| My Zizi Jeanmarie memory | |
| Posted by: aleck 08:08 am EDT 07/18/20 | |
| In reply to: Zizi Jeanmaire has died. - kieran 11:50 pm EDT 07/17/20 | |
|
|
|
| One of the greatest memories of my life: On my first trip to Paris in the early '70s I went to the Cafe de Paris where Zizi Jeanmarie was headlining. I was seated at a table on the elevated horseshoe ramp that ran around around the auditorium. (It was a big space.) Zizi wore a series of flamboyant costumes that were bigger than she was and mostly did upbeat numbers with lots of almost topless showgirls with lots of feathers. However, at one point she stopped by my table, the lights dimmed and she sang one of those heartfelt, dramatic French songs to me -- in that quavery Edith Piaf style -- in a tight spotlight. My French wasn't (and isn't) very good, but the gist of this story-type song with a melodic refrain dealt, I think, with a love lost during the war. She took my hand about halfway through the song and at the end leaned over and kissed me very tenderly on the cheek. It moved the French people around me to tears. I have never been able to identify the song. There have not been many times when a beautiful woman sang such an emotional song so focused on me. In fact, that was the only time. (OK, I know it was part of her act, but still . . .) Hearing of her death made my heart sink with an awareness of the passage of time. At the time of that performance, it was only about 30 years after the end of the war. The middle-aged people in the audience would have been young (like I was in 1974) during the war, making that war-time memory song all the more affecting for them. A great memory and a great performer. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | Zizi Jeanmaire has died. - kieran 11:50 pm EDT 07/17/20 |
| Next: | re: My Zizi Jeanmarie memory - WWriter 05:37 pm EDT 07/18/20 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.143104 seconds.