Spain has always been lavish in advertising successes, perhaps because great value was always placed on marketing to improve sales. And in Ourense we have several examples of this. As for the slogan, the one Javier reminds us of takes the cake because there are many Ourenses who still have that jingle in their heads “Where are you going? To Foplas. In front of Post Office” (there was another version that ended with: “Tras Alameda”). I don’t know if it was the idea of José Rodríguez Bouzo, “Pepe Foplás”, or one of the great publicists we had here, Dorzán, Nacher?
Perhaps diving into memories, someone would say that this slogan was very reminiscent of the one used years before to advertise Helados Ramos (an antecedent of Helados El Cortijo): “Where are we going? To Ice Cream Ramos”.
And since we are talking about ice cream, who does not remember “Ibense ice cream, the best in Orense”. El Cortijo also had one, but I think it wasn’t official (because of the rhyme…). Characters such as Don Ramón Puga did not escape the popular slogan either: “Puga’s shirt neither stains nor wrinkles.”
But back to the photographers. There was another great who is also remembered for his (very productive) initiatives: Foto Sanjurjo. He was a pioneer in Spain in terms of the practice of renting the cameras to his clients in order to ensure the developments. A few small instructions for use, a very affordable rental price… “free”, and the sale of several reels started the business. The secret of its continuity?: never take advantage of that advantage to squeeze the customer. He was doing so well that when in a stroke of fortune Luis Sanjurjo got a few pesetas in a raffle (it was one of those campaigns that they say they never get, but Luis “got”, if I’m not mistaken, 125,000 pesetas from the 60, which was good money), when interviewed by the journalist, he did not hesitate to say that he would invest the prize in new cameras for his clients. In the absence of complex marketing studies, Luis Sanjurjo displayed a fantastic imagination and commercial vision when he put this revolutionary business system into operation back in the 1940s. Today there are already many companies that imitate him (I think they did not pay him royalties) and they know that the business is in the consumables, not in the device itself, or did you not realize that the printer costs less than the ink cartridges? ink? Another of Sanjurjo’s techniques was to build customer loyalty from an early age, and for that, when the school year began and students were asked to take pictures, the trick was to give each child a box of colored paints, with which were the ones who asked their parents to take the photos in Sanjurjo…
I’m going to take advantage of my article today to introduce the new generations to these historical photographers who I promise to tell you about in more detail at another time.
The Sanjurjos have been one of the sagas of the profession in the city, along with Pacheco, Schreck, Villar, Mazaira and Covelo. The story begins with José Sanjurjo Muiños, who arrived in Ourense from his native Ferrol around the 1920s, with a camera and little else. He settled in the barracks of the Alameda Ourensana next to other of those called “minuters” (Mazaira also started there). But, with your permission, I will not delve further into José’s biography and I will limit myself to introducing you to what was his saga. José was followed by his children Luis and Manuela, they opened the study of Progreso 67 (year 1946), although those of you who remember him will tell me that due to his size he could not be called that, however he endured more than 60 years. It is true that the storage laboratory and retouching room were on a mezzanine floor of what was then number 73. Luis and Manuela used that place for little more than taking passport photos; The reports of weddings, baptisms, etc., used to always be done outdoors and sometimes in the clients’ homes or some location requested by them (Lyceum, San Francisco cloister, etc.). Luis was the promoter of the campaigns that I mentioned and some more. They were followed in the business by Manuela’s children: Roberto and Mariló. But for different reasons they left him, first Mariló and finally Roberto (recently deceased, DEP).
The case of Foplás (PHOTOGRAPHY-PLASTIC) is quite different. José Rodríguez Bouzo began as an apprentice with Leopoldo Iglesias (Villar-Photo) and it didn’t take long for him to like the profession. However, the economy did not help and he had to wait until he was 24 years old to buy his first Sem Kim, an unassuming but effective French machine in good hands. With it, he dedicates himself to portraying everyone who needs to renew their documentation and what they ask of him. The next step was to open his first laboratory studio, and around 1952 he opened Foto Cine on the ground floor of his father’s house, in Polvorín.
For three years he traveled all over Ourense looking for clients, and in 1955, with some savings, he decided to try his fortune in Venezuela, in those years when with work and a little luck one could make money, as it was. In 61 he returns with a good mattress and, although he invests with his family in construction businesses, he does not want to give up photography and opens Foplás on Calle Parada Justel, where many of us still “go to Foplás” today.
I don’t have any photographs of “Pepe Foplás” in person, and there are very few photos of both Sanjurjo and Foplás in my archive, so if you want to collaborate… [email protected]
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