Word: cocteau
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Last week the 34 living members of the ancient Académie took a bold step in amending its reputation for crusty conservatism by receiving into their august midst a literary figure as contentious as he is unpredictable. The new member: Jean Cocteau, poet, painter, novelist, dancer, movie producer (Blood of a Poet), playwright, poseur and talker. Now 66 and still savoring his reputation as France's esthetic enfant terrible, Cocteau in times past has taken a gamin's delight in cocking a snook at the stuffy academicians. But things change, he explained, and "one wants...
...Astonish Me!" Last week, as Cocteau took his place at last in the charmed circle of immortality, devoted crowds of the avant-garde gathered outside the former Palais Mazarin, and free tickets to the induction ceremony were scalped for as much as $50. Most were hoping to be shocked, for the yearning to startle and shock has infused much of Cocteau's gaudy swoopings, soarings and occasional pancake landings among the lively arts. The value of surprise was brought home to Cocteau one day 40 years ago, when the ballet impresario Diaghilev turned a coolly monocled eye on Cocteau...
...only surprises Cocteau prepared for his entry into the academy, however, were his costume, an especially fancy Académie uniform tailored (by Lanvin) of midnight blue instead of the traditional green with gold braid, and his sword (by Cartier) with a hilt modeled to represent a profile of Oedipus. In his initiation speech, Cocteau turned the flow of his conversation on the Immortals with a respect tempered only gently by the old glint of satiric impertinence. "The time is coming when one will no longer be able to read or write, when a few mandarins will whimper secrets...
Somberly dubbed an Immortal, Cocteau promised: "Entrance to the Académie is the last scandal I will create...
...annual bullfight-for-fun fiesta in the southern French town of Vallauris, famed Painter Pablo Picasso, topped off by a matador's hat, cheered the festivities with his old friend, France's oddball Poet-Playwright Jean Cocteau. Because French tradition opposes bullfighters actually killing their beasts, Vallauris was deathless, but Spanish-born Aficionado Picasso seemed to enjoy the fray just as much as if the arena were awash with gore...