Tag: Radio-Paris

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“A Painted Lady”

Each generation is attached to one or more celebrities who take self-promotion to the highest level through publicity and somehow differentiating themselves. My parents had George Hamilton, the eternally tanned “actor” . . . well, we’re still not sure why he was a celebrity although his ads for Kentucky Fried Chicken were hilarious. My generation had Paris Hilton who was just as tan as George and . . . well, we’re still trying to figure out why she was a celebrity. Our children’s generation has been blessed with Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, the Kardashians, and Britney Spears, just to name a few. Watch “Extra Crispy” George Hamilton here.

George Hamilton. Photo by Angela George (2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.
George Hamilton. Photo by Angela George (2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.
Paris Hilton. Photo by Peter Schäfermeier (2005). Universal Photo. PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.5 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.
Paris Hilton. Photo by Peter Schäfermeier (2005). Universal Photo. PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.5 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.

My grandparents would have undoubtedly been well aware of a young lady who never had today’s media resources for self-promotion (e.g., social media, podcasts, television, and tattoo sleeves). In those days, it was accomplished through publicity agents and gossip columnists such as Walter Winchell, Hedda Hopper, and Louella Parsons via newspapers and radio. The subject of our blog today lived in France and had a very unique personal method for turning herself into a rich international celebrity.

Suzy Solidor. Photo by Studio Harcourt (date unknown). Ministère de la Culture- Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimonine. Dist. RMN.
Suzy Solidor. Photo by Studio Harcourt (date unknown). Ministère de la Culture- Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimonine. Dist. RMN.

She was a beautiful woman. Her face and figure represent what we consider today to be the iconic image of the 1920s jazz age flapper: thin, broad shoulders, short blonde bob, and dressed in long flowing tight gowns. A well-known singer, actress, and cabaret star, Suzy Solidor’s self-promotion was her face and body captured in paintings and photographs by more than 225 artists. I don’t even think the Sun God, King Louis XIV, had that many portraits commissioned of himself during his seventy-two-year reign.

For more than thirty years, Suzy was the most popular model for artists and in fact, she became the most painted lady of her generation. I suppose her portraits were the forerunners to the “selfies” which Miley Cyrus and others like to post to social media. The difference is, Suzy’s “selfies” hang on the walls of museums and private collectors’ homes.

Did You Know?

Did you know that over the years, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has banned some pretty innocuous songs? Considering the recent uproar in the United States over the ban by selective radio stations of the 1949 Academy Award-winning song, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, I thought you might like to see this list, albeit certainly not all-inclusive.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead (1939)             Sung by the Wizard of Oz film cast

Why banned? The song disrespected the deceased (and the BBC wasn’t referring to the Wicked Witch of the West). Actually, a band called Hefner released “The Day That Thatcher Dies” and used the Oz song at the end. It was a dig towards the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who had just passed away (2013). And I thought it was all about one of my high school teachers.

Deep in the Heart of Texas (1941)                 Sung by Bing Crosby

Why banned? The song was “too jaunty.” It was feared that factory workers would stop working in order to clap their hands. As I’ve always said, “I don’t make this stuff up.”

Monster Mash (1962)                                    Sung by Bobby Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

Why banned? The song was too morbid. Really?

Leader of the Pack (1964)                              Sung by The Shangri-Las

Why banned? It talked about teenage death. I guess Ozzie Osbourne hadn’t hit the charts yet.

Lola (1970)                                                      Sung by The Kinks

Why banned? The BBC didn’t like the song advertising Coca-Cola. So, Ray Davies changed the lyrics to “Cherry cola.” At least Jim Morrison never gave in to Ed Sullivan on changing the lyrics to the song, “Light My Fire” before singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show ⏤ The Doors were permanently banned from the show.

Let’s Meet Suzy Solidor 

Suzy Solidor (1900-1983) was born in Brittany, France to an unwed mother and her employer. When her mother married another man, Eugène Rocher, Suzy took his last name. At the age of sixteen, Suzy obtained her drivers license and the next year, drove an ambulance on the front lines during World War I. After the war, Suzy moved to Paris and in the late 1920s, she changed her last name to Solidor, the name of a district where she had once lived. Read More “A Painted Lady”

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“Dah-Dah-Dah-Duh”

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the opening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. It starts with “Dah-Dah-Dah-Duh.”  Listen here.

Today, some people refer to Beethoven’s masterpiece as the “Victory Symphony.” Oh, and for some of you familiar with the movie, The Longest Day, you’ll recognize it as one of the back ground themes to this well-done account of D-Day ⏤ 6 June 1944. Watch the opening scene here.

During World War II, the BBC came up with the idea of opening its nightly broadcast to the occupied countries with the “Dah-Dah-Dah-Duh.” Was it coincidental that the four-sound phrase was Morse code (“dot-dot-dot-dash”) for the letter “V” which the British equated to Victory and Churchill’s famous hand signal? Was it coincidental that “V” is the Roman numeral for five or the fifth (as in symphony)? One thing I know is that it wasn’t coincidental that this striking sound alerted the French Resistance to pay close attention to that evening’s messages.

Winston Churchill in Downing Street giving his famous “V” sign. Photo by British Government (5 June 1943). Imperial War Museum. PD-British Government Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.
Winston Churchill in Downing Street giving his famous “V” sign. Photo by British Government (5 June 1943). Imperial War Museum. PD-British Government Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Did You Know?

Did you know that before Christian Dior (1905-1957) founded his world renown fashion house in 1946, he designed clothes for the wives, daughters, and mistresses of Nazi officers stationed in Paris? At the same time, his sister, Catherine, worked for the French Resistance. She was arrested in June 1944 and deported to KZ Ravensbrück concentration camp and several sub-camps of KZ Buchenwald where she survived the war. However, Christian and Catherine’s niece, François Dior (daughter of Raymond Dior, a radical Communist), married the neo-Nazi, Holocaust denier, Colin Jordan in 1963. After the wedding ceremony, the couple gave the Nazi salute and mingled their blood over a copy of Mein Kampf, the book written by Hitler in the 1920s. François funded the creation of the French chapter of the World Union of National Socialists (a neo-Nazi organization) and supported former Waffen SS officers during the 1960s. Watch the wedding newsreel here.

The Colin Jordan-François Dior Wedding. Mingling blood over “Mein Kampf.” Photo by anonymous (1963).
The Colin Jordan-François Dior Wedding. Mingling blood over “Mein Kampf.” Photo by anonymous (1963).

Back to Christian Dior ⏤ his first post-war fashion featured dresses that were voluptuous and curvaceous with boned, busty bodices, tiny waists, and long, sweeping skirts. Some women complained the dresses covered up their legs. Dior called this collection the Corolle or, circlet of flower petals. Coco Chanel called it crap. She said, “Only a man who never was intimate with a woman could design something that uncomfortable.” Christian Dior had the last laugh. Women flocked to buy his “new” fashions. Dior had bet wisely that women in the post-war wanted something new that would make them forget the drab years of the German Occupation. Ironically, Coco Chanel was run out of town as a highly visible Nazi collaborator (and possible spy – read the blog Coco Chanel Nazi Collaborator or Spy? here).

Silk shantung and pleated wool bar suit by Christian Dior ⏤ Spring-Summer 1947. Photo by SpiritedMichelle (2019). Denver Art Museum. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.
Silk shantung and pleated wool bar suit by Christian Dior ⏤ Spring-Summer 1947. Photo by SpiritedMichelle (2019). Denver Art Museum. PD-CCA-Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.

Competing Radio Stations

The British, the Germans, and occupied France’s Vichy government competed every night for the attention of the French people. In the British corner was the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) while in France, the Nazis directly controlled Radio-Paris (116, avenue des Champs-Élysées) and Vichy broadcast over Radio Vichy from the Unoccupied Zone. The primary purpose of the BBC broadcasts was to lift the spirits of French citizens and provide information concerning the Allied war progress. With time, sophisticated messages to the French Resistance were included in the evening broadcasts. The programs emanating from Paris were intended to promote Nazi propaganda while Vichy primarily used their radio station for political purposes such as framing its collaboration with the Nazis in a positive way, denouncing Charles de Gaulle and the Free French as traitors, positioning the British as the enemy of France, and justifying the government’s new anti-Semitic laws. Read More “Dah-Dah-Dah-Duh”