While in Europe he heard a waltz being played, a creation of Mexican composer Juventino Rosas. When he suggested that it was a Mexican tune, he was told by his European friends, "Impossible - no Mexican could have composed that". Incensed, he returned to Mexico, wrote a novel based on the life of Rosas, and produced a movie bearing the title of a famous Rosas composition, Sobre las Olas (1934).