Thursday, July 28, 2011

Place Dalida


Yesterday morning I had a business meeting on avenue Junot, probably the most chic avenue in Montmartre - where a lot of famous people lived. On the way out I walked around a little bit and ended up at the Place Dalida, that I had never been able to find before! Dalida was a very famous Italian/Egyptian singer who used to live in France, precisely in Montmartre (listen here to one of her songs). She was also a good friend of the present Paris mayor. BTW, this bust of her was made by Alain Aslan.

26 comments:

  1. I had never heard of Dalida until I did a tour of Montmartre cemetery years ago. Her gravesite statue was so impressive that I never forgot who she was.
    She was a huge star in France.

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  2. thank you for the photo. I didn't know about the square - and have never been able to find her grave in the Montmartre cemetery.

    I only know of her from 'Paradisco'

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  3. thank you for the photo. I didn't know about the square - and have never been able to find her grave in the Montmartre cemetery.

    I only know of her from 'Paradisco'

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  4. There's something haunting about it. Perhaps just the gray day.

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  5. All of this is new to me. Wonderful!

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  6. After thought: someone should make a film -- the story of Dalida's life. I mostly remember her for her 70's and 80's music which they still play on the French radio stations. (I like her 50's and 60's music too.)

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  7. Her former house is down the alley that is in front of the moulin nearby. There's a plaque on it.

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  8. As for a secular icon, the metal is brighter where the fans put theirs hands ... ;-))

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  9. I was going to say, it is apparently good luck to rub her breasts because the metal is polished there and nowhere else!

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  10. Yes Thib, interesting the way the tits look brighter… Does this statue benefit from the same kind of popularity as the one of Victor Noir in le Père Lachaise ?…

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  11. Also, I checked Google Maps as I have never visited this spot either...and it comes up Place Marcel Ayme. Is this the former name?!? What is funny is that In Street View, they blur Dalida's face on the bust. Are statues covered by the privacy law as well?!? How ODD!!!

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  12. She was really beautiful. I can imagine her walking in Montmartre streets.

    Regards

    Valery

    Barcelona Daily Photo

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  13. This is on my most popular Paris photo walk, and it's funny how she changes over the months - sometimes with graffiti, sometimes with stickers, once sprayed completely silver and then cleaned up again some time later, although I rather liked the 'silver lady' version.
    It looks rather like her boobs are becoming as revered as hopeful bestowers of sexual potency as Michel de Montaigne's foot or that guy in Père Lachaise who has the posthumous honour of having his, ahem, trousers rubbed to a gleaming finish... People are strange!

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  14. I would really not like being a statue like this. Or, I would have insisted that it be from the shoulders up! She was beautiful and someone I had never heard of before this, so thank you, Eric, for more things to learn today!

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  15. Wow! Eric, I can't believe I've never heard of this woman. I did a Google search and between Wikipedia and You Tube, there's so mauch information. What a talented, troubled beauty...a real tragedy.

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  16. A very pretty place, and a beautiful sculpture. Hey, for all the rubbing, it's better than the bull in Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3y-r-YcW0

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  17. @Sab "It looks rather like her boobs are becoming as revered as hopeful bestowers of sexual potency as Michel de Montaigne's foot or that guy in Père Lachaise who has the posthumous honour of having his, ahem, trousers rubbed to a gleaming finish... People are strange!" LOOOOOOL!

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  18. Today being mon anniversaire, thank you for posting a photo of a bust that looks just like me...my boobs are nearly just as shiny from people rubbing them for good luck, too! LOOOOOL!!!

    -buzzgirl

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  19. Such an old fashioned style of statue/bust for a modern person. Are you being disengenuous with the expression 'a good friend of the present Paris mayor'? Do you mean it with a nod nod wink wink?

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  20. Her statue looked so beautiful that I you-tubed her to see what she looked like and wow-she's gorgeous! and I do like her voice too. One youtube showed off her teeny-tiny waist and that jaw line is magnificent. I wonder what her personality & life were like?

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  21. Merci pour le petit historie de Dalida. J'ai achetté des ses chansons ce matin sur iTunes.

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