4 thoughts on “Pet Says The “F” Word”

  1. Hello Cactus, Jeanie and all of you in the dark!

    Yes, I agree with what John lennon told Petula when she went to see him at his hotel suite in Montreal, at the end of May in 1969! It was the spectator’s problem not Petula. Songs are supposed to tanscend languages! I got to meet Petula that same week and she was devastated by the attitude of the English and French spectators during that week at Place des Arts. She even told my friend and I that she was seriously thinking of quitting show business all together. It’s true that the reporters’ reviews of the show were no help either!

    You have to place yourself in that context of the era. The population of Quebec was in turmoil. There were more and more Quebecers who were in favor of affirming themselves as francophones and take their future into their hands, and finally seperate from the rest of Canada. It was not an easy time for everybody! However in 1976, things changed and the Parti Québécois, the party which promised independance was elected. Then tempers stopped flairing up as they did back in the late 60’s! No, Quebec hasn’t seperated from Canada, but we did get legislation that improved our situation culturally and langage wise!

    I’m happy to hear that you like your French experience all over Quebec and in France. However, my personal experiences that I had in France are somewhat different from yours. As you might expect, my first language is French, so when in France one expects to be able to use French; but not in Paris, whenever I went to restaurants or arrived at a hotel, I was alwaysfirst addressed to in English. I spoke to the waiter or clerk in French but they kept on responding in English, just as if they didn’t understand that I’d just spoken French. Since I’m quite stubborn, I kept on speaking French to them and I spoke what is called “international French”. After a while the person would acknowledle that I was speaking French to them and replied in French.

    Most of the time the clerk or waiter would say “Oh, but Monsieur has the same accent as Céline….(Dion)”

    In the rest of France I never encountered any problem, what so ever! I visited Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, New-Zealand, I never had any problem to be understood and to understand people even though English is my second language.

    –Daniel, Quebec City

  2. Jeanie Beanie, Thanks for your interesting reply. First of all, being a woman also as you are, I get those same feelings about Pet’s looks!!! The only thing I can think of, is that Pet may have had one or two face lifts during her career. You and I don’t have to do such things, nor do we HAVE to dye our hair (mine is all salt-and-pepper gray).

    But when you work in the entertainment industry, your livelihood depends in part – most ESPECIALLY as a woman – on staying beautiful as long as you possibly can. That must be a real burden, to have to constantly worry about that; I wouldn’t like it. My goal is to learn to accept my age as gracefully as possible, and realize that I am never going to have the smooth, tighter skin tone anymore of a 20- or 30-something, at my middle-age over 50!

    Doug might know more about whether Pet has ever undergone cosmetic surgery. I certainly wouldn’t blame her or judge her if she did!!! And I mean that for the MEN in the entertainment business as well. It’s all the same issue, really. Attractiveness/sexiness sells concert tickets, and gets you more film parts, if you are in the acting profession. We can’t possibly compare outselves with them….different standards for a different job and life style.

    Back to the French issue. If I were born in England, I would be what they call there a “Frankophile.” I’d be visiting France a lot. I LOVED the classy architecture and beauty of Paris, and our interesting tour in the countryside of Moet & Chandon vineyards…the makers of such magnificent champagne. I really enjoyed the French people we met.

    When we didn’t know what to say in French, whether in France or Quebec Province, my husband called me his secret weapon as “the grinning idiot.” I was always saying “Bonjour!!!!” or “Merci beaucoup!!!!” with a huge, warm smile, or “Bonsoir,” – whatever. The French knew I was trying to reach out to them as best I possibly could. The vibes of body posture, of love and brotherhood can transcend human language, and the French-speakers just resonated to that.

    I also instinctively felt that an appropriate greeting of “Bonjour” was what was considered civilized, polite, and generally accepted, whether in Quebec Province or in France. It’s RUDE to just start out with a question first, (God forbid: saying “Do you speak English?” in English, for a first introduction!!!) without even acknowledging them respectfully as PEOPLE, FIRST!!! These people are not just “objects” to dispense information, nor are they our servants.They are our equals, and deserve to feel that way when we address them.

    I don’t care about the politics between the U.S. and France. I just wanted to embrace the French people with love, joy, and respect. And I think they felt that lack of reserve, our genuine affection and goodwill, and nonjudgmental attitude. And our willing attitude of, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

    One Frenchman in Paris purposely missed his subway train, because we couldn’t understand his directions as to which train we needed. He escorted us personally to our train platform. I could see he was holding a bunch of lovely flowers, presumably for his wife or sweetheart. We may very well have made him late for his date.

    Another woman on a French train from Versailles into the city of Paris we got talking to, found another French passenger who was bi-lingual to translate for our conversation much more easily. She had come out to Versailles to a specific bakery which made incredibly delicious almond paste cookies…and she later handed over to us the ENTIRE bagful as a gift!!! She said she could always come out next week and get another bag. She just wanted us to have those pastries as a gesture of goodwill, and we have never forgotten her act of generosity.

    We have wonderful, warm memories of both Quebec Province and France. I always wonder when I hear the French-bashing Americans about their bad experiences in France, just how respectful they were trying to be of another language and culture. My husband and I both delight in languages and cultures other than our own.

    Also, we had a dead car battery in a parking lot at the end of our touring day in Montreal, and a local resident very graciously helped us to jump-start our car. So many good memories of wonderful people we met in our travels!!!

    I think that John Lennon’s “F*** ‘Em” reaction to the disastrous concert Pet played was obvously short-hand for saying, “Look, this is THEIR hang-up and problem, NOT YOURS!!!!” YOU did the right thing with your roster of songs for the show!!!” Pet had hits like “Downtown,” hits in BOTH English and French by that time, she was playing in a bi-lingual city, and the audience should have showed more tolerance, class, and brotherhood.

    I enjoy Brazilian music immensely, even though I don’t understand Portuguese singing very well at all. The U.S. has had various HITS in FOREIGN languages, like “Sukiyaki,” and The Singing Nun’s “Dominique,” to name just two. The group Santana doesn’t always sing in English, or else they blend both English and Spanish. (Think “Oye Como Va.”) Doug could probably come up with other examples.

    The Beatles sang songs in German in Hamburg, to be sure, and recorded them, but their greater repertoire was in English. Still, the kids of Hamburg, Germany ADORED the Beatles.

    I would certainly hope that if Pet went back to Montreal today to give another bi-lingual concert, she would be received with a more evolved, sophisticated attitude than the horrible experience she was subjected to decades ago.

  3. Parce que je puis parlez le francais, il etait facile pour mois quand je visite Montreal en 1979. I still remember asking for unleaded gasoline, because the guy I was with needed it, and it was still a relatively new thing: “Nous besoins d’essences sans plombs.” They LOVED it that I could speak Frence. Cactus Liz, I also remember them switching on and off, but to ME, it seemed they clearly preferred me and my then-fluent French. What was also cool was getting “du vin rouge” (red wine) right out of the spigot at McDonalds! Also, beer was served WARM. Small signs in some shops would say; “biere froid” for the picky tourist. There is a classic Conan O’Brien bit where he goes up to Quebec and tries out his humor, and speaks only English. He finds one “willing” couple, but he is coldly shunned by everyone else!

    Now, on to our Pet! Look at her! If this is recent, can’t she even age normally? Incredible bone structure! She even swears elegantly! She’s enchanting, as always. I get the feeling she never or only lightly smoked, and ditto on the booze.

  4. I’m on Pet’s side, and I would agree with John on that one. Interesting…I think things have changed for the better. Quite a number of years back, my husband and I went to the yearly Montreal Jazz Festival a few times, and also traveled onwards to Quebec City. We found the people of Montreal so surprisingly bi-lingual, it was like flipping an “on/off” switch as to which language they could use, including young kids. We always started our greetings and questions in French as best we could, and then they would graciously reply in English for the whole rest of the conversation. Once they learned we were visiting from the United States, and not some other province of Canada, they didn’t expect us to know one single word of French.

    Of course, the further north we traveled in Quebec Province, towards Quebec City and the Gaspe Peninsula, the less English we found spoken, or spoken proficiently. But we always managed. The people were friendly, helpful, and gracious. We loved visiting up there!!!

    Now mind you, we didn’t have rude receptions in France, either, I think because we always tried to start off in French. 4 of us were traveling together, and we initially failed to communicate our questions well in French, with one particular hotel clerk I remember. He couldn’t understand us. We then tried fluent Spanish, fluent Portuguese, half-way decent German…none of which the Frenchman spoke. Nor English. He said he could only speak French. (So much for the ugly Americans, eh?) I think he was so embarrassed by then, that he bent over backwards to communicate with us in his limited English, and our limited French.

Comments are closed.