".
• 1999: Joaquín Sabina: Disco: 19 Days and 500 Nights; Title: "De purísima y oro".
• 1999: Escrig " Peris: Por Manoletinas, pasodoble composed by Escrig " Peris commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Manolete.
• 2018: Inma Vílchez: Disco: "Third Change"; Title: "More taurine than the maze."