Blond girls from the United States hawking American ice cream at a bullfight, and in Las Ventas, Madrid, once revered as the “cathedral” of bullfighting? It was blasphemy, and worse was to follow. After long abstinence, 1 was in Madrid for the six corridas of the annual autumn fair, which mark the end of the major bullfights of the year. It proved to be a mixed pleasure, not for lack of ability on the part of the toreros but because the bulls had been bred down and were overfed and deficient in the qualities rigorously selected by breeders in the past. The Spanish used to say, “Sin toms, no hay toreros ’ (Without bulls, you cannot have bullfight" ers).