Don Quixote & Venus

Mexican journalism was shaken by a minor drama. The leading characters: Jose Pages Llegro. talented founder and editor of Mexico's leading weekly Hoy; Beatriz Aleman de Giron. only daughter of ex-President Aleman: and a remarkable Parisian nightclub dancer.

Not long ago. Beatriz and her husband. Lawyer Carlos Giron. were relaxing in a Paris nightclub when an enterprising photographer caught them gazing at one of the performers (see cut). While papa Aleman was off touring the Iron Curtain countries (see below), the picture reached Editor Pages. Unlike most Mexican editors, Pages is less interested in pleasing bigwigs than in printing what he considers interesting copy. He gave the picture from Paris a full-page spread. As soon as the magazine hit the newsstands, a storm broke over Editor Pages' head.

The objection was not so much that he had printed a picture of a girl with no clothes on, but that the picture included the convent-educated daughter of Miguel Aleman, who still has a lot of influential friends in Mexico. For years, Mexican publications had hardly printed anything but carefully posed shots of the Aleman family, and ignored the President's lively interest in a succession of actresses and other beauties. Hoy's publisher rapped Editor Pages sharply over the knuckles, told him not to be naughty again. Pages promptly resigned. Six other staff members also quit, including Cartoonist Antonio Arias Bernal, whose cover drawings had been Hoy's bestselling assets. Said a friend: "Pages had 3 pesos in his pocket when he left, but he isn't going to compromise. He is a Quixote."

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