I finished comparing the Google translations of the lyrics I already had for “Il est Rigolo mon gigolo” (He’s a Giggle Oh My Gigolo) by Serge Gainsbourg with the ones that Sonix transcribed from the audio. Sonix was more correct but sometimes it was off and I adjusted the text according to my own ear. Tomorrow I’ll start rememorizing the song.
I weighed 86.7 kilos before breakfast. That seems like quite a drop, considering that I ate more than usual for supper the night before. It’s the lightest I’ve been in the morning since December 20.
I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the first of four sessions and it went out of tune on every song.
I worked on digitally enhancing one of my photos.
I weighed 87.65 kilos before lunch. March 24 was the last early afternoon when I was so easy on the scale.
In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back.
I weighed 87.15 kilos at 17:45. I haven’t been that skinny in the evening since December 16.
I was caught up in my journal at 18:36.
I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity side one of a recording session at Mike’s place in Peter Fruchter’s garage. I’d digitized this twice before with the MP3 converter and again with only the left channel. This time I got both channels. I digitized side 2 yesterday. Next time I’ll record from another cassette a session at Mike’s Place that I think is all “Instructions for Electroshock Therapy”.
At 21:00 my daughter and I got together on discord and watched my favourite movie Les enfants du paradis with our microphones on. It was probably my tenth time seeing it, plus I have a copy of the original screenplay and have translated about half of it.
Hearing Astrid's voice it was like she was right there so it was kind of nice, especially since she was enjoying the film.
The movie opens on The Boulevard of Crime in Paris where a carnival is going on. The first character we see is Jericho the Ragman shouting his wares and blowing his trumpet as he walks through the crowd.
Then we see a peep show where “the Truth” is revealed as the character Garance is sitting in a “well” with her body naked from the shoulders up.
Then outside of the Funambules pantomime theatre we see the actor Frederick Lamaitre arguing with the concierge to get in and talk to the director about a job while the concierge thinks he’s just trying to get in for free. But then Frederick sees Garance walking through the crowd and goes to try and pick her up. She gently rejects him but he asks when he’ll see her again. She delivers the line, “Paris is small for lovers such as us”.
At a scribe’s office we see the criminal poet Lacenaire who has just finished a letter of apology for a man who hit his wife. The customer is very satisfied. Lacenaire’s henchman Avril comes in with some silverware he stole for his boss. Garance arrives who Lacenaire says is his muse. He talks about how he hates society and loves no one, including Garance. She confirms she doesn’t love him either but visits him because he talks a lot and she finds it relaxing. He tells something of his origins and delivers the line, “My parents forbade me bad company and yet left me alone with myself”. He talks about a play he is writing and there is a sense that the story we are watching is that play.
In front of the Funambules the star Anseme Dubaru is advertising the show. Sitting silently and motionlessly at one corner of the stage is his son Baptiste. Dubaru abuses Baptiste for the entertainment of the crowd and then goes inside, leaving his son to continue sitting. Garance is watching, as is a wealthy man who thinks Baptiste looks like a fool. Lacenaire steals the man’s watch and sneaks away. When he notices his watch missing he accuses Garance. A policeman is about to arrest her when Baptiste intervenes and explains in silent and comical mime what actually occurred, much to the amusement of the crowd. He saves Garance and she throws him a flower. Baptiste is in love.
At the Funambules Frederick approaches the director for a job. On stage there is an interaction between the Cassandra (played by Dubaru) and the Harlequin (played by Barigni). The Harlequin is supposed to club the Cassandra over the head and only make it appear real but he really does hit him. This is followed by a big fight onstage between those who support Dubaru and the Barignis. The result is that all the Barignis, which is half the cast, quit the Funambules. Now they are missing both a Harlequin and a Pierrot. Frederick volunteers to play the Harlequin and the manager suggests they bring in Baptiste. Dubaru protests because he is ashamed of Baptiste but the director insists.
After the show Baptiste and Frederick are having a drink at a wine kiosk and Frederick says he’s homeless. Baptiste says he can room on credit at Madame Hermine’s where he lives. Baptiste takes him there and then leaves to wander the streets. Frederick seduces Madame Hermine.
Baptiste encounters a blind beggar named Silk Thread on a lonely street and when Silk Thread learns that Baptiste performs at the Funambules he surprises him by saying he loves pantomime. He explains that a friend comes with him and describes the action. Learning that Baptiste is a performer he takes him to The Red Throat Tavern. Silk Thread is well known there and is seated at his favourite table. Someone approaches with some stolen merchandize and Silk Thread appraises it, revealing he is not blind after all, much to Baptiste’s shock.
Lacenaire and his gang, along with Garance enter the tavern. She is unhappy with all their talk of murder and is about to leave when Baptiste asks her to dance. They are happily dancing when Avril grabs Baptiste and pushes him through a window out onto the street. Avril is quite proud of himself but then Baptiste returns, dusts himself off, and then with one kick of savate, knocks Avril to the floor. He then escorts Garance away. When he learns Garance is homeless he takes her to Madame Hermine’s. He also says he’ll get her a job at the Funambules.
In her room he declares his love for her while she just wants him to make love. He leaves because he feels she is too precious to defile. Frederick has no qualms and when he hears Garance singing he makes his way to her room.
They become lovers and Baptiste becomes jealous. He writes it all into the pantomime they perform.
The show becomes popular and Garance also becomes renowned for her beauty. The Count Edouard de Montray is in love with her and comes to watch her every night. He comes to her dressing room to declare his love but she rejects him. He gives her his card to use if she is ever in need.
Garance helps Lacenaire get a room at Madame Hermine’s and then he and Avril try to murder and rob a courier carrying a large payroll. Because of her association with Lacenaire she is about to be arrested as an accomplice. She presents the police with the Count’s card.
Years later, Frederick is a famous actor. He is acting in a poorly written drama that he turns into a hit comedy by mocking the dramatic parts. The authors are insulted and demand satisfaction.
Frederick finds Lacenaire waiting for him in his dressing room. Lacenaire asks for money expecting refusal and then plans to kill and rob Frederick, but he is surprised when Frederick generously gives him a large sum. Frederick, Lacenaire and Avril get drunk. The two crooks become Frederick’s seconds in his duel the next morning.
Frederick is wounded and his play is temporarily cancelled. He goes to see a performance by Baptiste, who is now a superstar. The concierge gets him a seat in the private box of a society woman who comes to see Baptiste perform every night. Frederick is surprised that the woman is Garance. Although not a jealous person he finds himself slightly jealous that Garance still loves Baptiste. But he uses that jealousy in order to play Othello.
He tells Baptiste about Garance but the Ragman has already told Baptiste’s wife Nathalie about her. Nathalie sends her and Baptiste’s little boy to tell Garance that they are happy. By the time Baptiste gets to Garance’s box she is gone. He goes into a deep depression, refuses to perform and locks himself in his old room at Madame Hermine’s.
Garance is a kept woman by the Count although he has never touched her. She comes home to the mansion and finds Lacenaire waiting. Lacenaire meets the count and mocks him.
Frederick performs Othello and Baptiste goes to see him. Also in the audience are Garance and the Count. At the reception the count and his cronies mock Frederick while Baptiste runs into Garance and they kiss on the balcony. Lacenaire opens the curtain to show them and humiliate the count.
Later Lacenaire goes to the count in a Turkish bath, stabs him to death and then rings the bell to wait for the police.
Baptiste and Garance go to her old room and make love all night.
The next morning Nathalie finds them there and confronts Garance. Garance leaves and Baptiste chases after her but the streets are crowded because of the carnival and also the Ragman holds him back. The movie ends there but in the original screenplay Baptiste kills Jericho on the street.
Garance was played by the great Arletty, who for the role received one of the highest salaries ever in French cinema. She started as an artist’s and photographer’s model. At 18 she was a singer in music halls. She made her stage debut at the age of 22. The 1928 operetta Yes was written for her. She didn’t appear in movies until her early 30s. She made her film debut in La douceur d’aimer (The Sweetness of Loving) in 1930. She co-starred in La garconne, Désiré, Aloha le chant des iles, The Little Thing, La chaleur du Sein (Mother Love), Fric-Frac, Le jour se lève (Daybreak), Tempete (Thunder Over Paris), She starred in Amants et voleurs (Lovers and Thieves), Mirages, Madame sans-gene, La femme que j’ai plus aimee (The Woman I Loved Most), Bolero, L’amant de Borneo, At the end of the war it was discovered that she had been the lover of a German officer. She was not allowed to attend the premier of the movie she starred in, Les enfants di paradis. She spent 120 days in prison, was under house arrest for two years, and not permitted to work for three years. She starred as Blanche Dubois in Jean Cocteau’s French version of A Streetcar Named Desire. She later co-starred in Portrait d’un assassin, L’air de Paris, Mon cure chez les pauvres (My Priest Among the Poor), Et ta soeur (And Your Sister), La Gamberge (The Dance), Tempo di Roma (Destination Rome), She starred in Huis-clos (No Exit), She starred in Gigolo, L’amour madame, Le pere de mademoiselle, Un drole de dimanche (Sunday Encounter), Maxime, She went blind in her 60s and could no longer perform. Although treated as a traitor after the war she ended her life as a beloved French icon and the whole country mourned her passing.
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