Dashing Blonde

Madrid belonged to Evita last week. Not since the welcome to Hekirich Himmler in 1940 had the Franco regime tuned up a reception as thunderous as the one it handed the dashing blonde wife of Argentina's President Juan Peron. Evita drew even larger crowds than had ever turned out for Dictator Franco himself. "Of course," went the explanation, "she's better looking."

The fact was that Madrid's enthusiasm was real, not the synthetic show that Madrilenos are accustomed to giving for Franco. The 200,000 who lined Madrid's floodlit streets on the night of her arrival knew that Evita--and Argentina--stood for the wheat in their bread. As they saw more of her, on balconies, in the theater, at the bull ring, they learned that she had a way with a Spanish crowd.

That way consisted of an adroit plugging of the common bonds of religion and blood which unite Spaniards and Argentines. It also involved some fancy costuming. It was the hottest day of the year when Evita got the diamond-encrusted Grand Cross of Isabel la Catolica from Dictator Franco; but she wore a full-length mink cape. At the special performance of Lope de Vega's classic Spanish drama, Fuente Ovejuna in the Teatro Espanol, Evita turned up in a long cape of ostrich feathers. At the bullfight, which she held up half an hour by arriving late (the opening was never delayed for Alfonso XIII), Evita again bugged Spanish eyes. She wore her mantilla (traditionally held rigorously straight) over a comb cocked rakishly above her ear.

True & False? Her words fell sweetly on the ears of Franco and his followers. To 40,000 Madrilenos who jammed into the Plaza de Oriente, Evita praised the "true, distributive democracy" of Spain and Argentina. She contrasted it with the "false, deceptive democracy" of other unnamed nations. The crowd roared encouragement, then slowly, beginning with a core of falangistas in the center of the square, raised arms in the officially abolished Fascist salute. Evita, and the Dictator at her side, saluted them back.

Evita still had another week in Spain before she went on to Rome for a quieter round of functions, including an audience with the Pope and a banquet with Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza. Then she would go on to France and England--where she was already getting catcalls from the press. The Socialist Party has urged French Premier Paul Ramadier to declare her unacceptable. And London's big, breezy Sunday Pictorial, which was howling at Argentine beef prices, screamed from a frontpage banner, PRESIDENT'S WIFE is NOT WELCOME. But Evita was used to brickbats; they had not stopped her before.

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