Background
Sidney Frumkin was born in Brooklyn, New York to Orthodox Jewish parents.
Sidney Frumkin was born in Brooklyn, New York to Orthodox Jewish parents.
In 1922 he traveled to Mexico City, where he would begin a career in bullfighting. He fought bulls in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia and Panama. Writing in Death in the Afternoon on Sidney Franklin, Ernest Hemingway said, "Franklin is brave with a cold, serene and intelligent valor but instead of being awkward and ignorant he is one of the most skillful, graceful and slow manipulators of a cape fighting today.
His repertoire with the cape is enormous but he does not attempt by a varied repertoire to escape from the performance of the veronica as the base of his cape work and his veronicas are classical, very emotional, and beautifully timed and executed.
You will find no Spaniard who ever saw him fight who will deny his artistry and excellence with the cape.” And later Hemingway adds, “He is a better, more scientific, more intelligent, and more finished matador than all but about six of the full matadors in Spain today and the bullfighters know it and have the utmost respect for him." Franklin appeared in a few films in the United States of America and Mexico. Later he presented bullfights on American television According to A. East. Hotchner, "Lillian Ross"s career with The New Yorker was founded on the success of her profile of the bullfighter Sidney Franklin." – Papa Hemingway, A. East. Hotchner, 1955.