March / April 1989
February was the 29th International Television Festival and Loni Anderson was in town for the showing of her film, 'Too Good to be True". She caused a furore among the press, by attending the final night of the circus festival, sitting in the front row, next to the royal box.
It was a star-studded month in Monaco, with artists Alain Delon, Ben Kingsley, Yehudi Menuhin, Robert Altmann and Michel Piccoli in town. 2,500 people took part in this week-long market of films and newsreels made for television; 82 countries were represented. There was an international round table discussion about "whether Europe needs a European multilingual television news service" and then everyone went back to the hotel to watch Sky Channel's new 24-hour news service, now beamed into Monaco.
Italian opera star Renata Scotto packed the Salle Garnier for Giordano's opera 'Fedora' and the long-awaited rain was forgotten as the audience stamped and encored for 20 minutes. She was wonderful, but I was cheering the tenor, Salvatore Ragonese. He has one of those lyrical, romantic, Italian tenor voices ...
It rained and thundered and lightened, and snowed up in the mountains, so all the happy skiers left town. Winter finally arrived in Monaco, in February; and then came March.
March is winds and waves and whoopdeedoo ! ... des Roses at the Sporting Club de Monaco is a story of its own with the breathtaking decor ... roses, roses, nothing but roses ... and gorgeous gowns and exceedingly elegant guests.
The Princess Grace Irish Library, up in the old ville, is a picturesque setting for a play reading of Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame' and the Monte Carlo Opera's production of 'The Barber of Seville' ends the season in a blaze of glory ... ; and then it is time for Easter bunny to bring the eggs ... and holidays, and off to Portugal. I must try to see 'Rain Man' which I hear is wonderful.
April brings showers and May flowers and the tennis 'Coupe des Dames' at the Monte Carlo Country Club. Graf, Navratilova and Sukova will be taking part in the tournament on 19 and 20 April.
Monaco's “Printemps des Arts de Monte Carlo" begins on 24 March and runs through April. This is a month of ballet, sculpture, art exhibitions and recitals with great names like Claudio Arrau, Yehudi Menuhin, Katia Ricciarelle and Monserrat Caballé, and ballets like 'La Sylphide'.
The Sporting Club cinema shows eleven classic films of operas, from Boris Goudounov, to Zeffirelli's 'La Traviata' with Placido Domingo. It is Monte Carlo's salute to Spring.
In merrie olde England, the mad and merry month of May used to be heralded in with minstrels and maypoles and dancers and lots of Fa la las,. But if all that's not for you, surely you're interested in cars.
Even if you don't care for the noise and the smell of the Grand Prix, how about just looking at some of the world's most elegant cars. Those wonderful old cars with brass lamps and running boards and trunks at the back, that conjure up long skirts and parasols and the classic English film "Genevieve".
I went to Sotheby's antique car auction here a couple of years ago, and one buyer bought three of the most beautiful cars in the sale, for a total of 13 million francs. One of them was a scarlet Rolls, 1927 I think, which had gold fittings and had been owned by the King of Morocco.
He was a private collector, and I asked him why he collected cars, when paintings took up so much less space. He answered, "But they are so very beautiful!"
Well, if you're that sort of a person, come to Christie's in Monte Carlo on May 3, just before the Grand Prix. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. you can drool around a collection of old Lagondas, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Maseratis and Jaguars and see the glorious centre-piece of their auction: the 1935 Alfa Romeo Tipo B T-3 which was driven to a most spectacular victory in the German Grand Prix in 1935, by the legendary Italian racing driver, Nuvolarri.
He didn't believe in using brakes, but used to hurl his car sideways around corners to slow down. Hitler had put a fortune into the Mercedes team and they were so confident of victory, that they didn't even have the Italian national anthem to play when Nuvolari was presented with is prize, but had to make do with putting up the Italian flag.
Now the car is coming to Monte Carlo. And if you have about 1.5 million sterling to spare, it could be yours. The auction takes place at Christies in the evenings of May 2nd and 3rd.
