Les Poupees de Paris

[RalphQuinn]

 

It's showtime at the Moulin Rouge!

Also included is an AUDIO file of much of the performance (10:57). The show is emceed by a voice that claims to be Charles Boyer. (Could be.)

 

 

 

 

 

The signs were pretty beat up; I gave them a touch-up paint job.

 

 

The old bait-and-switch, for those who didn't know what 'Poupees' meant.

 

 

A closer look in the window revealed the nature of the show. The two string puppets are Maurice Chevalier and (perhaps) Mistinguett.

 

 

Le Poupee Philharmonique strikes up the overture.

 

 

 

 

 

Chorus girls cavort in front of the Red Mill image.

 

 

An Indian girl waltzes with an Asian elephant. What looks like pagodas are presumably Buddhist stupas.

 

 

This performer may be an Indian deity; I can't be sure.

 

 

Liberace makes a surprise appearance.

 

 

Maurice in his glory.

 

 

This lady sits high above the audience.

 

 

Pearl Bailey is one of the stars of the show.

 

 

Pearl offers some steamy advice to the ladies.

 

 

The black-haired trumpeter is not looking at his music.

 

 

Dracula and Frankenstein bemoan the fact that monster-ing isn't what it used to be. Drac sings 'Let's be frank, Mr. Frankenstein.'

 

 

The show ends as another monster (probably a zombie) roams around the stage laughing and snarling. Eventually he climbs down from the stage and attacks the audience as the curtain falls. In my panic to escape I failed to capture his picture, but I was overjoyed to escape with my life! 

 

Les Poupees de Paris.mp3

 

 

[Bill Cotter]

I'm glad you got out alive!!

[Jim]

Did this pavilion survive the 1964 season?  Did it close mid-way through the first year?

[Eric Paddon]

That is definitely Paul Frees, the man who narrated "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln" doing the Charles Boyer imitation.

[RalphQuinn]

Eric, if you are referring to the Lincoln of the Illinois pavilion, the speaker there was Royal Dano. Here's what Wikipedia says:

"Dano was the voice of Abraham Lincoln for Walt Disney's Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction, first presented at the 1964 World's Fair."

[Bill Cotter]

Paul Frees did the introduction for Lincoln, with Royal Dano being the voice of Lincoln.

[Eric Paddon]

Yes, I should have made the distinction of Frees role in the show more clear.     My own feature on the Illinois pavilion notes the vocal contributions of both.

http://www.nywf64.com/illinois09.shtml

[RalphQuinn]

My mistake too, Eric. I should have recognized your word 'narrator' as opposed to speaker. I didn't include Mr. Frees in the audio file, and sort of forgot about him. His was an excellent voice for the part. Somewhere over the years I misplaced his part of the program. I recall it began "Illinois, land of Lincoln. It was here in Galesburg . . .
" 

[Eric Paddon]

Disney did release archival audio of all of their Fair attractions ten years ago on CD.       It's still in print and it has the complete Illinois pre-show as well as "Great Moments" plus all of the audio from Ford and GE (and a 20 minute music mix of Small World).

https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-1964-Worlds-Fair/dp/B001EQUESC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497220504&sr=8-1&keywords=Disney+World's+Fair+CD

[waynebretl]

Thanks for posting the link. I had points sitting on my Amazon card, and ordered it. It arrived today, and I just finished listening to CD 1 (Carousel of Progress). I closed my eyes and imagined being back there!  

Warning: I think this will be boring for anyone who's not a nostalgic fair fan. Will be working my way through the other four CDs.

[Jim]

I did not realize that Les Poupees de Paris ended up at Hemisfair 68.  I just saw a photograph of the attraction on a site called History of Hemisfair.