Brigitte Bardot in the Nude—“Winked” at the Muslim Tycoon

Brigitte Bardot in the Nude—“Winked” at the Muslim Tycoon

It was one of the auctions [illegible] in Paris. [illegible] the Hôtel George V [illegible] photographs of Brigitte Bardot, throughout [illegible] her career, which lasted twenty [illegible] alongside Bardot’s official product, [illegible] himself, the photographer-artist.

Bardot put this collection up for sale in aid of a worldwide organization devoted to saving rare wild animals, among them the seals Brigitte loves. Everyone came, then, to the George V to lend a hand. Glamorous women dressed in the furs of the very animals they had come to help save. A whole series of anonymous young women, coiffed, made up, dressed (or the opposite), exactly “like Bardot,” hoping to be discovered. One standing beside me was discovered, in fact, by a man with the unmistakable appearance of an Arab tycoon, but the ardent Eastern courtship was apparently not a dream the lady had dreamed. What can you do. And yet many surely wondered what such a Muslim rich man would do with a nude photograph he had bought and proudly displayed before the assembled guests. The handsome photograph will probably be added to the furnishings of one of his French “branches.” A small consolation for the fans.

As for the prices, there was no mystery. Art or no art: the higher the price, the bolder the photograph. Every exposed inch of the goddess’s ravishing body, even in photographs, was reflected in francs. The finest photograph went to none other than Nino, the hotel’s head bartender. He successfully outbid everyone who tried to offer more than he did and won “his” photograph for five thousand francs. Anyone who has not seen Nino and his precious picture has never known happiness. It is a pity the original did not get to witness these expressions of love. Brigitte lent her patronage to the evening and promised to come, but did not. She made do with her first television interview in a long time and revealed that she was certainly holding up against the ravages of time. But we, at the George V, searched for and found perfection. It seems to me Bardot understood that, in her immortal photographs, even she can no longer compete.

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Alain Delon: A Daring Performance as... an Acrobat

[illegible] the circus festival in Monte Carlo [illegible].

Monaco takes very seriously a show that has won enthusiastic praise since 1973, and the best proof is that His Highness Prince Rainier himself is among the festival’s active organizers. This year, the Prince said, it was difficult to bring in the best. The circus, too, is in an economic crisis. Rainier sees the festival as a message of optimism, laughter, and a better future for humanity. He hopes that his principality, too, sets an example that “one can live differently.” But he is careful to add that managing the affairs of the principality today “is not a circus at all.”

France is, without a doubt, a country that loves the circus. One can study the profession at a higher school. The greatest theater and film actors consider it their duty to prove themselves, at least “once in their lives,” in a circus act. Each year, one of them gets the opportunity at the annual gala of the actors’ union, usually held in a real circus tent. Professionals still remember with admiration the daring performances as acrobats by Alain Delon, Jean Marais, and Jean-Paul Belmondo, or the comedian Coluche, who agreed to play “William Tell’s son” before marksmen, some professional and some less so...

Asked today, at the age of 45—25 years after his “daring stunt”—what he had been thinking at those moments, Alain Delon replied: “I was thinking about how to please the audience.” The circus in France is part of life. And some say, contrary to Prince Rainier: life itself.

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Being a Candidate Is No Joke

The comedian Coluche [illegible] these days [illegible] to be a candidate for president [illegible] not as funny as he had thought.

Coluche’s candidacy, in which he called on people to “vote for an idiot” rather than for those who would treat the voter as an idiot, has the support of many intellectuals. But the French, as always, regard Coluche with humor on the one hand, and with a meticulous philosophical analysis of the “decline of confidence in the political establishment” on the other.

Everything could have stayed very funny and very philosophical had strange things not begun happening to Coluche. One day they discovered the bullet-riddled body of his bodyguard and faithful props man. A settling of scores in the underworld, they said. Coluche came to give a statement to the police, and even his makeup could not hide his pallor this time. He had not yet recovered from this shock when the comedian who wants to be president went to the police again. This time he himself received death threats from an organization that identified itself as the “Police Honor Organization,” already responsible for a number of fatal attacks. This, according to the statement, was because of his participation in the film Inspector Blunder, which “made a laughingstock of the police.”

All the officers at headquarters stopped work to get a look at Coluche. But after the desk officer on duty asked his name, as usual, and requested a few more bureaucratic details, the comedian, uncharacteristically, lost his temper and left.

Coluche says he will not withdraw his candidacy, but he is becoming increasingly nervous. The malicious tongues say that the publicity he has gained is, all the same, a good investment.

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Paris Awaits Woody Allen

[illegible] cinema [illegible] in Paris, because the French know [illegible] how to appreciate [illegible] his talent.

His latest film, Stardust Memories, is being received here with enthusiasm, unlike in the United States, which is a little tired of its current genius. Allen announced these days that his next film will be a musical comedy to be shot in Paris.