Jay pointed out to me that maybe Jerry Lewis isn't as big in France as Americans who haven't been there think.
Why do we think it? Because 'everyone' says so, I think. David Sedaris (who is Kryptonite to Jay) is an American expat living in France who shed some light on it. He moved there in part so he could smoke with out being fined or shamed.
Sedaris smokes in, among other things, France's movie theaters. He was delighted to find that instead of 'the movie channel' the French go to cinemas that replay decades of old movies. It would stand to reason that Jerry Lewis' films would play in some of these film houses. And if an American sees the guy who hijacks a network for a telethon for people they feel noble for tolerating actually occupying a marquee in France, what are they to conclude? That the French go the theater for things Americans guiltily consume via cable? Or that anyone on a marquee must be a huge star?
What other things do I 'know' of France, a country I've never visited. This isn't Francophobia: I truly want to visit Prague, yet I don't even have a passport, much less ever having cross the Atlantic, so while France doesn't top my list of European Destinations, it's only because I am more interested in the Celtic sections of the U.K., the Czech Republic (where Bohemian has an address), Brussels (home of Labmic, the last primitive beer of Europe), and the Trappist monastic breweries of Belgium and the Netherlands. By the time my priorities get to France, it's tied with Germany, Poland, Spain, and Portugal. Places I want to go, but I have no hatred for them.
When I smoked, I was a non-filter chain smoker. Player's Navy Cut were my top choice, maybe second only to Balkan Sobranies (no longer available in the U.S., they were an English brand that cost twice what Navy Cuts cost, offered ten smokes to a tin instead of twenty, and those smokes were so loosely packed you could claim that Yenidje tobacco from Turkey was four times as expensive as Player's Virginia counterpart.
Gauloise, however, was like inhaling razor blades. This was the evaluation of your Lobster as a smoker people referred to affectionately as 'Iron Lung.'
A tobacconist gave this explanation: the French have never learned about aging tobacco. The fermentation and oxidation most take for granted is bypassed in France, hence the harshness of Gauloise.
So what else do I know about the French asside from their famous cigarette brand being unsmokable by most smokers?
Thinking....
Still thinking....
Uh....
Oh yeah, in France the unemployed go on strike. This is from Sedaris, who lives there. What does an unemployed person strike for? Shorter working hours? And if it's just more pay, what are they going to do if they don't get it? Not work even harder?
So Jerry Lewis isn't a 'comic genius' there? In America, he's been replaced by Jim Carey. Same schtick, but so what?
3 comments:
A theatre that plays old movies is not really a unique thing. New York’s Bleeker (seen, for instance, in just about every good Woody Allen movie), unfortunately closed, but I have to think there are still several ‘revival’ theatres there. Boston’s (Cambridge, actually) Orson Welles Theatre burned down in the 80s but the Brattle Theatre (searching… http://www.brattlefilm.org/brattlefilm/) I am happy to see is still full of life.
Here in the tiny city where James Joyce’s corpse lay we have 2 such places. Of course, and I’d certainly have to think it’s true in France (where there are laws that radio stations must play at least 20 minutes (I think that was the ratio) of FRENCH music per hour, so as to, I guess, protect their language (which isn’t as whacky as it sounds really; needless to say Brittany Spears and the like (and the dreaded ‘80s flashback’) have infested the entire world), that it’s not just American flicks that play in these places.
So no, no special month-long Jerry Lewis marathons that I’ve heard of. That said, a Tom Cruise isn’t worshipped and allowed to say utterly incredible insipid things. Stars can actually live, let alone walk down a street, in a little peace (I saw a bit of “celebrities uncensored” and I honestly can’t believe that Brad Pitt isn’t punching out camera-people every day, every minute, of his life. People really need to ‘get a life’ and stop parasite’ing off of others), nor do they hold one of the most abundantly self-congratulating escapades ever: the academy awards. So for Americans, who still cheer for and worship athletes that break the laws (not to mention commit perjury (in front of Congress, no less) to bust on some little myth that was never really an insult (I’ve heard this crack from people that actually like The Three Stooges) is beyond me.
That said, the Cannes film festival has turned into just-another-Hollywood-extravaganza, so who know…
And keep in mind, Sedaris thinks of himself (cough cough) as a ‘comedian’ (rising metaphorical mouth out), so he (probably) plays things for effect and more than likely streeeeeetches the truth.
Funny you should mention about celebs going unmolested: I caught a segment of 60 minutes where they interviewed the goalie for Manchester United, arguably one of the most famous soccer (I won't call it football, the NFL is football) players in the world. And since the game he plays is the most watched game on earth, a case could be made that he's the center of the sporting universe, or near its center.
But he was interviewed on the streets of (if memory serves) Nashville, TN, where he lives in the off-season and even with a TV camera and a 60 Minutes talking head accompanying him, no one noticed him.
So I can believe that Tom Cruise might get ignored in Paris, but I doubt Audrey Tautou can just walk around. Or, probably even more famous French celebs who have not made themselves lustilly known to American audiences.
But you raise a valid point too, that fame is itself a useless grail, leaky, heavy, and ugly.
(I won't call it football, the NFL is football)
Maybe for the kicker.
Hmm, “punter” has a different meaning on this side of the globe too…
But he was interviewed on the streets of (if memory serves) Nashville, TN, where he lives in the off-season and even with a TV camera and a 60 Minutes talking head accompanying him, no one noticed him.
While I’m playing to stereotype, would the residents of Nashville recognize anyone but, say, the “second coming” of a fictional character that never “came” a first time?
But anyway, that exact reason is probably WHY he lives there. The football chap I mean, not The Carpenter.
So I can believe that Tom Cruise might get ignored in Paris, but I doubt Audrey Tautou can just walk around.
That wasn’t my point. First off, Tom Cruise would be *far* more recognized, and probably considering more neo-human (or whatever those that worship celebs actually think “stars” are) than a local star. The point was moreso just a real lack of needing to, I guess, take a million photos and get a signature on a piece of paper. A lack of desire to read an article about what these folks do behind closed doors. Europe seems fairly lax in these areas. Which is probably why many, many “stars” live round these parts. Here in ZH I’ve seen Tina Turner walk down a very busy street unmolested. Same with Phil Collins. Both have homes around here. Meanwhile in New York even D-list guys like “Little Steven” can’t go into a McDonalds without someone wanting their Big Mac signed.
The UK on the other hand is possibly just as whacked out as the US. This could be blamed on the obsession with da Royal Family.
But you raise a valid point too, that fame is itself a useless grail, leaky, heavy, and ugly.
We’ve talked about it privately, and both of us seem to have no problem chatting with a “celebrity”, say, after a show/concert/reading/whatever. Granted the folks you and I place on the respect pedestal aren’t necessarily Grade A “celebrities”, but still.
We all have voids to fill, any many of us have hobbies but when acting rabid around someone that is merely the offspring of someone that was once maybe-famous…I just don’t get it. Miss Paris Hilton certainly lucked out in the genetic game. Good looking girl. Good for her. But a celebrity cuz daddy owns some hotels? And the other bint, not as genetically lucky but still a star. For what? Being Lionel Ritchie’s daughter? I mean the Commodores were cool and all, but still, just cuz the guy managed to play ‘Hit the Egg with the Sperm’ isn’t really a cause for rolling out the red carpet…
Strange world.
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