Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (2 page)

Chapter 1

1856-1899

By 1909,
Rio and a few other cities in Brazil were well supplied with professional fighting. But between 1856 and 1909, there was only luta romana and occasionally savate (from 1864) generally as part of
esgrima
(fencing). They were presented via circuses and variety shows. Eventually, individuals began offering instruction in some arts. Under the influence of the English concept of sport and the various continental concepts of “physical culture”,
1
clubs and associations were formed and incorporated the fights (luta romana,
esgrima
, and luta livre) into their menu of offerings. Sport was viewed as an activity, or “school,” where both leaders and followers learned moral and spiritual lessons. Winning was one possible outcome of competition but it was secondary to learning the lessons of “life” and developing “character”.
2
Of course, gamblers had their own perspective on that, and paying customers had still another. In this way a “combat art”, or form of fighting, could be modified to serve many purposes.

Circuses and variety shows were sites for family entertainment, as a typical theater, Gabinete de Illusã
o, at 33 rua do Cano, 1
st
floor, emphasized: “This entertainment is for families. People who are not decently dressed will not be admitted”.
3
The entertainment consisted of trained animals, singers, dancers, illusionists, freaks, exotic foreigners, comedians, clowns, musicians, dramatic and comic actors, trick riders, acrobats, contortionists, magicians, precocious children, strong men, in short, anything and everything that could be found in any of the many circuses and myriad vaudeville theaters and music halls of the period in any European or North American city.

Significantly, for the purpose of this book, that included professors of
esgrima
(fencing) and foot fighting (savate), and after 1856, luta romana. Within a short period, luta romana was a standard and nearly ubiquitous offering.

By 1909 (in
Brazil) luta romana had become and remained the foremost style of entertainment fighting, or professional wrestling, but not the only one. It was augmented by luta livre (also called “catch as catch can”, “catch”, and “luta livre Americana”).
Luta de jiu-jitsu,
or simply “jiu-jitsu” made its stage debut in 1909, as did “
luta de box
”. Capoeiragem was associated with slaves or their descendants. It was not thought of as a sport or as a form of family entertainment, or something that a respectable person would want to be associated with.

The Victorian concept of sport had not yet arrived in
Brazil, as eager as upper-class Brazilians were to adopt the latest fads and fashions from Europe. The notion of physical exertion as a sophisticated leisure time activity must have seemed quite bizarre to middle-class Brazilians (or rather people with enough money to be able to afford entertainment) at that time. Sports and “physical culture” seemed too much like labor, which was something to be done by slaves, and slaves were a familiar part of everyday life, up until May 13, 1888.
4

Slaves often did not like being enslaved. They sometimes ran away. Slaves were valuable property, so “owners” sought to recover them, frequently by placing an “
Escravo Fugido
” [runaway slave] or “
Preto Fugido
” [runaway black man] ad in newspapers. Just above the announcement for the day’s lucta romana show at Theatro de S. Jose, in São Paulo, featuring the brothers Hogle and Keef (the sixth of ten acts that day), there was an offer of a generous reward [
uma boa gratificação
] for the return of a runaway slave named Rufina. Rufina was about 35-40 years old, tall, big [
corpo grosso
], had good teeth and a “grey” [
parda
] complexion.
5
Similar ads were not uncommon.

Also in every edition of every newspaper were ads for the rental or sale of slaves.
Escravos
[male slaves] could be rented to perform whatever work they were capable o
f。
Escravas
[females slaves], or
negrinhas
[young black girls] girls, took care of children, did housework, and breast-fed babies.
Moleques
[black boys] could be employed peddling vegetables or other work that did not require adult strength. People also placed ads seeking to buy or lease slaves. Notices for slave auctions were not unusual.
6

This was the social context in which luta romana arrived.
7

Luta
romana was Greco-roman wrestling (although it was known by various names). The rules of the sport were established in 1848.
8
It was then essentially what it is now, upper-body wrestling. At first it was described simply as “two gladiators”. Eventually, after Brazilians had become familiar with the concepts of sport and physical culture, its sportive aspects were elucidated. But it is likely that fans got the general gist of the game, which was two large men each trying to put the other on the ground by a combination of lifting, pushing, and pulling, and similar such maneuvers. This took several decades however.

Luta
romana was introduced in Brazil on Sunday December 14, 1856, at Circo Olympico at rua da Guarda Velha, by a company directed by Alexandre Luande. Nothing about luta romana was described in the advertisement for the show. It was simply one act among many.
9
It is very possible that audiences did not know what it was other than a novel entertainment act from Europe.

By
December 2, 1859 the pattern had been set. Circo Olympic (this time at Rua Nova de Conde), luta romana was described as “
dous gladiadores
” [two gladiators] identified by name as Angelo Onofre and Jacintho de Mendonça. They were referred to as “
artistas
” rather than fighters.
10
What they saw was a stage show, and it is likely that it was interpreted, like everything that was presented on the same stages or areas set aside for performances, as a dramatic or comic performance rather than an athletic contest.

Savate was introduced no later than 1862, as part of
esgrima
[fencing] shows and contests, which were invariably acts in the same circuses and theater shows that featured luta romana.

On
Sunday June 8, 1862, at 11:00 a.m., at Pavilhão Fluminense, C. Dengrement gave a demonstration of games of weapons [
armas
], savate and punching [
jogo de soccos
]. He was assisted by a team from the French ship Franceza Bayard. The weapons included
florete
,
espada
,
baioneta
,
bengala
, and
pao
. It was a series of “
assaltos
” (the Portugeuse version of the French word used to denote a friendly fencing contests, or exhibitions, later expanded to mean the distinct periods, separated by rest periods, or “rounds” during which the match took place).
11

Entrance was 3$. The public was invited to watch, or
if they preferred, to participate. (Gentlemen who were interested in participating were asked to register at the house of C. Dengremont at rua do Fogo n. 29. 1863.
12

The brothers Hogle and Keef from North America performed a lucta romana, the ninth of ten acts that day October 13, 1863 at Theatro de S. Jose, in São Paulo.
13

On
January 31, 1864, Angelo Onofre and Jacintho de Mendonça were back with Circo Olympico at rua da Guard Velha.
14

A few years later, the performances were being described both as
assaltos
and as
jogos
(games). On Sunday November 1, 1868, Circo Olympico at rua da Guard Velha, presented an extraordinary and great show consisting of “games” [
jogos
] and matches [
assaltos
] of blade fighting, luta romana savate, and punching, featuring French, Spanish, and Portuguese artists. M. Felippe and an unnamed amateur would offer games of savate [
jogo de savate
] and punching [
jogo de socco
]. The final performance was a Portuguese sticking fighting match. There would also be performances of horsemanship, gymnastics, acrobatics, contortion, balancing, and dancing.
It was scheduled for 2:30, if it didn’t rain.
15

By 1872, it had become important to present performers as international masters and champions One typical example was G. Gontie, who performed exhibition matches [
assaltos
] of savate and
socco
and demonstrations of weapons such as
florete
,
espada
,
bengala
, and
pao
. Gontie was billed as
ex-mestre de esgrima do exercito francez da Africa
[French African Army] who studied in many countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Batavia, and India. He was assisted by masters from the French frigates Jean-Bart and Venus, and by English and American sailors [
marinheiros
]. The
esgrima
and savate demonstrations were preceded by an orchestra performance and comedy in three acts. The show was held at Theatro S. Luiz on Tuesday December 17, 1872.
16

In 1879 Theatro Circo, 94
on rua do Lavradio 94, hosted the Grande Companhia Norte-Americana, which in addition to gymnastics [
variados exercicios gymnasticos
] provided “real luta romana” [
a verdadeira luta romana
]. The invincible Italian fighter Jose Parodi [
O Invencibel lutador Jose Parodi
] offered 400$ to any strong man who would test him.

Two men signed up. They were the famed Hercules “The Greek” Henrique [o Grego], and Carlos Donadei. The match was scheduled for Saturday September 6, 1879.
17
They signed up the next day as well.
18

On September 14, Francisco Pinto Nogueira from
Portugal challenged Parodi, who accepted. The match was held at Theatro Circo Monday September 16, 1879.
19
On Saturday, October 18, 1879 Jose Parodi was scheduled to face Domingos M. de Amancio “O Mortero”.
20
On Sunday October 19, 1879, Parodi would face Francisco Pereira Dias at Skating-Rink Nictheroy.
21

Most shows took place in
Rio and to a lesser extent São Paulo. Rio was the political capital of the country and the major population and business center as well. But some troupes did venture outside Rio and São Paulo, at least to coastal cities on route to other destinations.

On
December 24, 1879, at the Circo no Tivoly, in Fortaleza, the “Human Cannon [
Homem Canhão
], sr. Battaglia offered 500$ to anyone who could beat him in lucta romana [
ofereca o premio de 500$00 a pessoa que o vencer de lucta romana
]. His troupe-mate Sansão demonstrated his arms of steel [
braços de ferro
] by bending two types of steel bars. Skeptics in the audience were invited to submit their own bars, which Sansão would bend.
22

On
Wednesday August 3, 1881 at the Polytheama Fluminense, Bartoletti defeated a masked amateur (later revealed to be Gariglio Antonio, from Turim, Italy, 30 years old, married, and residing at rua dos Invalidos, n. 6.
23

On
Saturday November 12, 1881, The Polytheama presented a match of luta romana, followed by a costume mask ball [
ha hoje luta romana e baile á phantazia
].
24

On
Saturday May 20, 1882, Grande Pavilhão Hespanhol on rua do Imperador, presented a “
real desafio de luta romana
,” pitting D. Maximo Rodriquez, “the Hercules Hespanhol” against the fearless [
destemido
] Italian Jose Magnani.
25
A week later (Sunday May 28, 1882), Rodriguez was preparing to take on Luiz da Costa. The management asked the public to remain respectably under control during the match so that the fighters could concentrate.
26

On
Saturday April 16, 1882, Polytheama Fluminense 94 on rua do Lavradio presented a parody of a great luta romana [
Parodia a grande luta romana (Qual será mais valente?
)], and a stick fighting game [
jogo do pãu
], disputed by Ribeiro, Teixeira, and others, and also three comedy performances and a symphony.
27

On
Sunday September 28, 1884 it was announced that Silva Pereira would soon be disputing some “Roman games” [
jogos romanos
] with Nunes do Lucinda at Palacete do rua Lavradio.
28

Ordinary people probably weren’t very capable of distinguishing genuine contests from staged matches, but by
1887, they seemed to understand that luta romana performances were not “real” fights, although it is unknown to what extent they believed that they were staged.