The man who did everything

PalmSurely Miquel dels Sants Oliver wasn't referring to him when he lamented that Mallorcans had "such an accommodating attitude" and doubted their ability to embrace modernity. Josep Tous Ferrer, born in Palma in 1859, was exactly the opposite: a journalist, printer, editor, businessman, cultural and urban promoter, and enthusiastic about what were then new inventions, such as cinema, aviation, and the automobile. A true visionary whom we remember on the 75th anniversary of his death, on August 29, 1950.

At that time, trades were learned through practice. And this is what young José did at the Rotger and Gelabert printing presses, the latter on the current Calle de la Imprenta de Ciudad, which is precisely why it bears its name. Both printers were not only related to each other but were also known for their liberal views. Perhaps this influenced the apprentice, who also sympathized with those ideas.

But Josep Tous wanted to open his own business, and so he did in 1880, at just 21 years old. And he gave it his lineage, as was customary back then. It was the Tous bookstore and printing press, first located on Llums Street in Palma and later in the Plaza de Cort. He sold stationery, used it as a subscription center, and printed business cards himself, by hand—virtually no one uses them now, but back then everyone had them—and commercial invoices. Since balloons became fashionable for celebrations, he did so too.

The reading public has always been in the minority—much more so back then, with 75% illiteracy—but in the Tous bookstore you could find any book, whether printed in Spain or abroad. Gabriel Alomar was one of his regular customers. Tous lacked the ability to become a publisher, so it added this activity, with a collection of well-known Mallorcan authors, such as Gabriel Maura, Josep Lluís Pons y Gallarza, Joan Alcover, and Pere de Alcàntara Penya, among others.

In 1893, he put another of his dreams into practice: creating a newspaper, The Last Hour -today, Breaking News–which was so named precisely because it was used at night. These were the years between the two centuries when the leading Mallorcan media outlets were born: The Almudaina (1887), Mallorca Post Office (1910) and The Day, by Joan March, in 1921. Unlike what had been published until then, they were not organs of a political party, which does not mean that they did not have their own ideology. The Last Hour, an ecclesiastical report labeled it as "liberal in nature."

The first beach hotel

Tous was innovative in this new adventure. He made The Last Hour was heralded in the streets. He had the first group of salaried editors and set a rate for his advertisements. He had two typesetting machines brought from New York. And despite his many activities, he was always linked to the newspaper: he remained its director for 57 years, until his death.

In 1900, another decisive event occurred in his career when he obtained the concession for the land that is now Huerto del Rey in Palma. These were not gardens, as for example, but vacant lots. But with the advantage of being in the middle of the city. There was a new marvel, invented only five years before: the cinematograph. And there Tous installed the Cinematógrafo Balear, the first projection room in the history of the Islands.

Tous continued his ties to cinema as the developer of new cinemas, such as the Born and the Progreso. And he wasn't satisfied with just exhibiting; he also produced a series of documentaries, filmed in 1911, apparently with the aim of promoting the new tourism industry, as they reflected the landscapes and traditions of Mallorca. Unfortunately, this material has been lost.

On the same site as the current Hort del Rei, he built a new theater—the Líric—to which, in addition to hosting live performances, he moved film screenings; the Alhambra Hotel; and the café of the same name, later known as Riskal, which would be the headquarters for Lorenzo Villalonga's social gatherings. He promoted the Coliseo Balear in what was then the outskirts of Palma, the construction of which transformed the Ciutat's growth prospects.

Another visionary trait of Tous's was the idea that beaches, those mounds of sand that in Mallorca were used to unload contraband and little else, could be converted into a place likely to attract visitors. In the area then known as the Paret Blanca, he promoted, through the company Progreso Urbano, the Ciutat Jardí urban development, following the model of the British architect Ebenezer Howard, which was being put into practice for the first time in Mallorca. With this same idea in mind, he conceived the hotel of the same name: "The first thing to be built outside of Palma and next to the sea," as Pere Galiana emphasizes. In Ciutat Jardí, he also commissioned two villas, now lost, for his children.

Tous extended his initiatives to practically everything that represented technical progress. He had the first six automobiles brought to Mallorca, another surprising invention for the time. He was also one of the founders of the General Society of Interurban Electric Trams of Palma.

From Weyler to Francoism

Could Josep Tous Ferrer have done more than just those mentioned above? Yes, he was. He was what we would now call a cultural promoter, participating in the creation of Palma's Salonet Beethoven. Leading figures in classical music, such as Baltasar Samper and Enric Granados, among others, passed through this space. It was a meeting place for the crème de la crème of Mallorcan intellectuals: Miguel de los Santos Oliver, Juan Alcover, Félix Escales, Juan Sureda, Gabriel Alomar, Antonio Gelabert, and many others. Tous was also a member of Santiago Rusiñol's social gathering in the Terreno neighborhood.

A restless spirit like Josep Tous's must have been tempted, too, by politics. Indeed: he was a councilor, liberal of course, for Palma City Council. He belonged to the Weylerist sector, followers of the Mallorcan of this lineage. Weyler and Tous were friends. When a tribute was organized for Palma, upon his relief from command in Cuba, Tous was present and had doves released in his honor.

Tous's diary received the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in 1923 with resignation—the decomposition and discredit of the system were evident—and, on the other hand, greeted with genuine enthusiasm the arrival of the Second Republic in 1931. News of the 1933 war coup d'état appeared on page 5 of the diary. As Carles Cabrera pointed out in ARA Baleares, "when the Falangists came in, Tous made it very clear to them that The Last Hour He remained loyal to the government of the Republic and only gave in to the weight of arms and circumstances. Thus, when Málaga fell into the hands of the coup plotters, he contributed a donation of fifty pesetas to the population, with a card to which he had written "Spain is coming!" and "Long live Franco!". It was also his initiative to erect a monument to the victims of the cruise ship Balearics –yes, the same one that, inexplicably, is still standing today on Palma's Feixina.

Josep Tous Ferrer died in Ciutat 75 years ago, on August 29, 1950. He left behind a Mallorca that, although immersed in the long night of Franco's regime, had what had seemed almost chimeras—cinema, airplanes, automobiles, and the tourist infrastructure—already formed part of it.

Information compiled from texts by Antoni Marimon Riutort, Miguel Buades Socias, Luis Fábregas, Pedro Galiana, Arnau Company, Juan Mas Quetglas, Marius Verdaguer, Miguel Alenyar, Margalida Tous, Antonio Janer, Carlos Cabrera, Catalina Aguiló, José Antonio Pérez de Mendiola, Cristóbal-Cristóbal. and Macià Blazquez, the newspaper Última Hora, and the brochure La librería Tous.