...Gay Xmas!
On the cusp of London's Gay Pride celebrations tomorrow, we have a visitor from across the channel to the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp...
Zut Alors!
CAMP: "A cornucopia of frivolity, incongruity, theatricality, and humour." "A deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." "The lie that tells the truth." "Ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; pertaining to or characteristic of homosexuals."
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Friday, 4 July 2025
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
Ba da ba da da da da da da no more
Farewell Anouk Aimée, one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on screen.
[Read my previous tribute]
RIP Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (aka Anouk Aimée, 27th April 1932 – 18th June 2024)
Friday, 14 July 2023
Marchons, marchons!
Bastille Day, le 14 juillet, La fête nationale française - whatever one calls it, the French are celebrating it!
Bien sûr...
Faire la fête!
Wednesday, 23 September 2020
La Muse de l'existentialisme
"My weapons have always been: some mascara, some powder and a black liner pencil."
“If I want to be anybody, I want to be Juliette Gréco.” - Marianne Faithfull
The woman who almost single-handedly became the living embodiment of the free spirit and bohemianism of post-liberation Paris in the late 1940s to the 50s, “the muse of existentialism" (Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus both wrote lyrics for her), style icon of the black-clad Beatniks, lover of Miles Davis, Sacha Distel and of Darryl F Zanuck (and many, many more), the epitome of "cool", Mademoiselle Juliette Gréco est morte.
Mlle Gréco's career began in a relatively lowly fashion in the cabaret clubs, but her instinct for being in the "right place at the right time" meant that the places she sang in were the type of venue that attracted fellow bohemians such as Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Marlon Brando among their regulars, and her natural beauty captivated photographers such as Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Hollywood inevitably beckoned (in the form of the aforementioned Mr Zanuck and David O Selznick) but she soon tired of it; she eventually did become a popular actress in French cinema.
It was her much-lauded interpretations of that most beloved of art-forms, the French chanson, however, that made her into a "national treasure" in her native country, as well as on the international stage. She only performed her final farewell tour at the age of 87; the culmination of a seven-decade career.
Facts:
- Her family survived being interred in Ravensbrück concentration camp during the War, and Juliette herself was imprisoned by the Nazis. It was not until 1959 that she finally agreed to perform in Germany.
- Apparently she inspired the Beatles’ 1965 classic Michelle.
- Renowned as a lifelong Left-wing supporter, many were surprised when she agreed to give a command performance for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1981 - but what she gave him was a show entirely consisting of songs he had banned. "I went off to dead silence", she recalled. "It was the greatest triumph of my career."
- She was awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour in 2012.
RIP, Juliette Gréco (7th February 1927 – 23rd September 2020)
[More Mlle Greco here]
Friday, 17 July 2020
Tout en finesse
"You talk like Marlene Dietrich
And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire
Your clothes are all made by Balmain
And there's diamonds and pearls in your hair"
And so, farewell to another legend - the magnificent Zizi Jeanmaire.
The darling of Paris cabaret, she trained at Paris Opera Ballet, danced with Nureyev, and starred in films such as Hans Christian Andersen (opposite Danny Kaye) and Anything Goes with Bing Crosby. Her costumes were designed by Yves Saint Laurent, her trademark "gamine" hairstyle went on to influence the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and the 1960s "waifs" in Swinging London, and with her choreographer Roland Petit she became a leading player in the "jet-set" art-house scene, collaborating with such luminaries as Andy Warhol...
...and, as the song translates, she adored her "feathery things"!
RIP, Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire (29th April 1924 – 17th July 2020)
Tuesday, 14 July 2020
Tuesday, 28 January 2020
The Blue Prince of Montmartre
"When I disappear, I want people to remember this place and say, this is where Michou gave people joy."
The legendary Michou, for more than six decades the "Madame" presiding over his own Chez Michou drag cabaret nightclub in Montmartre - inspiration, apparently, for Jean Poiret's play La Cage Aux Folles, and subsequent films and musical adaptation - has departed for Fabulon in a flurry of pink marabou and wearing one of his trademark blue silk outfits, no doubt.
From humble beginnings in northern France, Michou emerged into the gay cabaret demi-monde in the 1950s, starting in drag himself as "France Gall" before assuming the role of MC to a nightly parade of performers en travestie, portraying such famous icons as Brigitte Bardo and Dalida. The latter came to see a show and loved her tribute; Line Renaud and Annie Cordy became lifelong friends of his. The club played host to numerous world-famous celebrities such as Charles Aznavour, Liza Minnelli, Nana Mouskouri,Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon; and for his charitable works he was awarded the Légion d'honneur by President Chirac.
“He [was] a French institution. No one else has run their own cabaret for over 60 years. As an openly gay performer, he helped open doors to liberate others. And he started from nothing.” - biographer François Soustre.
Here, by way of a tribute, is the duet Michou did with the aforementioned Mademoiselle Cordy to celebrate the club's 60th anniversary:
RIP, Michou (born Michel Georges Alfred Catty, 18th June 1931 – 26th January 2020)
Chez Michou website [In French, bien sûr]
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