France and South Africa: New energy deals, new relationship
February 29, 2008
France and South Africa signed three economic accords Friday. French leader Nicolas Sarkozy was near the end of a two-day state visit to South Africa. While the President of France has talks with Britain and the US, this was his first to an English-speaking country since he took office in France.
The energy accords were signed during a business conference in Cape Town between France and South Africa.
In a major part of the France-South Africa energy deal, French energy giant Alstom will build a 1.36 billion coal-fueled power plant in South Africa, where energy is in desperately short supply. South Africa’s electricity crisis has been called a national emergency by the government. South Africa is one of the few African nations with a booming economy, and it needs power for its many activities such as mining and manufacturing.
Bravo, the name of the planned French-constructed power station, will be erected in the northeastern Mpumalanga province and will have a capacity of 4,740 megawatts. Alstom of France signed the deal with Eskom, South Africa’s state power utility, with the President of France and South African chief Thabo Mbeki looking on.
The second contract between the French Development Agency and Eskom was worth 100 million euros and will fund new power-generating wind turbines. A third deal, between the South African government and French nuclear giant Areva, will provide professional training. The apartheid regime that ended in 1994 kept the country black majority uneducated and most lack the skills training necessary to work in nuclear energy.
The French company Areva is bidding against the U.S.’s Westinghouse to construct up to 12 nuclear reactors between now and 2025 in South Africa, whose government has not awarded the contract to either yet. South Africa sees nuclear power as its best chance to solve its energy crisis in the future. Sarkozy voiced his strong ambitions for France to win all the coal and nuclear power plant contracts up for grabs in South Africa.
The energy accords were only the latest in a sweeping list of relationship-changing initiatives put forth by the President of France during his South African visit. Many other agreements covering energy, transport, science and tourism were also signed by France and South Africa. French leader Sarkozy further discussed overhauling France’s participation with South Africa in the areas of defense, democracy and human rights.
The President of France stressed that France’s relationship with South Africa, never a colony of France, should serve as a model for the West’s new relationships Africa countries. Carla Bruni, Sarkozy’s new bride, visited an employment project for women in the poor township of Khayelitsha, and joined him at a visit to an AIDS clinic. Bruni also met Wednesday with wives of disappeared Chad opposition leaders.
France’s President arrived in South Africa after a brief stop in Chad, a former French colony that has seen almost ten years of turmoil and never yet enjoyed true democracy.
France goes postal at French box office over new comedy film
February 28, 2008
A modest little French comedy about a postal worker banished to a poor region in the North of France exploded at the movie box office in France this weekend, essentially trouncing the opening of the most expensive film ever made in France.
In only five days, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis by French director Dany Boon attracted an astonishing 450,000+ movie goers in only 64 theatres in the Nord-pas-de-Calais region of France, the only area that ran it. The much-touted and star-studded Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques (Asterix at the Olympics) brought in 571,000 viewers, but that was in a huge roll-out in over one thousand theatres across France. Asterix stars French veteran actor Gerard Depardieu and a host of other big names in France and internationally. Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis has no big stars. But its warm, funny story struck a chord in France.
The northern region of France around Lille is generally looked down upon in much of the rest of France; somewhat in the fashion that New Jersey is viewed by New Yorkers, or the Poles by the Germans, only more so. Among its worst detractors, this region of France is often seen as dark, depressing, cold and rainy, and its people as poor, provincial, uneducated and unemployed alcoholics with little to offer. Dany Boon, the French director, hails from the northern region of France and made his film a self-deprecating comedy that nonetheless exalts the warmth and hospitality of the region’s people and area’s simple customs and charms, especially its distinct accent and dialect. Both the region’s dialect and the inhabitants are known as “Ch’ti.”
In the film, a French postal worker from sunny Provence in the south of France is transferred as punishment to a bleak town near Lille, a city in the maligned North of France. Abandoned by his wife who refuses to follow him there, and pitied by his friends, the French postman arrives in the depressing, rainy one-horse town prepared for the worst. As he is welcomed by his new neighbors, he is surprised by the friendship and pleasure he finds in his new simpler life. Misunderstandings between his southern French accent and the Ch’ti French dialect make for much of the humor.
Boon says nothing in the film is made up. “There’s a real sense of hospitality” declares the French filmmaker. “The people have a rare selflessness.” But he added that their reputation gets worse the further South in France one goes. “It’s as if people are saying, of course the northerners are nice to strangers, what else have they got?”
The French filmmaker describes the quintessential Ch’ti as someone who is both proud and humble about his distinct identity in France. “It’s an area of France that has suffered a lot with wars and economic problems, but that doesn’t stop it from generating a lot of energy with its customs, traditions and rich local patios, while always having concern and compassion for others.”
He went on to debunk myths in France about the Ch’ti people, saying that they drank no more than others in France, and that the region is number one in the creation of new businesses in France. He spoke of his origins as the son of a truck driver and a housemaid. “We didn’t have much but we were very happy. There’s a lot of conviviality among people there.”
Many say the film will be a boon for the region’s tourism, as people in other parts of France who have avoided the North because of long-standing prejudices will now want to experience the Ch’ti region of France for themselves.
Medical scandal in France : 145 French hospital patients overexposed to radiation
February 27, 2008
A series of radiation accidents at University Medical Center (CHU) of Toulouse-Rangueil hospital in Toulouse, France were responsible for the over-exposure to x-ray radiation of 145 hospital patients, say two reports released Tuesday by the French Ministry of Health.
The reports directly blame the French hospital as well as the manufacturer of the x-ray equipment concerned. The French patients were being treated with radiation for brain tumors. A third of these patients appear today to suffer serious after-effects from the x-ray overexposures.
The reports indicate that the disastrous cases began with the French manufacturer delivering the machine at the outset with the wrong settings; followed by a succession of oversights at the French hospital that failed to detect the problem over the course of a year. The director of the CHU of the French hospital assumed responsibility, calling the affair a grave failure.
The two reports, following investigations by the French Institute of protection against radiation and nuclear safety (ISRN), the general Inspection of the social Affairs (Igas) and the French Nuclear Authority of Safety (ASN), were given to France’s Ministry for Health in connection with the radiation overexposure of 145 patients between April 2006 and April 2007 at the hospital of Toulouse-Rangueil. The reports place equal blame on the CHU and on Brainlab, manufacturer of the x-ray equipment, for the calibration error which was the origin of the over-exposures. This error would have come in “at the startup of the equipment’s accelerator, and would be undetectable afterwards by the CHU with the methodology they had at their disposal” according to the ISRN. The French reports found that no member of the most advanced radiology teams was consulted in the choice of the apparatus, adopted during a bidding process in 2004 and 2005. They go on to say that the CHU had underestimated both the number of radiology staff needed and their level of competence to adequately monitor and administrate this type of care. The general manager of the CHU of Toulouse, Jean-Jacques Romatet, took responsibility for his organization. “When you’re a hospital with the charge of caring for people, an accident such as this is for us a catastrophe, he admitted. “There are no words terrible enough, for us it is a total failure.”
The two reports also deplore that information was given to the victims incomplete and late. No patient was informed within the 15 days required in France, and a full two months after the accident came to light, only 52% of the patients had been informed or examined. The ISRN did conclude, however, that the incident was not to blame for the 18 deaths so far among the 145 patients, 16 of which were consistent with their original, pessimistic diagnoses of aggressive malignant tumors, and the other 2 due to causes not involving to the central nervous system.
Besides being one of the worst medical disasters in the history of France, the incident is a terrible blow to the reputation of CHU, one of the oldest medical institutions in France, with a presence in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France going back eight centuries.
The lawyer for S.O.S Irradie 31, an advocacy group in France for the patients suffering from the x-ray overexposure, expressed anger towards the CHU and Brainlab, calling the incident a medical scandal. “Since the beginning, the CHU was at fault since there were a series of failures, the most obvious being an error of calibration” the French group’s lawyer declared. “People have been suffering, and all along, the CHU and Brainlab have been hiding the truth from us.”
Miss France may step down because of nude photos
February 26, 2008
French press reports that Valerie Begue, the recently elected Miss France 2008, has become embroiled in a scandal over indecent photos taken three years ago, when she was 19 years old.
The photographs published by Entrevue (Interview) magazine, show the bikini- wearing French beauty from Reunion Island, an overseas region of France, reclining semi-nude in a swimming pool in a pose reminiscent of Jesus on the cross. In another photo she licks a yogurt container. ‘This is absolutely untenable,’ the president of the Miss France committee, Genevieve de Fontenay, said. “She has to step down immediately or we will force her to leave.” The Miss France official stated that all contestants who want to become Miss France is required to provide a written statement that they will never have indecent pictures taken. She went on to say that even more strict measures will be taken for the next elections of Miss France.
Miss France 2008 Begue told the Saturday’s edition of the Parisien daily that she had been betrayed. The photos were unpublished test shots, for which she had never been paid, she said. “I was 19 years old, I acknowledge that I’ve made a mistake I bitterly regret,” she said. ‘We all make mistakes in life.” In her first reaction Begue said she would never voluntarily stand down, saying that she never gave permission for the photos to be published in France. But Genevieve de Fontanay has other ideas. After the first magazine story, more nude photos of Miss France, appeared in Choc (translation: Shock). The Miss France committee leader declared that Miss Begue did not have the dignity required to be Miss France and should relinquish her crown. But fans on the internet have mostly reacted in support of Begue, saying that de Fontanay should “get with the times.” And hundreds of fans on her home island of La Reunion welcomed the new Miss France ‘like a queen,’ according to the Quotidien de la Reunion daily newspaper.
However the mother of Miss France says that she has counseled her daughter to give up her crown, explaining that the press furor over the scandal has devastated her daughter.
But rather than despair, Miss France might like to look at the example of American beauty queen, Vanessa Williams. Williams made history in 1983 when she became the first African American woman to be crowned Miss America. Williams’ reign as Miss America came to an abrupt end when scandal—also involving nude photos taken early in her career– led to her subsequent resignation of the title. Williams rebounded by launching a career as an entertainer, receiving Grammy, Emmy, and Tony award recognition.
Marion Cotillard of France wins Best Actress Oscar for La Vie En Rose
February 25, 2008
Marion Cotillard of France pulled off an upset Best Actress Oscar last night for her portrayal of French chanteuse Edith Piaf in “La Vie En Rose”, beating out favorite British veteran actress Julie Christie (“Away From Her”), Canadian newcomer Ellen Page (“Juno”), American Laura Linney (“The Savages”) and the British actress Cate Blanchett (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”).
The beautiful 32-year-old French actress admitted to knowing little about Edith Piaf before being awarded the starring role in “La Vie En Rose”.
“I really dedicated my life to the movie and to Edith Piaf for a few months,” Cotillard said backstage after her Oscar win. “My aim was to understand her heart, her soul. And so I went as deep as I could. I tried to do my best to find her inside me. But it was not so hard, because I really love her.”
Born in Paris, Cotillard to parents who were both actors, she settled on a career in drama in her late teens. Cotillard worked in television in France and on French films including Luc Besson’s action comedy “Taxi” and its sequels, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s drama “A Very Long Engagement.” This movie earned her the supporting-actress prize at the Cesars, France’s equivalent of the Oscars. Cotillard won the best-actress Cesar for “La Vie En Rose” two days before the Oscars. She also picked up a British BAFTA for her role.
However, recognition in France and Europe has not always translated to the international stage. The last film from France to display such appeal in the US was “Amelie,” which, like “La Vie En Rose” was something of a love letter to Paris. But it is Marion Cotillard’s tour de force performance that wowed the Oscar voters and US viewers. Marion Cottilard has appeared in a few Hollywood films like “Big Fish” and “A Good Year,” but the French actress was not on the radar of U.S. audiences until “La Vie En Rose.” Now that has changed forever. Cotillard was the first French performer since Simone Signoret in 1960 to win an Oscar in the best actress category, although several other actresses from France, including Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Adjani, have been nominated for Oscars. Cotillard also won a Golden Globe for her role.
“La Vie En Rose” was not seen in a vast number of US theaters, but positive word of mouth prompted many to seek out the film later on DVD. Now, with Cotillard’s Best Actress Oscar win, and her charming acceptance speech, sales of the French movie in the US are sure to soar. The movie also won the Oscar for best makeup, for the masterful way the French artists made Cotillard embody Piaf from her teenage years on the streets of Paris to her death from hard living and alcohol abuse at age 47.
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy took the occasion to congratulate Cotillard and to characterize the Oscar nod as a statement of unity between France and the US. “I wish to congratulate Miss Marion Cotillard very cordially, who has just received the Oscar for best actress”, said Sarkozy in an official statement. He added that Marion Cotillard incarnated Édith Piaf with realism, emotion and passion, and that in bringing her songs and story to life again with such authenticity she brought France and America together.
In her acceptance speech for Best Actress at the Oscars, Cotillard addressed the Los Angeles audience with a reference to the city’s name: “It is true there are angels in this city. Thank you so, so much,” gushed the French actress.
Cancer in France nearly doubles while cancer deaths in France fall 25% since 1980
February 23, 2008
Reported cancer cases in France have nearly doubled over the 25 last years, but the risk of mortality was cut by 25% for the same period, according to a new French study published by the national Institute of medicine in France (INVS). Some 320, 000 new cases of cancer were listed in France 2005, 180,000 among men and 140,000 among women.
Since 1980, the cancer cases in France have increased by 93% in men and 84% in women. The three most commonly reported cancers for men in France were prostate cancer, lung cancer and the colo-rectal cancer. For women in France, lung cancer, colo-rectal cancer and breast cancer were the highest reported.
The INVS explains this rise by both population growth in France as well as the aging of the French population. However, demographics only tell half the story. Approximately half of the additional cases of cancer in France (52% at the man and 55% at the woman) were attributed to greater risk factors.
At the same time, mortality rates in France went down significantly, even though the number of cancer cases went up. With 146,000 deaths in 2005, only 13% more than 1980, implies a much lowered risk of death from cancer (-29% for men, -22% for women). Lung cancer in France remains the most deadly (26,624 deaths in 2005) and represented 75% of deaths by cancer among men. For women breast cancer represents half of the additional cases of reported cancers in France, whereas for French men, 70% of the additional cases were prostate-related.
The discrepancy between the near 100% rise of reported cancer cases in France and the 25% fall in mortality is being explained partly by increasing public awareness about various cancers in France, with people taking more responsibility for monitoring their health.
However, more is explained by fact that the most aggressive tumors, such as esophagus, stomach and upper digestive tract cancers fell sharply in French men, linked to the reduction in alcohol and tobacco consumption in France. “The French smoke less and drink less: prevention is working,” commented Domenica Maraninchi, president of the National Institute of Cancer in France.
But while mortality from lung cancer decreased in men in France, it is gaining ground “in a worrying way” among French women (+4.2% every year since 2000), as more French women continue to smoke or even take up smoking. Many women in France smoke as an aid to dieting and resist quitting for fear they will gain weight. Lung cancer has become the third the most common cancer among women in France, after breast and colo-rectal cancer, overtaking cancer of the uterus, which fell to fourth place.
At the same time, many cancers in France are being detected earlier, such as prostate and breast cancers. Prostate cancer accounted for 70% of the additional cases which have occurred since 1980 in men in France, but this is not because more men are contracting it; but that more cases are being discovered and reported with systematic and early testing in France. In 2005 prostate cancer was the most reported of all cancers in France, with 62,245 new cases and 9,202 deaths.
France soccer team picks Nike, kicks Adidas out of French football
February 22, 2008
Les Bleus, as the soccer team of France is affectionately known, have chosen sporting equipment maker Nike as the new official supplier of the team. The federal Council of the French Federation of football (FFF) announced the new contract, which runs over the 2011-2018 football seasons. Nike, an American sporting goods company, takes over from German rival Adidas, which has equipped the French team for decades.
On its web site, www.fff.fr, the FFF announced that Nike will guarantee the Federation a contribution of 320 million euros over the duration of the seven-and-a half-season contract, or an average of 42.66 million euros per season. On top of this, Nike will kick in 2.5 million euros’ worth of sporting equipment per complete season. “On the whole, the new contract will bring the Federation four times and half times the resources over the current contract”, writes an FFF official quoted on the site. Nike, Adidas and Airness of France all bid for the FFF contract when it went up for grabs.
Adidas, the big loser in this match, has sponsored France since the 1970s. Its contract runs out at the end of 2010.
Nike may be spending quadruple what Adidas did, but in terms of publicity, the deal may well be a bargain. Unlike in the US, where baseball, football and basketball all attract rabid fans and rich endorsements, no other sport in France comes close to soccer, and no sport gives a sponsor like Nike the superstar visibility le football does. Also unlike the US, whose multiple leagues and teams divide loyalties, all of France follows les Bleus. This is a great opportunity for Nike to gain a foothold in France, and the company knows it.
But beyond France, the rewards for Nike are even richer. For a month every 4 years, millions in France and around the world turn their attention to the FIFA Football World Cup, where the most skillful soccer players proudly represent their countries, in an epic contest like something between the World Series and the Olympic Games. Nike hopes to be well represented in that ultimate arena, and is offering the France team performance incentives above and beyond their generous sponsorship and free equipment, with bonuses for winning at the European level and, of course, getting into and winning the World Cup.
France’s soccer team won the World Cup for the first and only time in 1998, making national media heroes of their players in France and all over Europe. Parties went on in the streets of Paris and all over France for four days. France made it to the World Cup again in 2006, but was beaten by four-time champs Italy. The next World Cup will be held in South Africa in 2010, which will be Adidas’ last chance to sponsor a France team in the contest. Nike’s first crack to send the France team to the World Cup will be in 2014, in soccer-mad Brazil. Brazil has won the World Cup five times.
France hopes to recruit 200,000 young people over 5 years to hospital jobs in France
February 21, 2008
Health Minister of France Roselyne Bachelot announced on Tuesday a massive recruitment effort aimed at young people in France to encourage them to enter the hospital industry. She said that because of retirements of hospital workers in France expected over the next five years, over 200,000 jobs will need to be filled, covering over 150 disciplines. Nurses will leave the biggest gap in French hospitals, with over 94,000 slated for retirement by the year 2015.
“There are all kinds of trades in hospital work, “she explained on a Canal + television program in France. “Of course one thinks immediately of the doctors, dental surgeons, pharmacists and nurses. But there all also all kind of technical trades: radiology, for example.” Following a much-publicized radiology accident in France at hospital in Epinal, blamed on understaffing, the minister also has a goal of doubling the number of certified radiologists in French hospitals from 300 to 600.
Hospital work in France has gotten a bad rap among young people, paradoxically because it is believed to be too exclusive—open only to those with a lot of higher education—and also because of its poor reputation in France for long hours and unpleasant working conditions. These views had led to the current shortage of hospital workers in France, which is soon to become an acute problem as today’s hospital employees leave the work force.
“There is a recruitment problem”, recognized Mrs. Bachelot, who says that the poor image borne by hospital work in France is false. She decided to launch the current irreverent recruitment campaign aimed at young people in France considering their career choices. The campaign features television and internet commercials set in and around French hospitals, and can be viewed at the web site www.lhopitalabesoindevous.fr. (Translated, the name of the web site is “hospitals need you.”)
In one spot, a man sitting at home attempts to set his own broken leg in his living room, as his resigned wife looks on. A voice over says, “If it were this simple, we wouldn’t need to recruit hospital workers.”
However, the French Minister stressed that not only skilled or medically trained workers were needed in French hospitals. Many non-medical positions are available, including those in accounting and finance, food service, maintenance and many more that might not come to mind as hospital-related when young people in France start to look for work. She specified that there was something for French job-seekers of every level of education, from those with no college degree to post-graduates.
As well, with French hospitals like other industries in France becoming increasingly high-tech, there is a growing need for more computer-literate workers. Recent graduates of French universities and high schools are being eyed to fill this gap.
In terms of pay, director of hospitals and care Anne Podeur insisted that salaries for hospital jobs in France were competitive with those in the private sector and offered ample chances for advancement. Minister Bachelot echoed that hospital work offered more opportunities for valuable on-the-job training that could grow a young French person’s career.
But the hospital recruitment campaign in France comes amid an uphill battle in terms of publicity. Recent strikes by hospital workers and statistics on work-related illnesses and absences have put the spotlight on substandard working conditions at hospitals in France. Solving the emerging labor crisis in French hospitals may take more than a few funny TV spots to attract new job-seekers with an array of choices before them.
TV commercials on their way out in France ?
February 20, 2008
President of France Sarkozy unveils plans to eliminate advertising on France Television stations starting in 2009.
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a revolutionary change in the world of television in France – no more advertising on French TV. At the French government’s institution of a new commission to study how this might be accomplished, launched at a speech on Tuesday, France’s head of state envisioned a French public liberated from what he called the “tyranny” of advertising on French TV. But Sarkozy said there are no plans to privatize any channels as part of a planned overhaul of public television. The President of France asked the new commission to look at the option of a special tax on private TV channels and telecom operators. The new commission will be headed by Jean-Francois Cope, a leader of Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party in France.
“There will be no privatization of France Television. No public service channel will be privatized,” said President of France Sarkozy, alleviating concern among public television workers. In France, the main television and radio stations are state run, unlike public TV in the US, which is on the fringes of mainstream broadcasting. Private TV stations live alongside France Television on the dial. France also has a plethora of cable channels, both French and foreign.
After Sarkozy first said in January that he wanted to end advertising on state-run TV channels in France, there had been some buzz that the French government could sell one of the state-owned channels to a private company in France in order to offset the loss in advertising income.
Advertising revenue brings in around 800 million euros per year for France’s public TV channels, representing 40% of their total budget.
Sarkozy made this declaration to trade-union representatives of France Television and Radio France. He asked the 28 members of the new Commission (including 12 members of Parliament and 16 broadcasting professionals) to study two options: the elimination of any TV advertising in France starting January 1, 2009, or a weaning off advertising over time, with commercials running on public TV in France only after 8PM. The president pledged that the losses to the networks in ad revenue would be made up for with public monies that would come from new funding sources in France. Sarkozy also confirmed that the revenue shortfall will not be lightened by a tax on private radios or newspapers in France. He also ruled out an increase in the audio-visual tax exacted on all people in France who own a television. However, he suggested that private TV companies in France might take up some of the slack, seeing as they would benefit from increased ad revenues.
He said the government of France would advance France Television stations a sum of money to demonstrate the state’s confidence in the public stations and to offset their advertising revenue shortfall, though without specifying a figure.
Sarkozy also said that the framework of the relationship between television producers and broadcasters should also be updated. Beyond financing issues, Sarkozy charged the commission with re-defining the identity of the public television in France, and to create conditions that would encourage higher quality programming n France, taking into account the wishes of the French public obtained in polls on the subject of French television. He added that the elimination of advertising was only the start of his plans to give the French public better television.
The President of France took aim at American series in particular, which are some of France’s most popular TV imports, principally because of the dearth of high-quality French alternatives. Sarkozy said his initiative was aimed at stopping the “steamroller” US TV series being run at low cost on French TV.
In true French form, Sarkozy’s new ad-free campaign prompted public service TV and radio employees to strike last Wednesday. Sarkozy’s first months as President of France have been punctuated with strikes in many sectors, as long-entrenched employees in France react to what they view as his radical reforms.
There was some official caution and dismay in reaction to Sarkozy’s grand plan. “There are some ads that do good things”, declared Jean-François Téaldi, a public utility union spokesman. And Carole Petit of the national Trade union of Journalists in France, pointed out that there was no clear explanation of how the move would actually be paid for. But president of France Television Patrick de Carolis, according to whom the elimination of ad revenue will cost public TV in France approximately 850 million euros, said he believed in the sincerity of the French government to support public TV in France, both financially and morally.
“I dream that we’ll be an example for the rest of the world,” declared the President of France of his new initiative. The commission is expected to report back with proposed broadcasting changes in May 2008.
Pamela Anderson takes it all off in Paris
February 19, 2008
Former Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson spent Valentine’s Day in France this year, where she gave audiences in Paris a whole lot to love.
Anderson performed twice last week in various states of undress before sellout crowds of 500 enthusiastic viewers, each paying the equivalent $300 for the privilege– at the legendary Paris burlesque club Le Crazy Horse. Anderson delivered the highlight of her appearance in a sheer black body on the back of a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
The sensual dance number was a homage to the 1950’s hit “Harley Davidson” made famous by 50’s bombshell of France Brigitte Bardot. The 73-year old French actress, also famous in France for her animal activism—another interest she shares with Pamela Anderson, sent Anderson flowers from St. Tropez and wished her luck in her Paris debut.
Anderson has followed in the steps of French actress Bardot in using her stardom to campaign for the protection of animals. Anderson, a native of Canada, was in France to meet with Bardot during Anderson’s campaign for the protection of baby seals.
40-year old American actress and pin-up Anderson explained that she was to deliver a letter written by Bardot to the Canadian ambassador to France, in an attempt to curb seal hunting around the Pacific. “It sickens me not just as a Canadian but as a human being,” Anderson said. Anderson and other animal rights activists claim that hunting for baby seals, outlawed for 20 years, has been reinstated recently because new markets for fur have opened up in Russia and China. She found time while in France to protest before the Canadian Embassy in Paris against seal hunting with fellow activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Anderson has been urging designers and consumers to boycott pelts and seal products.
Anderson’s show at the Crazy Horse saloon in Paris was about other urges entirely. Although Le Crazy Horse is known for its topless and nude numbers featuring strategically placed feathers, Anderson asserted that her Paris performance was “a celebration of women. It’s done very respectfully, very classy, and it’s a wonderful show for women as well as for men.”
While Americans may find this statement hard to swallow, it is true that France and especially Paris has had a rather different cultural relationship with female nudity throughout its history. The French make a distinction between the more raunchy burlesque houses of Pigalle and the famous, expensive upscale clubs featuring shows with nude women such as the Crazy Horse, the Lido and others, most of which are of longstanding in Paris and are indeed frequented by both sexes. Some other American actresses have even been made famous for disrobing in the capital of France, notably Josephine Baker.
Recently, under new management, the Crazy Horse of Paris, which opened in 1951, has started a policy to recapture the glory days by featuring famous or prestigious artists stripping for a limited number of shows, such as Dita Von Teese, Arielle Dombasle and Pamela Anderson. The club occupies a venerable old building on the Avenue George V one of the toniest streets of Paris’ chic 8th arrondissement, just steps away from Hermes, five-star hotels, expensive restaurants and various foreign embassies.
One observer described Anderson’s number: “She was great. She was totally into it – it was impressive. And the crowd responded very warmly.”
Reports say that though tickets for Anderson’s Paris show were around $300 apiece, the actress was not paid for her appearance. “This isn’t for money,” said Anderson. “It’s just for the love of the art, and the Crazy Horse does it best.”
No word as to whether the Crazy Horse plans on donating any of its Valentine’s haul to PETA.