O Beijo

José Vilhena is considered the father of humor in Portugal. Author of several books, he has an extraordinary career and was the creator of the magazine. Open Cage which marked democratic Portugal after April 25th. The most brilliant Portuguese humorist.

"Autobiography Vilhena was born in 1927, had measles and all the other peculiar illnesses of children to whom divine providence did not attach much importance. In high school he was persecuted by teachers who failed him whenever they could. At the School of Fine Arts he was misunderstood. Tragedies upon tragedies accumulated like clouds in the sky of his life. At 20 he had pneumonia. At 21 a blonde. At 23 he was called up for military service. At 24 he met one of those women who drive even the most "wise" man crazy. At 25 he was forced to work in a house that trafficked wine. There he acquired a very strong inclination for drink. At 26 several sentimental dramas (the flesh also enters into his sentimentality) made him a disbeliever in humanity, especially in the female part of humanity." At 27 he published his first book (This World and Another) and was harshly criticized by some newspapers. At 28 he experienced a double passion (a very rare phenomenon), that is: he fell in love with two women simultaneously. At 29 he published his second book (Pascoal). At 30 he met a brunette. This last tragedy took on such catastrophic proportions that some friends admitted it was the end of a life entirely dedicated to the arts and the contemplation of nature (or rather – of certain specimens of nature). - José Vilhena, 1958.

Writer, painter, cartoonist and humorist, Vilhena charmed, amused and scandalized generations of Portuguese people throughout his more than 50-year career.