Paris then – bookshops, cinema, theatre, fashion and Centre Pompidor

(Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography)

Another of Richard Ross’s (who once served the U.S. Embassy here) surprises for his visitors was the ‘Hemingway Trail’. We would table hop the cafes and bistros frequented by the famous writer in his day many years ago. Ernest Hemingway’s haunts were by now redesigned but we could locate them after reading his work ‘A Movable Feast’ which described the author’s early days in Paris as an expatriate American writer. Similarly when coming out of the Sevres—Babylone Metro I would think of Scott Fritzgerald’s evocative short story ‘I Remember Babylone’.

A walk through old Paris was like an introduction to western literature in the inter war years. Another welcome visitor was our old friend Siri Gunasinghe who by this time was teaching art in the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Siri had lived for several years in as a graduate student working on his thesis at the Sorbonne, was an outstanding scholar whose thesis which received a ‘bien’ [very good] accolade was published by the University press which is a rare honour in French academia.

He had spent a considerable amount of his time as a student at the Musee Guimet which specialized in Mahayana Buddhist exhibits which modeled on the Sanskrit treatises on art which were studied by Siri as the subject of his thesis. Unlike the British Museum which has arts and artifacts from Theravada countries the Musee Guimet which specialized on art of the ‘Extreme Orient’ – an area

carved out by the French colonial politicians – which was mainly Mahayana and had Sanskrit as the ‘lingua Franca’. Sanskrit was Siri’s academic interest and his lectures on Sanskrit literature at

Peradeniya, especially of the Sanskrit epic poem the Meghaduta, were attended also by a large number of students drawn from faculties who recognized his brilliance.

Siri was happy to spend a few days roaming around his old haunts. I took him to the Culture division of UNESCO where the specialists knew him by reputation. Specialists handling the Cultural triangle work in Sri Lanka were delighted to meet him and worked out some joint efforts in research and publications.

Bookshops

Paris is famous for its bookshops which dot the city. There are many around the Sorbonne and Boulevard Raspail where intellectuals and students gather to browse and sip a cup of hot coffee. But bookshops selling English works were not so numerous and had to be discovered through guidebooks. The most impressive was Brentano’s near the Place de Opera. It stocked the latest French and English books and promoted new books by positioning them behind their large storefront window which faced the main street.

We would spend hours browsing with no complaints from the shop staff. Unfortunately Brentanos is now closed down due to the march of technology. Another large bookshop was W.H. Smith’s on the Rue de Rivoli. It also stocked journals of every description. I also found a small bookshop near the Odeon metro which sold US publications. Its notice board carried messages and letters for expatriate American writers in Paris.

Coffee was on the house and in winter many young American writers came there because it was a well heated place. This bookshop also announced lectures by visiting writers and by attending them I met some writers who became world famous later. Tourists flocked to the small bookshop called ‘Shakespeare and Company’ by the Seine which was the meeting place of writers like Hemingway, Fritzgerald and Samuel Beckett in the thirties when they were attracted to Paris by the appreciating dollar and the depreciating franc.

Another tourist attraction were the small kiosks along the Quaffs near the river which sold secondhand books, old maps and memorabilia. If you had the time to spend it was possible to pick up valuable inscribed books which had been sold to these book shops for a pittance. I found a book with an inscription by Subhas Chandra Bose. Another recipient of several inscribed books sent by Mulk Raj Anand had sold them to a secondhand bookseller without even bothering to read the title. I was able to buy them for a song.

Students often gathered in the Latin Quarter which was full of bookshops open day and night. I spent many happy weekends in those wonderful bookshops and their small cafes which would serve snacks and hot chocolate in short order so that we could quickly get back to browsing. Another interesting feature was that we could see in those bookshops famous writers, political personalities [including Mitterand] and film stars, who invariably spent time looking for new books. They could also be seen Spending time in the nearby restaurants and bistros where tables would be reserved for them.

Cinema

Movies were shown in the posh cinema halls on the Champs Elysee’s which displayed attractive billboards advertising their films. Whenever a new film opened there would be a crowd of chic ladies and their escorts lining up on the street to buy tickets. From time to time leading film stars would come to those theatres to promote their films and face the media.

There was a similar cluster of cinema halls at the Odeon junction opposite the metro, exhibiting French films. There was a frisson in the Odeon complex where young people gathered in anticipation when a new film was released. Famous French film directors, mobbed by their fans, could be seen in the Odeon cinemas when their films were released for the first time.

In addition to these grand cinemas there were a large number of small cinema halls in the outskirts of the city which showed classics as well as pot boilers. Sometimes erotic films like `Emannuelle’ were also shown in those cinemas and attracted an audience of old men who shuffled in at the last minute. All the film classics could be seen in these ‘outstation’ cinemas and the enthusiast had to consult the newspapers or magazines to locate them.

I once went out of the city to see Lester James Pieris”God King’. The only problem was that it had been reedited and shown as the ‘Tomb of the Pharaohs’. When I mentioned this to Lester, he was not amused at the mutilation of his film but there was nothing he could do as all the rights for distribution were owned by the producer.

A group of young French film makers led by Herve Berard were introduced to me by our embassy staff. They were planning to make a film in Sri Lanka with Gamini Fonseka, after seeing him in ‘Nidhanaya’ which was shown on French TV. At about this time Geetha Kumarasinghe was in Paris and we decided to back this film together with my friend Irvin Weerackkody who was the boss of Phoenix Advertising Services.

So the whole crew moved to Sri Lanka and with Gamini and Geetha as the local stars and two young film stars from the French film industry, shot `Nobody’s Perfect’ as a murder mystery set in the Sri Lankan countryside. But we had difficulties with the French version and the film ran only for a few weeks in Colombo. This film drew stellar performances from Gamini and Geetha and deserves to be resurrected in this age of television, by our Film Corporation. It had good reviews when it was premiered in Paris.

Theatre

The Comedie Francaise was located in the heart of the city. It usually produced traditional French classics like those of Moliere. I attended several of those plays but was hindered by my inadequate knowledge of the French language. The Comedie is considered a national treasure which was a centre of resistance during the Nazi occupation. While this theatre was considered to be upmarket there were many smaller playhouses that attracted young people.

One was the ‘Vieux Colombier’ which was associated with Jean Paul Sartre and the existentialists. Their plays were staged at the Colombier which was a meeting place of French intellectuals. Equally important was the popular entertainments which are part of the Paris city scene. At the entrance to the Metros or on busy street corners would be the ‘Baskers’ or struggling musicians who would play for donations of passers by.

Some of them were really good and would be picked up by TV and nightclubs. Others were not much better than beggars, some of them winos, who would solicit a few francs. Some of the migrants – Asian and particularly, African – would also play their ethnic music and draw crowds who would invariably gather to enjoy a new experience. The tunnel approaching the Metro was warm and well lit and the Baskers’ would gather a group of admirers milling around them.

Centre Pompidou

No description of popular culture in France would be complete without a reference to the Centre Pompideau or the `Bo Bo’ as it is popularly called, in the historic Marais which was the old city market. Later the central market was relocated out of Paris. The Marais was a poor but busy quartier of Paris which historically housed a large number of Jews in its time. Since it was the main market of the city, it was open ‘twenty-four seven’.

The market attracted tough workers to load and unload meats, vegetables .and other products which serviced the ‘gastronomic capital of the world.’ Accordingly it was full of people and housed taverns, bistros, brothels, peep shows and all other attractions which are demanded by workingmen who are at a loose end between shifts.

Since the kitchens in the Marais were open late into the night the `haute bourgeoisie’ or the upper classes also dropped in late in the evening particularly after opera and theater going, for the now famous onion soup. The ingredients like raw onions, cheese, and oven baked bread were fresh off the market and the workers took it as a wholesome and nourishing meal. Onion soup soon became a staple of French cuisine which was served in the best restaurants in the city.

Outside the ‘Bo Bo’ there were jugglers, dancers, singers and puppeteers who attracted the crowds that came to see the ever changing presentations there. One presentation which remains in my memory is the premiere of Kurosawa’s film ‘Ran’ which was held in the open ground surrounding the ‘Bo Bo’. This film was produced by a French filmmaker at a time when Kurosawa was desperately in need of work.

His old sponsor Toyo Films had gone bankrupt, partly due to financing his films which were box office poison. He had even attempted suicide but had been saved at the last minute. The French rescue mission was supported by Mitterrand who was a great film goer. His nephew Philip Mitterrand was a well-known film critic in France.

The grateful Kurosawa brought his film to France for a grand premiere which was attended by President Mitterand himself. Thanks to Herve Berard I secured an invitation to that gala affair which was a ‘black tie’ event. A special technology to simultaneously project the film from three projectors was used on that occasion and we sat in front of a giant screen to view this fantastic film which was Kurosawa’s Japanese version of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’.

After the screening there was an ‘al fresco’ dinner and we had a chance to meet Kurosawa. He was quite different from the average Japanese in that he was quite lean and tall. He spoke English fluently and was happy at the acclaim received at the highest levels in France. Later I read that the producer complained that he had lost money on ‘Ran’. Kurosawa was a demanding director and his crowd scenes of thousands of Samurai, which was a feature of many of his films, cost a lot of money. But the director would not compromise on his high standards which helped in making him one of the all-time greats of the cinema.

Fashion

Paris has always been the fashion capital of the world. All the top fashion designers have their establishments in Paris just as the Italian designers have their ateliers in Milan. Naturally for a trade which deals with glamour and big money these fashion houses are located in the most exclusive parts of the city, particularly Avenue Montaigne and Fauborg St Honore which are close to each other and in the Concorde area.

On free days we would walk along the tip-market streets just to admire the store front displays. The street is dotted with small cafes and eateries which buyers, designers and models frequently use during their breaks from work. About Once a year the top designers unveil their latest creations before fashion critics and buyers of ‘pret a porter’ products which are marketed by leading retailers particularly those in the United States which is the home of the mass garment market. Those buyers are treated like royalty by the designers since their bulk purchases constitute the ‘bread and butter’ of the couturiers.

The fashion industry is a complex business. Not everyone knows how it really works. Thanks to Sri Lankan youngsters who are linked to the fashion industry at the basic level I could unravel the sociology of the ‘Rag Trade’. There are thousands of beautiful young women who flock to Paris from the rural areas of the country hoping to break into the fashion and film industry. For this they have to register with the modeling companies which are of varying service quality ranging from top models to call girls.

These agencies invest in their ‘properties’ by giving them training, clothing and on occasion, if they spot a winner, an allowance The chosen girls are sent to well-known photographers, who are legion in Paris, to prepare an album of photographs which is retained by the agency. This dossier is a hopeful girl’s or boy’s claim to fame among thousands of similar aspirants who want to emulate the stars.

Fashion photographers, Film Directors, Theatre Directors, journalists and even business houses seeking to employ PR hostesses contact these modeling agencies to get a list of possible employees. It is here that our expatriates come in They are employed by the agencies to take the required dossien to their client companies which are located in different parts of Paris. These ‘messenger boys’ whiz past in their Velos’ or small motor bicycles, carrying selected dossiers in brightly colored envelopes, to the potential employers.

The agency decides on the dossiers to be submitted, which can mean the difference between fame and obscurity for the model to be. They are constantly after the agency and the couriers for their dossiers to be sent for consideration by the show business bigwigs. Many of these would-be models seek the goodwill of the couriers, hoping that they would help to position their claims better. Many of our parties held in the Fauborg St Honore area had many of them pretty girls arriving on the arms of young SriLankan expatriates working as ‘messenger boys’.