[Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances, February, 1965]

W., I. R.

[Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances, February, 1965]

Description

Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances discussing various happenings in Paris including the recent holidays, construction projects, literary awards, theater, cinema, ballet, art, fashion, and science.

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[5] p. ; 26 x 21 cm.

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W., I. R. February 1965.

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This letter is part of the collection entitled: Harris and Eliza Kempner and was provided by the Rosenberg Library to The Portal to Texas History, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 11 times. More information about this letter can be viewed below.

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W., I. R.

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Federation of French Alliances

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Titles

Main Title: [Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances, February, 1965]
Added Title: Lettre de Paris
Series Title: Personal Papers (MS 80-0002)

Description

Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances discussing various happenings in Paris including the recent holidays, construction projects, literary awards, theater, cinema, ballet, art, fashion, and science.

Physical Description

[5] p. ; 26 x 21 cm.

Notes

Translation of Item: "My dear friends:
We celebrated Christmas by the fire in Paris; each house was decorated with garlands, branches of holly and mistletoe, a wood fire was lit in the fireplace, near the little fir tree shining with light. For New Year's Eve, it was completely different; To start the year off right, you need to change your horizons. Also, restaurants, “clubs” and inns were in full force. We were able to celebrate New Year's Eve everywhere, even on the taxi benches; Foresighted, the head waiter of the "Pied de cochon" - a famous restaurant near Les Halles - had organized a chain of boys, in white jackets. to pass the oysters and foie gras from the kitchens to the night owls who, not having found a table, were served in their car - whether it was rented or not!
Of course, there were the typical congestions, and, at midnight, the no less typical concerts of horns; St. Sylvestre had to cover his ears... and the police chief who had wanted reasonable discretion, had, I think, to raise his arms to the sky... but he couldn't stop the noise!
Paris was beautifully decorated: avenue Victor Hugo, that of the Opera, the Champs Elysees, rue La Boetie, Faubourg St. Honore, competed in taste and charming ideas. The windows offered us delightful things - and how tempting! A considerable crowd, everywhere, was rushing around... and I always amused by the little air of satisfaction that people have as they come out of the stores, their ribboned packages in their hands!
And life has resumed its normal course, with its worries and its pleasures, in a Paris where a quantity of work and construction is damaging our beautiful avenues; Place de l'Etoile, always the same fences, with half a dozen gigantic cranes! In Montparnasse, a district without much beauty, "l'ensemble" [the whole] continues to expand, in all directions, increasingly damaging the Parisian landscape: from the Chaillot terrace, it's heartbreaking... And since then Ile St. Louis, which has remained so charming despite the passage of time with its old and delicious hotels, the monster of cement and steel that we see on the other bank of the Seine (the new Administrative Building), is more heartbreaking again!
Everyone is outraged... but nothing stops "urbanized architecture". We treat our dear city with an offensive casualness.
To see the Cours la Reine, the Cours Albert I - such beautiful avenues along the Seine, distresses the Parisians: where all the beautiful order is upset, the old and magnificent trees are cut down... there again an underground passage is planned... to console us a little, we are promised an "invisible bridge" which will connect Notre-Dame to the Ile St. Louis... we are promised a few months of survival at the dear and old Pont des Arts... we are promised a fresco by Picasso, I don't know in which museum or which opera... Chagall's ceiling, at the Palais Garnier, nevertheless arouses everyone's indignation... And then, don't we have the moving sidewalk , at the Chatelet metro station: 132 meters, covered in 2 minutes and 13 seconds... and two new statues - one installed at Place de l'Alma - "la Seine", naked woman, with thick shapes, with a forbidding face... the other avenue Henri Martin, a Victor Hugo, with his beautiful head and his beard, also naked and ready, it seems, to leap... but it is signed by the sculptor Auguste Rodin.....
On the other hand, the same rope binds the neck of our Alfred de Musset, and the waist of his Muse, they who, for so long, adorned the corner of the Théâtre Français, to remove them, and store them in some shed... Dear statue of our youth, at the foot of which the enthusiasts of jeudis classiques [Classical Thursdays] met!
And I forgot that we also removed the twelve famous "grisailles" from the nave of Notre-Dame, to replace them with modern stained glass windows in bright colors...
But we are given five new departments, in place of Sein-et-Oise, new coins - "ecus" of 10 francs (one thousand old francs) and half-francs (fifty old francs)... all these too similar pieces get mixed up in the wallets of the unfortunate French... and also new notes bearing the image of Pierre Corneille - worth 100 francs (ten thousand old ones)... and again, new 30 cent stamps, decorated with fleur-de-lys, a rooster, or star flag... is this to compensate us for the increase in postal rates? Maybe...
Finally, and on sunny days, motorists will be delighted: the motorway is open between Le Bourget and Senlis... the Marne has a new bridge, in Nogent. And we are going to rebuild the Prytanée militaire de St. Cyr [St. Cyr Military School], on the ruins of the one which was destroyed by the war, in 1942... or will we restore the voice to the great pipe organs of the Cathedral of Chartres, and we have replaced them with copies, the beautiful mutilated statues of that of Reims....
At the beginning of December we returned to the sinister atmosphere of wartime; a general strike plunged us, two evenings, into total darkness. This intense - and noisy - traffic and the faint glow of the candles in the windows were a strange spectacle.
[There is an] Epidemic of arguments between motorists which, alas, too quickly and too easily, lead to violence... Should we stick a small label to car windows "above all, do not get angry... under all circumstances, keep your smile!”
Another epidemic - at the Eiffel Tower, this - suicide... sometimes missing, it is true, and we decided to have solid fences around the platforms of the first and second floor...
To stop thinking about all these miseries, we are told of a particularly prosperous year for the Wines of France: Le Beaume (Burgundy), is the best we have had in a long time. “The white wines are very successful, exceptionally supple, the red wines have a very beautiful nuanced color”, that is, in their own words, what the Chevaliers du Tastevin [Knights of Tastevin] declared. Beaume, Clos Vougeot, Meursault, Corton-Charlemagne - the most wonderful of all... names that make you dream!
But let's talk about more serious things; the awarding of Literary prizes - the books that we await, every year, with curiosity and interest.
Le Prix Goncourt [The Goncourt Prize] was awarded to Georges Conchon for "l'Etat Sauvage" [The Wild State], a complicated story of a black man and a white woman, in a young African state. Striking, colorful scenes of bitter violence, cruel and terribly crude words, the book is harsh, it does not touch the heart: a satire from which the greenness escapes.... however, it fascinates....
Le Prix Renaudot was awarded to Jean-Pierre Faye for "l'Ecluse" [The Lock]. Professor of philosophy, 39 years old, he has been writing for a long time, both novels and poetry, self-critical stories and plays. A very sympathetic, charming, distinguished character, his stories are, at the same time, quite hermetic and chaotic. This is the story of a city cut in four by politics, and of a girl in love with a man, kept on the other side, because of these politics... Berlin, for sure ...and misfortune looms. Dark story - and difficult!
The Jury of Fémina is made up of twelve excellent ladies who deliberate over a succulent lunch, where crepes suzette are a must. They gave their prize to Jean Blauzat, for "le Faussaire" [The Forger].
L'Interallié was obtained by René Fallet for "Paris au mois d'août" [Paris in August], a little love tale that the author calls a song; three weeks of illusions, tenderness, poetry, school madness between a little English girl visiting, and an “Aoûtien” [French colloquialism for someone who goes on holiday in August; literally, "Augustian"] from Paris. Passing and charming loves.
Monique Wittig looks like a little girl; she received le Prix Médicis “l'Opoponax”, a strange title for a book, where children talk and tell stories...
Finally, the last Prize was awarded to Michel Droit - le Prix de l'Académie Française [the Prize of the French Academy]: "le Retour" [The Return], imaginary intrigue in a real environment, the center of which is the Algerian affair: a young lawyer, from French Algeria makes a second career at a Paris bar... and ends in drama... It's lively, well written, and very endearing.
A book was published very close to Goncourt "la Batarde" [The Bastard] and enjoyed great success - a tormented, original book, written by a strange woman, Violette Leduc. She doesn't tell stories, she creates a universe through words - crude, terrible words, but, despite ourselves, we are taken by the charm....
Books on our General-President are emerging, in quantity: Mauriac, Robert Aron have both written a "de Gaulle" - the second alone, observes objectivity. There is "Pétain et de Gaulle" [Petain and de Gaulle], by Tournoux, 250 pages of revelations, a *"de Gaulle sous Mauriac" [de Gaulle under Mauriac] by Jacques Laurent, a terrible trial of Mauriac's book, a "de Gaulle et l'Algérie" [de Gaulle and Algeria], by Louis Terrenoire, secrets of the Minister of Information....
More fun, the precious little book that Maurois devotes to "la Conversation", a set of charming thoughts, maxims full of wisdom... and finally, an album "Couleurs de Paris" [Colors of Paris] - photographs, presented by Jacques Prévert - it is delightful and full of poetry!
After this long list, let's move on to the shows: if Rostand's masterpiece, "Cyrano de Bergerac" is the best evening at the Comédie-Française, the "Mariage of Figaro" is delightful at the Odeon (Théâtre de France). Sets, costumes, and texts, are a treat.
"Fleur de cactus" [Cactus Flower] remains the greatest success of the Théâtre du Boulevard, a truly deserved success... whereas Marcel Achard's play, awaited with so much impatience, was a great disappointment!
We have a charming and not banal "Goodbye Charlie"... an amusing "Barefoot in the Park"... a ferocious comedy "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", an interesting play, without a doubt, but this household is torn apart, these cries, these rude words, are difficult to bear, three acts long....
These are the three plays of American origin, which are very good evenings. "Pique-nique en ville" [Picnic in the City], very French, and in the good, slightly naugty tradition, of the Palais Royal, "Le deuxieme coup de feu" [The Second Shot] a detective comedy with twists and turns... and two wildly cheerful performances: Roger Pierre and Jean Marc Thibeault, who alone, play more than twenty characters - and Raymond Devos who tells stories, for more than two hours, without tiring his audience!
Finally, the play by Arthur Miller, about which everyone was asking questions "After the Fall". Strange evening where, throughout the first part, we get lost in all this past told in the greatest disorder, and where the memories come back, pell-mell. A terrible monologue of immodesty - the simplicity of the staging, too, surprises... Then, Annie Girardot appears - who finally gives a little humanity to the characters. Perfect, wonderful actress, she attaches us, despite ourselves, to the inconsistent heroine.....
But let us not leave the theater without bemoaning the death of an astonishing artist, Marguerite Jamois: astonishing, she was in "Phèdre", "l'Aiglon", "Lorenzaccio", Molière's "l'Ingenu", and "Amoureuse de Musset" [Lover of Musset]! She was as beautiful as she was charming, a little disturbing, was fascinating - a great lady, an immense loss.
At the cinema "My Fair Lady" is an incredible success: a rare spectacle, full of humor, pleasant music, bathrooms to make you dream, ravishing colors, a delicate and divine **Audry Hepburn, a marvelous Rex Harrison. Three exquisite hours.
In the music hall, our three Bs: Brassens, Brel, Becaud, songs, songs, happy, bitter, or sad, but which always bring something, each in its own very special genre. And Aznavour sings, with his muezzin voice, some of the 70 or 80 songs he produces each year: he has so many admirers, that the room is rented in advance, for the 10 weeks of "his recital"....
Other music - l'Orchestre du Conservatoire [the Conservatory Orchestra], had six concerts, and gave us the symphonic work of Beethoven, with Cluytens, on the podium - Byron Janis played three admirable concertos - Alexandre Brailowsky filled us with Chopin and Schumann - Wilhem Kemph, Arthur Rubinstein, played ***Brahams and Beethoven. All the great lords of music follow one another in our Parisian venues.
We celebrated the 90th birthday of Marguerite Long - extraordinary piano master, unique interpreter of Debussy, Faure, and Ravel, who made her famous concerto for her, she remains a very great and true musician....
Let's take a look at the exhibitions: the transformed l'Orangerie will receive the most famous paintings of the most famous impressionists - Toulouse Lautrec triumphed, for more than two months, at the Petit Palais: the brilliant talent of this little man, keen observer of the human being, which we find everywhere, in his work, through his physical and spiritual characteristics, the expression of his face, his gaze, the dynamism of his movement. Disquieting impression of resurrected reality, which we experience in front of images where the instantaneous immobilization of life, with astonishing acuity....
At the Jacquemart André museum, an exhibition of J.F. Millet, the 19th century painter, especially famous for his "Angelus". Interesting detail: we find the “Moissoneuse Endormie” [Sleeping Harvester] (1858) in van Gogh’s “Meridienne” (1889)! What an admirable tribute to his elder!
The Pasteur exhibition: one hundred and twenty notebooks, forty years of work. Do you know that it was at the age of 58 that our great scientist attacked rabies? An admirable and modest man: he is one of the greatest French figures.
Elegance is found, more and more often, in our performance halls. In November, Paris was the capital of Dance; Sweden, United States, England, USSR, sent us their best ballets, and the charming Janine Charrat represented us. Rich evenings, lively inter-acts, lovely toilets... sumptuous furs! Sable and chinchilla make their reappearance, visions of all colors, ermines, panthers royally cover the white or black dresses... we have talked a lot about the famous Lido Gala, where the women dressed in silk pants, in lamé, or in brooch, was a real bomb, suddenly exploded! It is said that designers are furiously against it....
Wiser is the return to embroidered, fine lingerie, inlaid with lace... to large hats, side basules, à la Toulouse-Latrec... For spring, loose dresses, more "round" women with thin waists ... triumph of transparency: decidedly very feminine fashions... even in the mountains our Parisians are pretty! They can practice skiing downhill, on the terrace of a department store on the right bank, where we have installed a track... at 35 meters altitude: blue "snow"... the Eiffel Tower which looms two kilometers away... 15 meters of height difference, and the joy of all these young people....
This is a very long letter: it will bring you a little of our dear Paris... but you should also know that for the first time, a woman, Marguerite Perrey, entered l'Académie des Sciences [the Academy of Sciences]. Favorite student of Madame Curie, her research is remarkable... suffering from radiodermatitis, she continues, to patiently research...
Another moving story: there is a team of generous anonymous people who dedicate themselves, in Paris and the Paris region, to a singular task: answering the telephone! Day and night, three of the 24 collaborators of a certain Mr. Jean, are ready to help the unfortunate, the helpless, the desperate of existence. More than 75,000 calls in less than 4 years demonstrate that this unique organization meets a need. Many "rescues" have been accomplished, with help, comfort, healing...isn't that lovely?
Good evening my friends. It's raining this evening in Paris, and it's very cold. I spent a very pleasant time with you, and the thought that I address to you in the name of our good city, and in my own, is full of warm friendship.
I. R. W."

*Mistakenly names the book by Jacques Laurent as "de Gaulle sous Mauriac". The correct title is "Mauriac sous de Gaulle" [Mauriac under de Gaulle].
**Audrey Hepburn
***Brahms, [Johannes]

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Accession or Local Control No: KEMPF_80-0002-013-011-011
Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metapth1436641

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Harris and Eliza Kempner

One of Galveston’s most iconic families, the Kempner family influenced the social and philanthropic landscape of Galveston, and its members created an expansive economic empire. This collection includes both personal papers and documentation of the family's involvement in business and industry.

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Creation Date

February 1965

Covered Time Period

Into Modern Times, 1939-Present

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1964/1965

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Jan. 20, 2022, 7:19 p.m.

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Nov. 17, 2023, 2:56 p.m.

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48.863518, 2.343722
48.863571, 2.335938
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48.80089, 2.066189
48.447803, 1.487837
48.85837, 2.294481
48.868885, 2.300263
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48.875553, 2.310422
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W., I. R. [Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances, February, 1965], letter, February 1965; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1436641/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rosenberg Library.

[Letter from I. R. W. to Federation of French Alliances, February, 1965]

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