The President and the Dragon...

The President and the Dragon...

Statesmen are often judged also by their serious attitude toward unserious matters. And on this score we awarded Giscard two points to his credit.

You should have listened, as the writer of these lines did, to the Élysée Palace spokesman announcing in an official statement that, at the traditional annual celebration the president holds for the children of France, President Giscard and Elliott the Dragon (the hero of Walt Disney’s latest film) would appear side by side. The spokesman read the second name from his notes with a little effort, but in all seriousness, as though he were speaking of no less a person than the king of Saudi Arabia.

The funniest thing is that they really did appear side by side in the end, Giscard and the dragon, to the delight of young and old alike.

Well, the official reports did not say a word about it. But we, as noted, entered two points for Giscard in our notebook. He will need them someday. And anyone who appears together with Elliott the Dragon cannot be an entirely bad person.

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Just Like Home

“Schadenfreude” is not a quality to be proud of. But if you have it already—there is nothing quite like it.

That, more or less, is what the average Israeli feels on entering these days the large “Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville” department store, near Paris City Hall. Several tough attendants apologize and demand, no less, that bags be opened and coats removed for inspection. Just like home. Several explosions have recently occurred in this store, for which various and sundry organizations (including pro- and anti-Jewish ones) have claimed responsibility—but the police think a madman is behind it. At any rate, a captive little bird whispered to us that the person in charge of the new security arrangements there is, as it happens, an Israeli.

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“The Rescuer”: From the IDF—to the Heights of Ready-to-Wear

The name Philippe Bidermann is a “big” name today, France’s “king of ready-to-wear,” whose chances of success were still being questioned only a few years ago. He is the one who now manufactures suits for Pierre Cardin and the conservative Laurent–Saint Laurent. This is in addition to a wide range of clothing on the American market, under the brand name Hart–Schaffner–Marx. Bidermann was given the name “the Rescuer”—because his “hobby” is buying failing factories and operating them within his empire. His turnover today is approaching a billion francs.

At the age of sixteen, as emerges from Bidermann’s biography, he went to Israel, served in the IDF, and was even wounded. Israel, he says, still occupies a central place in his life today.

What have we forgotten? Yes. Bidermann is also the brother of the veteran queen of nightlife, Régine. And if all this does not convince you that he comes from a good family, we have no further evidence at this stage.

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Three Study Days

The proposal by a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Le Mac, to bring legal brothels back to France and regulate prostitution on the street continues to make waves among the public.

Naturally, the strongest reactions are heard among those concerned, namely, the women practicing the profession. It should be noted that virtually all of France’s prostitutes reject the idea. Street prostitution has proved extremely lucrative. Not to mention what Paris would be without the colorful female citizens of Rue Saint-Denis.

The high point of professional activity on the subject was three study days convened by France’s prostitutes in Orléans. They came there from far and wide and spent three days screwing around, as befits a self-respecting trade union, over the question: to close or not to close. The conference, so it seems at this stage, broke up with the feeling that everything was still open.

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A Readers’ Newspaper

This month, the first issue of the weekly MAINTENANT (“Now”) appeared in Paris in fifty thousand copies. In my estimation, it will give expression to a minor revolution in the French press.

One of its prominent editors is Jean Elleinstein—the well-known “opposition figure within communism.” He is the man who recently called, in a series of articles, on the leaders of the French party to march on Moscow and demand clear answers there on the observance of human rights.

What distinguishes the new newspaper is that it will be, quite literally, a newspaper belonging to its readers. Most of the newspaper’s shares (out of an initial capital of two and a quarter million francs) were offered for sale to the general public over several months, and the public bought them. In this way, the editors hope to eliminate all dependence on any economic interest, and of course—to attract readers. Incidentally, the newspaper promises to employ well-known writers as reporters.

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On Red Financing

And speaking of a communist party, it emerges that their fresh and “diplomatic” anger is being managed between the weekly “L’Express” and the communist organ “L’Humanité.”

“L’Express” published an excerpt from a book due to appear shortly entitled “Secrets of the Soviet Bank in France,” which describes the ties of the French Communist Party and its affiliated trade union—the CGT—with the “Bank of Northern Europe,” which is Soviet-owned.

An apparently embarrassing accusation for Secretary Georges Marchais, who has frequently accused various French journalists of being financed by the government. “L’Humanité,” for its part, maintains that the party’s ties with the bank fall within a normal and legal commercial framework, that its activities are of course financed by membership dues, and accuses “L’Express” of conducting a deliberate campaign.

The affair, one may assume, will continue to unfold—on paper, of course.