American? Non, French Creations!

Three famous cultural icons you thought were American, but they are really FRENCH creations!!

The song “My Way”

« Comme d’habitude » was the original name for the Frank Sinatra hit “My Way”. It was composed in 1967 by Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibaut. It is a French song about routine in a relationship and falling out of love. It referenced Claude François’s recent breakup with fellow French singer France Gall. It was quite a success for François and later Florent Pagny who covered it in 1989.

Paul Anka heard the song while listening to French radio and then bought the rights. Anka wrote the English lyrics specifically for Frank Sinatra, who then recorded it in 1969 under the title « My Way ». It became one of Frank Sinatra’s signature songs which is about making choices along one’s life path and looking back without regret.

The group “Village People”

Village People is an American disco group from the late 1970s known for its on-stage costumes, dancing and raunchy lyrics, depicting a construction worker, Indian, soldier, cop, cowboy, biker  and other variations. The group was originally formed by Can’t Stop Productions  consisting of the French producer/composer Jacques Morali and his associate Henri Belolo. Both were born in Casablanca, in 1947 and 1936 respectively, but did not meet until the early 70s in Paris. They had several successful hits in France and Europe then in 1977, to break into the American market they moved to New York City. They met actor/singer Victor Willis and Morali had an inspiration to create a concept group with Willis as Lead singer. To find the rest of the group members they placed an ad in a theatre trade paper which read: « Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance and Have a Moustache. » The Macho Man song and album catapulted the group into the mainstream, and their single « Y.M.C.A. » from the group’s third album Cruisin’ became one of the most popular hits of the ’70s. Jacques Morali died in Paris of complications related to AIDS in 1991 but Can’t Stop Productions went on. Co-creator Henri Belolo died in 2019 also in Paris.

Another French creation is “Planet of the Apes”

Not only is Planet of the Apes not American, but it started as a book not a film. La Planète des singes is a 1963 science fiction novel by French author Pierre Boulle who was born in Avignon in 1912. The novel was published in the USA in English as Planet of the Apes (also 1963) and Monkey Planet (1964) in the UK.

The story was adapted to a screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling in 1968. The first film was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starred Charlton Heston. The film was a critical and commercial success, thus launching the Planet of the Apes media franchise which spawned four sequels in the next four years and ultimately a comic books, a TV series and several full length remakes.

The novel tells the tale of three human explorers from Earth who visit a foreign planet which orbits the star Betelgeuse where great apes are the dominant intelligent and civilized species. The captured humans are reduced to a savage animal-like state. How the human manages to prove that he is not an animal devoid of reason and how he escapes the fate reserved for him by the ape masters of the planet, is explained with brilliant and an ironic subtlety giving an exciting philosophical dimension to the science fiction theme. This aspect comes through much more clearly in Boulle’s book rather than in the film versions. The book is a satire on humanity, science and war and also addresses the themes of instinct, evolutionism and human society, all very French concepts. Rod Serling writes that Boulle’s book is « a long allegory on morality rather than a monument of science fiction. However, it contains in its structure a phenomenal science fiction idea. » The Bridge Over the River Kwai is also by Pierre Boulle.

 

Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin (1918 – 1932) was a male German Shepherd born in Flirey, France, who became an international star in motion pictures. He was rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan.  Duncan had found a severely damaged kennel. The only dogs left alive in the kennel were a starving mother with a litter of five nursing puppies, their eyes still shut because they were less than a week old. Duncan rescued the dogs and brought them back to his unit.

When the puppies were weaned, he gave the mother to an officer and three of the litter to other soldiers, but he kept one puppy of each sex. He felt that these two dogs were symbols of his good luck. He dubbed them Rin Tin Tin and Nanette after a pair of good luck charms called Rintintin and Nénette that French children often gave to the American soldiers.

Duncan brought his dogs back to the US at the end of the war.  Duncan taught Rin Tin Tin various tricks. among them Rin Tin Tin learned to leap great heights. At the dog show while making a winning leap, he was filmed by a slow-motion camera. Seeing his dog being filmed, Duncan became convinced Rin Tin Tin could become the next Strongheart. Duncan talked to anyone in a position to put Rin Tin Tin in film, however modest the role. The dog’s break came when he was asked to replace a real wolf in The Man from Hell’s River (1922). The wolf was not performing easily for the director, but Rin Tin Tin was very easy to work with.  Rin Tin Tin would be cast as a wolf many times in his career. In another 1922 film titled My Dad, Rin Tin Tin picked up a small part as a household dog. The credits read: « Rin Tin Tin – Played by himself ». Duncan’s attachment to France came full circle and he arrange to have the dog’s body returned to his country of birth for reburial in the Cimetière des Chiens et Autres Animaux Domestiques, the pet cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine. An interesting visit just outside Paris.

So voilà, little do we realize that behind some of the most American successes are French minds and creativity. Let us know if you come up with others.

For products Made in France enjoy this article: https://fusac.fr/made-in-france-a-long-history-and-current-products/