Lorca had been thinking of writing about these characters since the summer of 1921. In Madrid he had talked with Salazar about the possibility of collaborating in an attempt to revive this popular tradition. In Asquerosa (Disgusting), he inquires among the neighbors about that popular theater (as a child, in Fuente Vaqueros he had been fascinated by this popular theater). Thanks to the memory of the elderly locals, he recovers characters.
This is the starting point of the The Billy-Club Puppets that he was to finish the following year. In 1922, the family spends the summer, as usual, in Asquerosa and on August 5, Federico finishes the draft of his farce. This is the time of collaboration with Falla, research in popular genres and the organization of the Cante Jondo (Deep Song) Contest. In addition to the type of theater and typical characters, he also uses popular songs and witty dialogues typical of the peasants of the Vega de Granada. As he stated in a letter, he had planned to take a puppet theater to the villages of the Alpujarra with Falla. Later this manuscript was to be reworked.