1975... Gloomy days for Spain. Franco is dying and the Prince, acting Head of State, finds himself in a difficult position to confront a fundamental problem. King Hassan II of Morocco is seeking the appropriate moment to organize the bizarre «green march» which put our Army in a very serious dilemma. It didn't have to face the strategy and power of an enemy Army but the binge of huge masses of people who were braced to invade the Spanish Sahara. They were armed only with tambourines, laughter and music.

In principle, it seemed to be more a case of preserving the Public Order than a war, but the situation was very tense and one single shot fired by some nervous (and probably unknown) Spanish soldier might have been lethal.

Spain and its army were facing a trap. Many of the officers, particularly the progressive members from the UMD (Democratic Military Union), were overly confident and eager to go into combat. Perhaps they wanted to prove their usefulness, efficiency and even their social justification for solving a conflict in which their country's dignity might well be at stake...

In those days it occurred to somebody in the Ministry of Information & Tourism to send to the Sahara a musical company with dancing showgirls - Gloria del Toro's -, a dying genre by then, to raise the spirits of the Spanish troops. The girls arrived in their sequin dresses to mix with the soldiers.

And, as can be expected, apart from some erections, several incidents took place - including a Portuguese-style Army uprising involving love, sex and songs. It was all a bit excessive, albeit amusing and trivial and seemingly of no significance, as is the case of many Spanish Popular Episodes.

So what about the Green March? Well, nothing; it was over in the first act, just as the dictatorship came to an end and the colonial army as well. Like the Revista Española came to an end - a genre that had flourished in its day due to the lack of sex, just as the Spanish picaresque was produced by a lack of protein-intake.