Claude Blanchard

When it rains, it pours.
A mere twenty-four hours after Mr. Gignac, another one of father's old favorites joined both Mr. Gignac and Dad "dans l'au-delà" - a veteran of stage and cabarets and all-around funnyman, Claude Blanchard.
He sang, he drank, he was a ladies' man and he remained likeable through all that - even when he'd be playing a baddie. He could, verily, do it all - and such a career is an inspiration to anyone else who'd aspire to but a fraction of what Mr. Blanchard accomplished.
Yet, in the end, like Johnny Cash sang so eloquently near his own end, we can build but an empire of dirt on this Earth - nothing is forever down here.
The soul is forever - and it does not belong here. Hence, the end is the true beginning. Amen to that.

I admit not to be very familiar with Claude Blanchard's singing repertoire - maybe he had as deep a body of work there as Mr. Cash did - he sure had the same type of voice. If Fernand Gignac was his country's Bing Crosby, then Claude Blanchard was some kind of Johnny Cash in his own inimitable way. Blanchard was better known as funny guy though - and that is how I liked him best. He had an unparalleled flair to tell a joke like a storyteller should - not hurrying to the punchline one bit. He had flair for the dramatic; as the newsflash below indicates, he had been playing a "serious part" on the daily soap "Virginie" for over a decade already, opposite the refined lady Monique Chabot, who shall surely miss him much as she will now be playing a widowed character, most assuredly.
(There are many ways to deal with a cast member's sudden demise in real life on such shows, but the best course of action for the author of such a show remains to "write it in" into the show's storyline - and not to re-cast the part at all. Doing this reflects the respect one had for the actor who has died - showing without a shadow of a doubt that he was irreplaceable, which he is.)
Another giant gone - and these are never replaceable.
No one can fill the shoes of a Fernand Gignac - not Bruno Landry, not Bruno Pelletier! No one can fill the shoes of a Claude Blanchard - not Guy A. Lepage, not Guy Jodoin and certainly not the would-be irreverent Claude Legault...

Those of you who have no idea who this new crop of "artistes" are - consider yourselves blessed!
I encourage you to discover the recently-departed ones though - whether Gignac's recordings or Blanchard's television and movie roles, most notably in the 70s film "Gina".

Below is the newsbrief alluded to earlier... I notice discrepancies between it and some telecast news; in the brief, it is said that he was released from intensive care and an unidentified hospital altogether... While, on TV, it was said that he died at the hospital, not at home. Ultimately, the stage upon which we make our exit is not important. Knowing him as I do, Mr. Blanchard made good on his chance to go out in style - he had known that his days were numbered for a while now. We are all thespians in the theater of Life - we may not choose when or how we make our exits (that job belongs to the Director/Metteur En Scène...!) but we will be the ones delivering the "performance"... Dignity and panache are a must then, you will all agree.

One final note: Blanchard is pronounced "Blahh-charr" - skip the "d" at the end. St. Peter will, when he greets him at the Gates... ;)

Mise à jour le dimanche 20 août 2006 à 11 h 29
Décès de Claude Blanchard

Claude Blanchard, qui avait subi un infarctus, le 4 août dernier, lors d'une intervention chirurgicale destinée à lui enlever un poumon en raison d'un cancer, est décédé, dimanche, à son domicile d'un autre infarctus.

Le comédien et chanteur de 74 ans, qui incarnait depuis maintenant 11 ans le personnage de Pierre Boivin, dans la populaire série Virginie, avait déjà été opéré, ces dernières années, pour un cancer de la prostate et un anévrisme.

M. Blanchard était sorti des soins intensifs d'un hôpital montréalais vendredi dernier.

1934-2006 - redux

The name must be unfamiliar to the vast majority of you, L.O.V.s and TLB Prime regulars... And it has a logical explanation to it. Gignac was like unto the local Bing Crosby to the people of Québec, Canada - long recognized to have their very own microscopic and "nombrilistique" so-called star-system (or should I say "-système"? I am never too sure...)
Fernand Gignac seemed to have always been around to me and countless more who had seen him as a permanent fixture in what some called "musique quétaine" unfairly and arbitrarly as well. Like Crosby, Gignac had played straight man to a bonafide comic on television sitcoms such as "Symphorien" - his Bob Hope though owed more to Jerry Lewis (if one adds, too, the trademark Chaplin mustache to him) than anybody else. His Bob Hope - comedian Gilles Latulippe - has survived all of his old time accomplices in making the tiny, Gaul-like people of "la Belle Province" laugh throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s - Rose Ouellette "La Poune", Michel "Capitaine Bonhomme" Noël, the great Olivier Guimond, Jean-Louis Millette aka Oscar Bellemarre (...) and author Marcel Gamache. And now Fernand Gignac as well - they are all gone now. I would be remiss if I didn't add to this list the actress who played Symphorien's meddlesome mother-in-law; her running gag line of goading her husband to get into trouble by lighting a fire under him with "Césaire, il connaît son affaire!" always made me laugh every single time she'd say it! Too bad I forgot her name... Maybe IMDB has it...? (Found it, I think: Suzanne Langlois)
She is, most likely, gone as well...

What boggles the mind a bit is the following: my dear saintly father always marveled at the fact that he and Fernand Gignac had the exact same age, yet dad looked so much younger. Gignac looked several decades older! Dad, just like so many others, marveled at the staying power of Gignac's and of another artist with whom Gignac bore some resemblance; le Père Gédéon! Doris Lussier -Gédéon's true name- would put on a lot of make-up though to look that old!
Dad looked younger - but Gignac was the one who kept his youthful voice until the very end. Indeed, listening to his singing from the 1950s and from his very last public performance in 2004, the voice is unmistakenly the same. Dad was not so lucky in that department, as he lost his voice in 1993, the unfortunate result of a stroke. He'd never speak again. I'd never hear his voice again. May be why this Ultravox song I posted here this week, "The Voice", is one of my favorites too... It is about God's Voice and dad's voice as well - both, at once.
Gignac's voice was smoother than many others - if he hadn't sung in French, the whole world would have heralded him as a finer lounge singer than Tony Bennett or even Deano and Sinatra. Honest - I kid you not. He was that good. A natural.
His songs are unforgettable and simple enough for everyone to relate to them. Titles such as "Le Temps Qu'il Nous Reste" and "Donnez-Moi Des Roses" come to mind...

Most "mind-boggling" of all is that both dad and Gignac had to pass on in 2006 - both had been born in 1934 as well. Dad never got to meet him - he met another instead, Gilles Vigneault - a fervent separatist he is too and not nearly as good a singer. That almost turned very sour as Vigneault clearly only had eyes for my mom, who had just recently arrived in Québec... Dad was an Omar Sharif lookalike (or is Omar my dad's lookalike? I think so too...) and mom... The closest approximation in those days would be, in hindsight and retrospect, "a forerunner of Julia Roberts" - yup!

Both Fernand Gignac and João Jacinto Borges Pimentel were destined to last only 72 years upon this Earth. Now they meet up at last - in Heaven.
Two gentle souls - they'll make for the best of friends up there. :)
It is we who remain who are running out of genuine good friends... :(

Be'la Ferenc Dezso Blasko's Dead...

And it has been now over 50 YEARS that he's DEAD... Or "UNDEAD-UNDEAD-UNDEAD" as Bauhaus used to sing...?











R.I.P. BE'LA
October 20, 1882 - August 16, 1956

I don't care if you were indeed buried in a cape or not -
YOU CAN REST IN PEACE NOW!

Note that his screen name "Bela Lugosi" was in honor to his native city:
Lugos, Hungary.
He rests on American soil though...

+++

A Princess Drifted Into Sleep... She had but a month to live on this Earth on this date...

She was born on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

She would cross over to the other side on September 14, 1982 in Monacoville, Monaco. (Due to injuries suffered in a road accident, following a stroke)

As it is related in this newsbrief:
Princess Grace died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She and her daughter Stephanie were driving on a winding road at Cap-d'Ail in the Côte d'Azur region of France when Princess Grace suffered a stroke and lost control of the car, which plunged down a 45-foot (13.7-metre) embankment. This was on September 14, 1982.
The spot where she fatally lost control is said to be the same spot where the picnic scene in To Catch a Thief was filmed in 1954.

To Catch A Thief was one of the most famous films she had done in her short-lived career which totalled only... 13 films. (There's that number, again)
Her movies are banned in Monaco by order of Prince Rainier (who passed away himself recently, right around the time Prince Charles got wed to Camilla Parker-Bowles. Charles used that as an excuse not to attend Rainier's funeral... Condolences to both Rainier's heirs and Charles.)

There will never be another one like Princess Grace of Monaco...
The inscription at her burial site in Monaco's cathedral does not refer to her as a princess. It uses the title "uxor principis" (prince's wife), which is traditional in the House of Grimaldi.

She is interred at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#5). [1995]

Ranked #51 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Grace Kelly had hoped "to return to acting in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), but the people of Monaco didn't want their princess playing a thief and romancing Sean Connery."

Instead, one of her films, The Swan, co-starring Alec Guinness as a prince, inspired real-life Prince Rainier to court her and lure her to his court...! Actress Rita Gam was among the bridesmaids in the subsequent royal wedding and, during the next few years, Grace Kelly made babies instead of movies. Three children were born, so many heirs to Prince Rainier: Princess Caroline (1957), Prince Albert (1958) and Princess Stephanie (1965). Part of Prince Rainier's attraction to marrying a movie star was to increase tourism in his tiny, cash-poor principality, and the Kelly family was turned off by his demands that a substantial dowry accompany Grace to Monaco. A figure of $2,000,000 was finally agreed upon, which was diverted from Grace's inheritance so that her brother and two sisters wouldn't be shortchanged.
The so-called "wealthy" family Grace was born into was actually an immigrant family of bricklayers who had barely a generation of new-found business success. Grace's father and brother were both Olympic gold-medal scullers. Grace's cousin, former US Secy of Navy John Lehman, Jr. now chairs the Princess Grace Foundation, which supports young performing talent. Also noteworthy, Grace's uncle was playwright George Kelly.

It has emerged that Princess Stephanie will receive only one percent of the late monarch's estate.
Prince Rainier's will stipulates that his two eldest children, Albert and Caroline, are to be allocated around £950 million each, while Stephanie, who is known for her turbulent love life, receives a relatively modest £17 million.
(Source: various news agencies - © 2004 by the appropriate owners of the included material)
Such is the price to pay for some grivoiseries... Grace had never approved of her younger daughter's escapades - and neither did Stephanie's father, obviously...

In 1993, the USA and Monaco simultaneously released a commemorative postage stamp honoring her. However, USA federal law forbids postage stamps depicting foreign heads of state, so the USA stamp listed her as "Grace Kelly", while the Monaco stamp listed her as "Princess Grace".

Note on the side of synchronicity: Grace Kelly was born one glorious morning at 5:31AM EST - while Prince Rainier died on a morning too, at 5:35AM - British time.

Rainier always made me think of a racketeer, out to make his racket - all of Monaco, which is no larger than New York's Central Park indeed - work and work big. His passing resemblance with the late, great Sir Alec Guinness did not make me think of the royal couple of Monaco as a real-life version of the hypothetical couple that would be formed had Obi-Wan gotten lucky with Princess Amidala...! That would have been anticipatory transplantation anyway, back in 1980... One only had Ben Kenobi and Princess Leia to go on back then! But I digress...
Grace Kelly was Rainier's second choice, to boot - he had had his eye on Marilyn Monroe first (she really would have attracted the tourists, yes) but ultimately decided that she was not "princess material" (or is that "prince's wife material", due to House of Grimaldi rules?)
There is a weirdo columnist up in Québec, Canada named Francine Grimaldi (sort of a mix of her predecessors and better-known pundits in her field; 25% Louella Parks, 25% Hedda Hopper and 50% Joan Rivers!) - I gather that Francine did not get 0.00000000000000000000001% out of the House of Grimaldi inheritance...

The poor man's royal couple *de remplacement* here, that could rival with "Grace Kelly & spouse" (could have been any spouse, almost) would indeed be Charles and Camilla (ugh!) - even Lady Di never came close to Grace though. Grace had tried to counsel Diana Spencer back in 1980... The advice must have been forgotten over time...
The truly poor man's replacement royal couple would be anything Hollywood has to offer. Only it has to be replaced again and again because couples don't last much in Tinseltown... Reese Witherspoon and her boytoy... Guy Ritchie and his Mad Donna... Who else is there again? One couple that NEVER came close to such status, even temporarily, was that which was briefly formed by Victoria Tennant (though blonde and a thespian who's made more than 13 movies - she is no Grace Kelly and never could have been, even in her prime. When it came time to cast Grace in her "biopic", she was never considered for a second and the role went to former Charlie's Angel Cheryl Ladd. But, I know, I am digressing...) thus, V.T. and... S.M. (yikes - sounds like early Anne Rice material to me!) - Steve Martin.
Fact is, if, on this date, a Princess' dream died, one could say that something else -but of second importance- died on this date as well. I would dare theorize that CLASSIC COMEDY (the way it should be and should have always remained) died on this date as well - with the birth of one Steve Martin! He is, at best, a replacement W.C. Fields nowadays - and that is too much credit right there already! (Too bad Fields lost his time working with Mae West when he could have shared some screentime with forerunners of Grace Kelly, if not Kelly herself... But that is another story.)

Strike one: he was born at the end of the worst conflict of all-time (so far) - in 1945. Which means that he was conceived during it (could Adolf be the father?)
Strike two: he was born in Waco, Texas. (My, he's the true Waco Whacko - not the other guy at all...)
Strike three: your pick - either his comedic style or his Clouseau & Bilko.

I apologize to end on such a note a moving tribute to The Princess...
Grace Kelly made all of those blonde jokes LIES...
Stevey there makes them all TRUE.
He lives - she has been gone since 1982.
Almost 25 years without such an angel - tis true that Heaven calls up the best ones first. And we are left behind with the (dirty) rotten (scoundrel) apples...

See you all next year on this date (or rather September 14th) - right here - to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the departure for a better plane of existence of one Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco and Philly...

Nota Bene: no thanks to the confused folks at Twisted History who, once again, got their dates wrong and led me to post this A MONTH TOO SOON... Oh well - it led to the distasteful but well-merited (for Martin) link between the demise of a princess and the birth of a hack! All in all, equal things in the Grand Scheme of Things - equally as deplorable.

...

Sunday The 13th...?!?

Ah, but was it a Friday back in, say... 1971?

On this date, in 1971, 37 year-old saxaphonist King Curtis (he played on Coasters' 'Yakety Yak') was stabbed to death just outside his own NY home.

Was it on a Friday, in 1980, that Todd Rundgren, his girlfriend, & three guests found themselves bound and gagged by home invaders at Rundgren's own house in Woodstock, NY. - again?

And in 1982, was a "Friday the 13th of August" when Joe Tex ('I Gotcha') died of a heart attack at only 44 years of age, in Texas this time (not NY - for once).

Whether or not it is the number "13" that is the cause of all that bad luck, the combination of August and 13 has not been kind to musicians, no...
I shudder at the thought of what this might mean to more of their kind, in the coming years...
The Stones...
The last two Beatles...
The last Carpenter.

OMG - my very own flesh and blood; my cuz, São!

They might as well all take a day off their concert tours in August - and make it the 13th! Judging by the stories here though, they DO NOT want to stay at home either though...

A Sunday afternoon is the ideal time to visit some bereft family I'd say - hint, hint! À bon entendeur - ou entendeuse - ou fadista - salut! ;)

1-2-3...

1-2-3, as in 123 years of extinction...


The quagga was officially pronounced extinct today - and, as they say, extinction is forever.

1-2-3, as in the three count any wrestler of the stature of one Tomomi "Jumbo" Tsuruta has heard a thousand times over, whether in victory or in defeat, over the course of a long, storied career...

Though hardly a giant of nature and amongst wildlife in general, the anniversary of the quagga's demise makes me think of the passing of a giant of professional wrestling - no, not André, but really one "Jumbo" Tomomi Tsuruta whose May 13th death, six years ago, was unfortunately one lugubrious anniversary that we forgot to mention here, on the lugubrious blog. The link provided here on Jumbo will take you to a piece penned by a wrestling fan who has a lot of confused emotions about the end of life, the passing of legends and little people alike, the meaning of it all and the selling of lies known as kayfabe... It is all part of the big picture, folks, aye...



1-2-3, as in the three strikes one hears at one's last at-bat in major league baseball.

On this day, back in 1935, another Jumbo, the one and only Bambino, Babe Ruth, saw that be put up on the scoreboard at Fenway Park for the very last time as an active player as he played his final game of baseball. He had returned to Boston, but with the Braves team, after having been sold by the Pilgrims/Red Sox franchise to the damn Yankees, as everybody knows. It was a lamentable return and end of career for Ruth.



Ironically, his career and life would both end in the month of August.
He would die an August 16th, in 1948. He was only 53.

More ironic twists like that, daily, on The Luminous Blog