Josep Ximeno Planas

Josep Ximeno Planas (Barcelona, 1865 – Sant Hilari Sacalm, 1926) was a Barcelona journalist and playwright, founder of the weekly Lo Teatro Regional, a publication founded in 1892 that reviewed the entire theater movement in Catalonia. On July 25, 1897, he left Barcelona in exile after being convicted of insults, unaware that he would never return, and that he would settle not in Sant Celoni, as he had initially thought, but in Sant Hilari Sacalm.

In Sant Hilari, he was the founder and director of L’Estiuada, a weekly newspaper published in the town dedicated to vacationers – and of a nationalist character– with 82 issues printed during the summers between 1908 and 1914.

He was also the owner of a souvenir, toy, and postcard store, named La Modernista, also known as Can Ximeno. Josep Ximeno also edited photographs of Sant Hilari and the surrounding area to make postcards, a very profitable market served by the numerous and wealthy summer colonies thanks to which we can know what the town was like at that time. The Hilarion market was shared with more local postcard publishers, a fact that exemplifies the economic importance of the summer holiday.

In 1922 he founded another literary and summer weekly: Lliroia. It uses a localism as its title, the Hilarian name for the broom flower. A name that Verdaguer also used and with which Busquets i Punset had titled his first book. The magazine appeared for only two summers.

Ximeno used the magazine to campaign, through popular subscription, to finish the bell tower, which was inaugurated in August 1922, with a great celebration.

Among those who collaborated in the magazine, we find Josep Asmarats, a prolific Barcelona comedian who in 1916 had published an Aplec de cançons catalanes de Sant Hilari, in which he changed the lyrics of popular songs and adapted them to the environment of Sant Hilari, with a satirical tone.

In 1919 he wrote and published Auca de un forastero en Sant Hilari, one of the prize-winning texts in the Humorous Floral Games that were held in Sant Hilari that year.

He died in 1926 in Sant Hilari, with the appreciation of the entire town, who would dedicate one of the most important streets of the town to him, in gratitude for his generous civic and cultural work.

THE EXILE / BANISHMENT

Josep Ximeno Planas went to live in Sant Hilari Sacalm because in 1897 he was banished from Barcelona, for insults, after having accused a playwright of plagiarism, despite being right.

On July 24, 1897, the weekly Lo Teatre Regional, a publication founded in 1892 that reviewed the entire theater movement in Catalonia, announced on the cover “Adeu siau!!!” of its founder and editor, Josep Ximeno Planas. The text was short: “Als meus amichs, als meus companys en lletras, al publich en general, à tots quants han vingut interessantse per la sort meva y dels meus, al allunyarme de Barcelona pera lo compliment de la sentencia imposada, permeteume esplahi lo meu cor, enviant-vos desde aqueixes planas lo testimoni del meu etern agrahiment. Bons amichs, bons companys, à reveure”. All readers, all the people from Barcelona, knew about the case since the newspapers and magazines had reported generously.

The critic had been sentenced to live in exile more than 25 kilometres from Barcelona for three years, six months, and twenty-one days and, since he did not have the money to pay the fine of 250 pesetas, added to the cost of the trial, he would have to add a one more day of exile for every five pesetas that remained owed after his furniture was auctioned. The forecasts indicated that all of this would go away within five years. The magazine announced that the next day, Sunday, the 25th, he would board the train at 4:08 in the afternoon, heading to Girona, to the France station, to begin serving his sentence and that the town chosen to reside in would be Sant Celoni, 51 kilometres from Barcelona. Many people wanted to say goodbye and they had to know the precise time. He also said that a commission of writers would accompany him on the trip to Sant Celoni and that before boarding the train he would be offered a tribute banquet. Then he was unaware that he would never return to Barcelona, and that he would settle not in Sant Celoni but in Sant Hilari Sacalm.

LA SURIPANTA

It all began in the pages of Lo Teatro Regional, following a theatrical premiere, of the play La Suripanta, by the prolific Anton Ferrer i Codina (Barcelona, 1837-1905), performed at the Teatro Romea on March 12, 1895. A few weeks after the premiere, Ximeno Planas spoke about the suspicions of plagiarism that arose in the theatre’s rest room, on the day of the premiere, and about the rumour that the author had declared, to some people who commented on it, that he would give 5,000 pesetas to those who demonstrated that the work was plagiarism. In the magazine of March 23, Ximeno Planas declared that he accepted the offer, through a text that took up an entire page.

But since he did not receive a response, in the following issue, on March 30, he made a “Public declaration” in which he stated that La Suripanta “deu sa originalitat à la producció francesa ‘Les Vacances du Mariage’, comedia-vaudeville, original dels senyors Albin Valabrègue y Maurice Hennequin, estrenada à París lo 12 de febrer de 1887, en lo teatro Menus-Plaisirs”. And then he reported the numerous “puntos de contacto”, referring to the plot, the details of the plot and the dialogue. In addition, he gave another piece of information, the Italian version of the French play, Il maritto in campagna, was performed at the Eldorado theatre in Barcelona on September 15, 1892, that is, three years before the premiere of La Suripanta. The magazine showed its satisfaction at the discovery in the following issue, with this statement: “triomf més gran que podíam esperar, ha coronat nostre trevall referent al descubriment del célebre furt literari teatral, clarament demostrat en lo número anterior. Las causas justas y honradas, sempre han trovat ressó en lo cor dels nobles fills d’aquesta terra”. los nobles hijos de esta tierra”. To reinforce it, they included, in a very prominent way, an article dedicated to the Criminality of Plagiarism, signed by Josep Aladern, pseudonym of Cosme Vidal y Rosich, narrator, journalist, and publicist. Aladern commented that “Aquí’s plagia y ‘s viu del plagi, y les casas editorials, los periódichs, y sobretot los teatres, portan una vida vergonyosa sots lo pés d’aqueixa càfila de vividors de la inteligència”.

In the issue corresponding to April 27, Ximeno Planas published a long article titled Our campaign in which he vented against Ferrer i Codina, with the security that the discovery of the unquestionable plagiarism gave him, but he also replied to the press that supported the author. The editor wrote the article irritated by the anonymous attacks he received from the magazine La Aureneta, where Ferrer i Codina collaborated. The Sant Hilari Sacalm writer Anton Busquets i Punset, who collaborated with Aureneta, resigned out of solidarity with Josep Ximeno and in disagreement with the magazine’s campaign. Furthermore, the owner and editor of the magazine La Tomasa, Ramon Estany, fired Ferrer i Codina, who was the director, because he wanted to publish anonymous notes against Ximeno. In the same article, he also wrote, as an example, that one day they could say to Ferrer i Codina: “Ep mestre, del nostre públich no se’n burla ningú… Ja hi ets de més, no és just que ’l jornaler pagui tas usurpacions ab los diners que ha guanyat legalment ab la suor del seu front.”

CONDEMNED FOR INJURY / SLANDER

The article was considered offensive and slanderous by Ferrer i Codina, and he decided to take it to court. This did not discourage Ximeno Planas, who dedicated himself to discovering and reporting more plagiarism in the complainant’s work. But the judge admitted the complaint and on November 5, 1896, the oral trial against Ximeno Planas, urged by Ferrer i Codina, took place in the second room, criminal section, of the Barcelona Court. Many newspapers covered the session and Lo Teatro Regional reproduced the entire intervention: six pages of the magazine, with the cover included. The famous writer and lawyer Conrad Roure defended Ximeno Planas, and the lawyer Emili Daura prosecuted him. As La Vanguardia would say, there were “conocidos literaros catalanes” among the witnesses.

The president of the court, César Hermosa, asked Ximeno if he was the author of the derogatory phrases and words that the complainant considered insulting, such as “plagiari” or telling him that “ab això de tenir vergonya se n’ha de venir de mena”, to which he responded affirmatively. But he did not ask the question:“Se declara autor del delicte d’injúries?”. The complainant provided the most interesting confession. He said that he had bought the translation rights for Les Vacances du Mariage and then Conrad Roure asked him why he hadn’t said it before. The response caused rumours and laughter among the public. “Perquè crec que el meu arreglo és millor”. The accusation intelligently left aside the issue of plagiarism and focused on the expressions contained in the article, for which it was requested six years of exile for Ximeno Planas. Conrad Roure spoke about the case as a whole and said that Ferrer i Codina could not consider himself injured for having been called a plagiarist.

The sentence only considered the content of the article, without ruling on the originality of the work, and was favourable to Ferrer i Codina while Ximeno Planas was sentenced in the middle of the banishment requested by the accusation. The accused appealed against the Supreme Court. The hearing was held in Madrid on April 13, 1897. García Prieto, Ferrer i Codina’s defence lawyer, said that he was an elderly man, who had written more than forty works for the Catalan theatre, and that he shined in the chest a decoration from Charles III. Regarding La Suripanta he said that it was not plagiarism, but a work “tomada del francés”. In May, the Supreme Court ratified the ruling of the Barcelona Court. Next, a long list of prestigious playwrights promoted a campaign in favour of the condemned man, while a popular subscription was opened to confront the ruin in which his family was left.

TRIBUTES

On May 22, 1897, a charity session was held in the Principal Theatre in honour of the condemned critic, with performances of works by Vidal and Valenciano y Pitarra and a concert by the Band of the Casa de Caridad. Ximeno was forced to go on stage repeatedly, amidst the audience’s enthusiastic applause. In the anonymous chronicle published by La Vanguardia, one could read that the expressions of sympathy that Ximeno had received “unimos ahora la nuestra” For its part, Lo Teatro Regional published an extraordinary issue in honor of Ximeno on May 22, where we find many of the most notable brands of the time, such as Eduard Vidal y Valenciano, Josep Roca i Roca, Joan Maragall, Emili Guanyabens, Ignasi Iglésias, Massó Torrents, Conrad Roure, Josep Feliu i Codina, Joan Pérez Jorba, Emili Vilanova, Valeri Serra Boldú i Busquets i Punset, among many others. Some of the texts are in the form of a poem. The organizing committee of the tribute events said that it has not been possible to publish all the originals received, some of which will appear in later issues. The complaint of more plagiarism continued in the magazine, in Ximeno’s absence.

Ferrer i Codina often signed adaptations of French and Castilian works as his own works, until the discovery of this fraud promoted a considerable scandal in the theatrical world of the time and a debate about the incorporation of foreign works.

La Bugadera, a satirical manuscript magazine of irregular periodicity, directed by Salvador Bonavia and published between 1897 and 1901, paid tribute to the exiled Ximeno Planas, with a drawing and a poem, in the issue of May 23, 1897.

L’ESTIUDA

In the editorial of the first issue, dated June 26, 1908, and titled «Credo patritich» the nationalist position is made clear, fully soaked in the spirit of the Renaixença, both culturally and politically.

“En bona hora Catalunya ha obert de bat a bat les seves portes als aires renovadors, a les belles activitats humanes, pro te per ideal, primordial, mes noble, la seva redempció total, el conqueriment del seu dret com a entitat viva y natural. Perquè sols amb una existencia autònoma, podrà enfortir la seva vida a plena llum mondial, figurant en el concert armonich de la civilitsació verdadera.”

Catalanism and the “rage to take advantage of the summer to spread the saving grace” found a magnificent crystallization in L’Estiuada, which was evident from the first issue and was maintained, intensified from 1909 onwards, until the last. In 1909, the weekly, which had presented itself as a “periodich de informacio comarcal” (regional information newspaper), was renamed a “periodich nacionalista” (nationalist newspaper), and within a few years it joined the Catalanist Union. The Renaissance.

The magazine had a section of <Nuevas> “News”, many of which referred to the activities related to the summer camp, which often held parties, dances, and concerts, in the morning and at night, in cafés and terraces. They even published long lists of the holidaymakers who arrived. Sometimes they included a complaint, such as the fact that the luggage arrived the next day, by car. L’Estiuada also considered it interesting to publish the number of lambs slaughtered at the slaughterhouse, much higher than that of bulls and oxen. If there was news referring to the national Catalan’s movement, coming from Barcelona, they also published it.

The advertising was basically for hotels: Martin, España –where Father Verdaguer stayed–, Suizo, Oriental. There was also advertising for commercial establishments, from shoe shops to confectioners, and always with the advertisement for Can Ximeno. There were also the timetables and prices of the Hispano-Hilariense bus service, a local company born thanks to the impact of tourism, which first provided service to Arbúcies and Hostalric, where one could connect with the train, to Barcelona, or Girona; and later it reached Barcelona.

Prominent politicians, and vacationers of Sant Hilari, collaborated with L’Estiuada, such as Domènec Martí i Julià (Barcelona, 1861-1917), a radical nationalist and president of the Catalan Union, or Joan Garriga i Massó (Barcelona, 1871-1956), who was a deputy for the Seu d’Urgell for Catalan Solidarity during that time.

From Sant Hilari we find a young person named Frederic Culí Verdaguer (Sant Hilari Sacalm, 1890 – Barcelona, 1960), specialist in municipal law; and the writer Anton Busquets i Punset (Sant Hilari Sacalm, 1876 – Calders, 1934).

Furthermore, other people like Eduard Girbal Jaume (author of The Tragedy of Cal Pere Llarg and a great friend of Busquets i Punset) or the lawyer, historian, and politician Francesc Carreras i Candi (Barcelona, 1862-1937), another illustrious vacationer who published some of the unpublished chapters from the book Notes històriques de Sant Hilari Sacalm, which l’Estiuada published under his seal in Barcelona, in 1911.

Josep Ximeno also got several personalities to collaborate in the publication, such as Father Antoni M. Alcover, Ivan l’Escop, the meteorologist Eduard Fontserè, Joaquim Folch i Torres, Antoni Rovira i Virgili, and Anton Griera. The journalist Pelegrí Llangort (Barcelona, 1875-1956), a member of the Catalan Union, exiled for a few years in France, sent an article from the other side of the border. From Girona, we find Joaquim Pla i Cargol (Girona, 1882-1978), author of textbooks. Also collaborating is Eduard Escalante (València, 1854-1921), who once spent the summer in Sant Hilari: “Se troba estiuejant a l’Hotel Martin, en companya de les seves distingides filles, el notable escriptor valencià Don Eduard Escalante” (L’Estiuada of July 16, 1909). Priests could not be missing, such as Ramon Corbella i Llobet (Vallfogona de Riucorb 1850 – Vic, 1924), who trained at the Vic seminary. Or Ignasi Rovira i Coll, from Sant Hilari, the seminarian who Father Verdaguer received in the summer of 1899 when Bishop Morgades visited Sant Hilari to reconcile.