Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
International entertainer, songwriter and actor.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
The book
In conversation
Presenter asks
6:44How did you manage during the German occupation?
First I started with a small business of my own. … I think they used to call that black market. … I went from German trucks to German trucks … to sell some very thin chocolate and uh very bad stockings. … And then when the theaters opened again, I went back to show business.
Presenter asks
8:10Where did you first meet the fabulous Pierre [Roche]?
and um radio station. She was going to America and Charles Renet was coming back from America, so they had done a show for both of them. And we were opening the show with Pierre Roche. And because there were no stage door in that place, everyone had to be there before. … And they like the show and they ask us both to go to see them. And all happened like that.
Presenter asks
12:15What was most important at that time, writing the songs or singing them?
Living.
Presenter asks
No, anyway, it would be a dictionary.
The luxury
Not recorded.
Had you a clear idea what you wanted to be, what you wanted to do?
No, I wanted to be in show business. I don't know what exactly. I wanted to be a singer. Those days, you know, uh you could survive being an act, a good act, in a show for all your life. … So our idea was not to become a star, it was to succeed only in the business we wanted to to be in.
Presenter asks
19:48How important to you is money?
Oh, it's not the money which is important. It's the conquest which is important. Because if you take a great general, for example, a great warrior. … Was not a question of money. You want what? Territories. What I want is territories.
Presenter asks
21:32Could you look after yourself? Are you good with your hands? Are you good in a practical sense?
I am quite good for all that, yes. … Yes, yes, I can. Yes, very easy. … But I can't hunt and fish. That's the problem. But I can become vegetarian.
“I became the father of the family, and I'm still the father of the family. It's a fantastic sensation to be that, you know, sensation, to be the father of the family, to take care of everything.”
“I've never seen Piaf sleeping at the right time, you know. For example, she was sleeping two hours here and three hours there while we were working. And suddenly at night she didn't want to go to sleep, and we had to be there with her.”
“I don't want to be French or international or Armenian, nothing. I'm an artist.”
“It's the conquest which is important. … What I want is territories.”
“I will stay there for a while, just to come back to myself, and after that slowly built the boat. … But go away.”