Byline: THOMAS SCHNURMACHER
Credit: GAZETTE
Column: THOMAS SCHNURMACHER
DD 10/10/89
SO Montreal Gazette (GAZ)
Edition: FINAL
Section: ENTERTAINMENT
Page: F11
Category: COLUMN
LP --- French fete: Chirac is in for a surprise ---
TX Soon after Jacques Chirac, the mayor of Paris, arrives in his office in the French capital tomorrow, he will receive an overseas call via two-way telecommunications satellite. The call, which will come in at about 2 p.m. Paris time, will originate from the lobby of the Seagram Building in New York City. On the other end of the line will be Edgar Bronfman Jr., who is the president and chief operating officer of Joseph E. Seagram's & Sons, Inc. Edgar Jr., of course, is the son of Montreal-born Edgar M. Bronfman, the chairman of the far-flung Seagram's empire. Once they get a good connection, Edgar Jr. will tell Chirac that he plans to throw a big party and project a 36-storey-high laser image on the facade of the Seagram's building as a "love letter" to the French on the occasion of the centennial of the Eiffel Tower and the Bicentennial of the French Revolution. In his letter of invitation, the senior Bronfman, who happens to be a Chevalier de La Legion d'Honneur, wrote, "Our company has enjoyed half a century of warm and co-operative relationships with our business associates in France. My family, both in North America and France, has been graciously received by members of the French government... . Please accept my sincere congratulations on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of French freedom." Once the preliminary niceties are out of the way, it's going to be one fun call. Joining Edgar Jr. in the lobby, you see, will be Princess Yasmin * Aga Khan, Michael Fuchs, the chairman of Home Box Office, and comedian Billy Crystal, who may very well say to Chirac, "Yooo loook mahvellous|" This tranatlantic banter, which shouldn't take too long, will be taking place at about 8 a.m. New York time. This means that the Princess, who is the chairman of tomorrow evening's fifth annual Rita Hayworth Gala, should have plenty of time to freshen up. What do Fuchs and Crystal have to do with all this? Fuchs is this year's Rita Hayworth Award recipient while Crystal will be entertaining the 800 members of New York's Who's Who expected to attend the gala which has, so far, raised $1.5 million U.S. for the Alzheimer's Association. Guests, who will be partying under a shimmering see-through ceilinged tent, will even get to sing La Marseillaise and The Star- Spangled Banner as Champagne Perrier Jouet flows all night from commemorative bottles bearing the image of the Eiffel Tower. * * *We can expect to see a bunch of real animals at the Olympic Stadium later this month. Some 400 farm animals to be exact. They'll all be there for the Agriculture, Wine and Food Show, which will run from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5. Visitors will be able to see demonstrations of sheep being sheared, cows being milked and horses being shooed or is that shod? They will also be able to check out everything from ornamental plants to the latest in tractors. For those with no interest in cows or tractors, there's always the casino, which will be open from 1 p.m. until 2 a.m. for the duration of the show (with the exception of the last day, Nov. 5, when it will close at midnight). By the way, we're talking real casino where you can lose real money at real blackjack tables and/or at the real roulette wheels. Unless you budget yourself carefully, it won't only be the sheep who are being sheared. * * *Montreal Symphony Orchestra conductor Charles Dutoit will play a swashbuckling hero in a very offbeat video-inspired Romeo and Juliet TV special which is about to be filmed. If you think that's something, the TV special will also feature MSO general manager Zarin Mehta doing a cameo appearance as Louis XIV|
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