Only you could have thought of leaving the day you left. Look, when plotting scripts you didn’t like coincidences very much. You said that those were screenwriter tricks, not good stories. But leaving on the day Cuéntame ends may not be a coincidence, but perhaps one of your jokes, a last wink that chills our hearts while making us smile.
Your scripts always ended up on top, after moving us, giving us some disappointment and, above all, having made us laugh. That was you, like one of your scripts. Funny, biting, witty, unpredictable. That’s how you were and that’s how you’re gone. Being Eduardo until the end.
You were born in post-war Madrid. You devoured all the Guillermo el travieso books and the War Feats comics that fell into your hands, you did not miss a game of your Atleti, you studied at Ramiro, you worked as a journalist and you made your first steps as an actor. You were active in the anti-Franco movement, you went into exile in London, you survived by washing dishes and upon your return, you suffered disappointment. You thought the streets would be full of people wanting to make the revolution and the only thing that was full were the bars; of people, yes, but eating shrimp. Revolution or seafood. No one can better define that Transition that you later portrayed in the series.
I met you later, just beginning the new century. She was on the set of Cuéntame and had just left university. You, who said you were the last child on Claudio Coello Street to wear baggy pants, remembered me at that meeting dressed like a child, with “shorts and pearl socks.” My outfit was different, of course, but you were right. He was a boy. I was fortunate to fall into that formidable team of writers that you led along with Patrick Buckley, the other creator of the series, and later with Alberto Macías. From all three I learned the craft of telling stories. From you I learned that there is nothing more difficult than comedy. Difficult for the rest, because for you comedy was the natural state of things. Working with you was fun.
Cuéntame is one of your greatest successes, perhaps the most colossal, but not the only one. If the great Spanish series can be counted on the fingers of one hand, many of those fingers are yours. Pharmacy on duty, Thieves go to the office, Dear Teacher… You are television history and a reference for all of us who have come after.
After a few years without seeing each other, we met just two weeks ago. It was at a talk by the ALMA screenwriters union. You took your wits out for a walk and the rest of us could only listen to you. Because not only did you write well, you were also a great storyteller. Luckily, we were able to chat for a while afterwards. You told me about Pilita, Óscar and his new novel and your five grandchildren. What you told me before we said goodbye I will keep forever. It seems like you knew the last chapter was near. I’ve already told you, Eduardo until the end.
You’re gone, but you’re still here. Your legacy of humor and wit will always accompany us. And the pride of having known you, too. Goodbye, teacher, companion and friend.
Jacobo Delgado is the script coordinator for season 23 of Cuéntame and a scriptwriter for the series for more than 20 years.
