Jean Gabin in Deauville, Calvados (14)

Jean Gabin (1904-76) spent each summer in Deauville from 1956, and owned a house there in 1960, living there until 1974.

Isadora Duncan in Deauville, Calvados (14)

The plaque here reminds us that Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) was the founder of modern dance, and informs us that she stayed at the 'Villa Black and White' from August to October 1914. It calls her, and I translate, 'an audacious woman with an exceptional fate': the exceptional fate being her tragic death by accidental strangulation with her own scarf?

Colette in Deauville, Calvados (14)

Colette (1873-1954) stayed at the Hotel (sic) Royale in Deauville August 1952 and July 1953.

Georges Simenon in Deauville, Calvados (14)

Here is Georges Simenon, who came to Deauville in his boat in August 1931, signing copies of his works outside the famous Bar du Soleil, which I forgot to take a photo of. The plaque here says that Deauville provided the inspiration for his short story La Fleuriste de Deauville, (which he in fact wrote in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime)).

Anna Karina in Deauville, Calvados (14)

A poster/plaque by Les Planches informs us that in the summer of 1966, Pierre Koralnik directed scenes for the film Anna, in which Anna Karina sang to music by Serge Gainsbourg. 

Kees van Dongen in Deauville, Calvados (14)

I still have a fair bit of catching up to do after our six-week visit to the Nantes, Tours and Deauville areas. Kees van Dongen (1877-1968), between 1913 and 1963, painted Deauville in the summer. This plaque is a feature of Les Planches, and of course this photo shows the painter there. 

Gustave Flaubert, Deauville, Calvados (44)

In 1837 the family of Gustave Flaubert (1821-80) bought La Ferme du Coteau and the land on which the Villa Strassburger now stands. Flaubert inherited the property on his mother's death in 1872 and re-sold it in 1875.

Fernand Léger, Les Planches, Deauville, Calvados (44)

Fernand Léger (1881-1955) is one of a number of famous people celebrated in Deauville. His family's farm was in Lisores, in the south of the Pays d'Auge, and he regularly visited. Deauville's parasols inspired him to create a series of gouaches in the summer of 1950.

Longines clock, Les Planches, Deauville, Calvados (44)

The watch-  and clock-making business Longines has been in existence in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, since 1832, of which this at Les Planches, Deauville, is an example. Notices at eye-level, in French and English, mention the years of experience of the company's product in world championships.

Marguerite Duras in Trouville-sur-mer, Calvados (14)

Les Roches Noires was formerly a hotel, but Marguerite Duras (1914-96) bought an apartment here in 1963. Several of her novels mention the place where she spent so much time, where she set three of her films (La Femme du Gange (1974), India Song (1975) and Le Camion (1977)), and where she met Yann Andréa in 1980. The stepped passage at the side of the former hotel is named after her.

Charles Adda, Les bains pompéiens and Les Planches, Deauville, Calvados (14)

In 1921 the architect Charles Adda (1873-1938) won a competition run by Deauville municipality to replace the ageing baths. His idea, which he called 'Les bains pompéiens', was inspired by ancient models but using modern materials. Multi-coloured mosaics were executed by the ceramic artists Alphonse Gentil and Eugène Bourdet. The originality of the project is also in the bathing huts along 'Les Planches' (boardwalk), where there are many names of (almost entirely American) movie stars: Deauville is of course famous for its American film festival. The structure was finished in 1929, and looks out onto the beach with its Deauville parasols.

Gustave Flaubert, Trouville-sur-Mer, Calvados (14)

Trouville-sur-Mer obviously believes that the town had a great influence on the writings of Flaubert (1821-80). A plaque on this statue states that it was here that he met Elisa Schlesinger, for whom he had a burning passion and who became his muse. His look here is turned towards Elisa's second floor window of the Hôtel Bellevue, although the hotel has now gone. Léopold Bernstamm made the statue.

Raymond Savignac, Trouville-sur-Mer, Calvados (14)

Raymond Savignac (1907-2002) was a self-taught affichiste (poster designer) whose art, simple and humorous, was often undertaken for advertising purposes, and he is particularly known for his sketches for Monsavon milk soap and his depiction of a cow. He also designed the posters for Yves Robert's films La Guerre des boutons (1962) and Bébert et l'Omnibus (1963), Mario Monicelli's Mortadella (1971) and Robert Bresson's Lancelot du Lac (1974). He retired to Trouville-Sur-Mer in 1979, where a room in the Musée Montebello is dedicated to him. Along the Promenade Savignac, the boardwalk ('Les Planches'), are a number of his posters, which I include here without comments, which are unnecessary:

Savignac even did some artwork for the Hôtel Flaubert.

Boîte à lire, Saint-Hymer, Calvados (14)

And what could enhance the rather idyllic setting at Saint-Hymer than a well-maintained boîte à lire just in front of a stream and behind a bench for reading the books? I came away with Marc Pasteger's Incroyable mais belge, a collection of often bizarre Belgian-related events.

La Mère Denis in Saint-Hymer, Calvados (14)

I was once in Calais with a young French woman with whom I was living in England: she had to renew her road tax and we made a few days of it. On the evening before returning we were eking out the few francs we had left and decided to watch a film: the only one on was Les Bronzés, which Jacqui afterwards declared 'Un film de vacances', and as a young movie buff I agreed. However, I've now reviewed this early film of Patrice Leconte's, plus a number of his later ones, and have a different opinion: Leconte has certainly made several important films, and although Les Bronzés isn't one of them, it's not to be wholly dismissed.

The above paragraph is merely an introduction. Before the film, there was a female face, the viewers laughed, and Jacqui explained that this was the TV personality 'La Mère Denis'. OK, so many years later I discover that 'La Mère Denis' was Jeanne Denis (1893-1989), who was famous for selling Vedette washing machines on TV.

At a time when TV adverts were focussed on the young and the beautiful female (preferably as unclothed as allowed), an adventure in advertising washing machines with an old woman who had spent many years as a washer woman was very risky: but it paid off in a big way for Vedette washing machines, whose sales increased greatly, and 'La Mère Denis' became famous throughout France. She spent her final years in L'Auberge du Prieuré, Saint-Hymer, where she is buried. The auberge faces a lavoir which a few years ago was going to be named after her, although so far it hasn't. Her grave is visited by many people.

The newpaper Libération showed a large photo of La Mère Denis on its front page on 18 January 1989, speaking of 'Mort d'une vedette', which is a pun on the Vedette washing machine brand and 'vedette' meaning 'star'.

Boîte à Lire, Lisieux, Calvados (14)

I believe the boîtes à lire in Lisieux conform to the same structural pattern, as in for instance Dijon, so I just include one of them here: this is in the town centre, and although I spotted a much fuller one in a tiny park a few hundred yards from the Basilique Sainte-Thérèse, this is my first sighting of these superb creatures in Lisieux.

Michel-Victor Leroy in Lisieux, Calvados (14)

Michel-Victor Leroy (1754-1842) was born in Lisieux, where he studied, and left for Haiti with his brother in 1775 or 1778. They had a very successful plantation with its own manufacture of rum for several years, until the slave revolt came and the plantation was violently lost, along with Michel-Victor's brother. The survivor left for New England, and in 1800 he met botanist François-André Michaux. Botany and horticulture now became Leroy's central interests, although he returned to Lisieux, where he died on 33 rue Petite Couture. The roundabout was inaugurated in 2013.

Paul Cornu in Lisieux, Calvados (14)

Inventor Paul Cornu (1881-1944) took after his father for inventing things, and indeed worked with him on some projects. Included in these are a motor bicycle, a steam tricycle, a small 'ultra-light' car with two engines capable of reaching 70 km per hour, etc. Paul even turned his hand to a primitive kind of helicopter with two propellors and four bicycle wheels. He died a civilian war casualty and is remembered in Lisieux's Musée d'art et d'Histoire as well as a local lycée technique named after him.

Lisieux and a Bureau de Vote (Polling Booth)

It's the day after the French elections, the day after Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen for the second time in five years. And although it was a very clear win, it certainly wasn't the crushing defeat of five years ago. Five years is a long time, and many people have become very discontented with Macron, very many call him the president of the rich, as opposed to the right and the left that he said he would represent: he's also noted for his arrogance, which strongly manifested itself last Wednesday in his débat with Le Pen. Many other people just voted for Macron not because they like him, but because he's the lesser of two evils: it was a question of voting for the person you hate less, which surely has nothing to do with democracy. But Le Pen's extreme right-wing views, especially her attitude to immigrants, are justifiably obnoxious to many French people. The daily Libération newspaper today carried the headline 'Merci qui ?', plainly indicating its pleasure that Le Pen didn't succeed, but wondering who exactly had voted for Macron instead of not voting at all, or leaving a blank or spoiled paper. And Libé has certainly shown in the past that it favours the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came third but also (like Le Pen, but for very different reasons) had increased his number of votes: again, evident disappointment of five years of Macron.

But on to this abandoned bureau de vote/poll booth in Lisieux, Calvados. Just a tiny makeshift hut really, although the messages on the walls are interesting. 'Test salivaire' (saliver test) with Macron as a bull's eye may be a reminder of the 'passe sanitaire', but it's also an inevitable reminder of the clothes pegs a number of voters wore in the 2002 election, when the the right-wing Chirac stood in opposition to the older male Le Pen. The booth is also interesting in that it has a French translation of Benjamin Franklin's 'It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.' Another label in the booth says 'Ce sticker sera plus difficile à enlever que vos libertés' ('This sticker will be more difficult to remove than your liberties'.) The next five years will be very interesting, and very trying, for Macron. Mélenchon's LFI (La France Insoumise) is gaining ground increasingly, particularly among the dispossessed young.