Porto, Sérgio

(1923–1968)

   Brazilian humorist, journalist, and writer. Born in the Copacabana neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, where he lived all his life, Porto is regarded as one of the finest Brazilian humorists of the 20th century. In the late 1950s, under the nom de plume Stanislaw Ponte Preta, he initiated a newspaper column that would bring him lasting fame. Published in the pages of the daily Última Hora, his column of social and political commentary became known for its sardonic humor at the expense of the government following the military coup of 1964. Under the occasional title “O Festival de Besteira que Assola o País” (Festival of Nonsense That Desolates the Country), or “Febeapá,” he commented on the situation in Brazil. According to one critic, the “Febeapá” is best remembered for mocking “the pretensions of the ‘revolution,’” which he terms la redentora (“the redeemer”), by composing a list of officials who have become prime players in the “festival de besteira” and recounting their “episodes.”

   His Stanislaw Ponte Preta persona, ostensibly a carefree bon vivant with great success among women, made him a favorite of readers who reportedly went on to adopt some of his best-known phrases as their own, such as “aderia mais que político brasileiro ao poder” (stuck more than a Brazilian politician to power) or the ostensibly innocent “no Brasil as coisas acontecem e depois, com um simples desmentido, deixaram de acontecer” (In Brazil, things happen, and later, with a simple denial, they stop happening). Three compilations of “Febeapá” went on to become best sellers in print. An elegant stylist, under his own name he published several short novels and two volumes of memoirs, most notably A Casa Demolida (The Demolished House), a chronicle of the idyllic Copacabana of his childhood and its transformation into the hip, noisy tourist destination of the 1960s. His satiric short story, “O Elefante” (The Elephant) was included in the collection of short stories 64 d.c. (64 AD), which took its title from the year of the military coup. In it, Porto allegorizes the situation of Brazil in a story about an elephant, named Brasil, and its plight, in a tale marked by patriotic references, exaggerated for comical effect.

   Among scholars of Brazilian popular culture, he is also remembered for the care he took —a care that belied his carefree public persona-with the scripts of the television and radio shows in which he participated, among them the long-running Times Square on TV Rio. He was also a keen music critic, credited with authoring hundreds of liner notes and collaborating on important music journals of the time, often in conjunction with his uncle, Lúcio Rangel, one of Brazil’s most important music critics of the 20th century. (Rangel is credited with bringing together the then-unknown musician Antonio Carlos Jobim and the playwright and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes, a collaboration that resulted in the magnificent play Orfeu da Conceição, the basis for the 1959 movie by French director, Marcel Camus, titled Orfeu Negro [Black Orpheus], a magical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during Carnival in Rio.)

   In his later years, Porto, a lifelong smoker who had suffered his first heart attack at age 36, intensified his work schedule, which had included for many years a day job as a banker. He assembled a theater show titled Show do Crioulo Doido (Show of the Crazy Creole) with which he toured the country and which earned him, according to a newspaper remembrance, innumerable problems with the military censors. Sérgio Porto was found dead, the victim of a heart attack, on 30 September 1968, following an evening’s show in which he, once again, skewered the foibles of the Brazilian government.