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Paris’s Moulin Rouge gets new sails in time for Olympics

Paris’s Moulin Rouge cabaret club, whose landmark windmill sails fell down in April, received new blades on Monday, 10 days before the Paris Olympic torch is due to pass the venue.

Published: 24 June 2024 14:56 CEST
Workers install one of the four temporary windmill sails on the top of Paris's Moulin Rouge cabaret
Workers install one of the four temporary windmill sails on the top of Paris's Moulin Rouge cabaret. (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP)

One of the most visited tourist attractions in the French capital, Moulin Rouge plans to install the four new temporary sails for a special ceremony on July 5th.

The red aluminium and steel blades arrived by lorry early on Monday at the club, located in the touristy Pigalle district.

The first blade or sail was attached with the aid of a crane under the gaze of curious locals.

Over the next four days, the three other sails will be winched up onto the terrace before being bolted into place and the electric cables linked up.

READ ALSO 5 things to know about Paris’ iconic Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge officials said it would take four days to remove the tarpaulin and scaffolding that has enveloped the windmill since the night of April 25.

The first three letters on the cabaret’s facade – M, O and U – also fell off. No-one was injured in the incident.

“Our little Moulin Rouge is back! We’re so happy,” exclaimed Raymonde Rogojarski, looking at the windmill on the way to take her eight-year-old daughter to school on Monday morning.

“It’s very moving to see the sails back so soon,” added Rogojarski.

She said she lived ‘just round the corner’ from the club, which has put on risque nightime entertainment since it opened in 1889 and been immortalised by French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Mathieu Feltz, another local, got off his bike to take a picture of the first blade being bolted into place.

“I was stunned when the sails fell off,” he told AFP. “This morning, I came past here on the way to work. It’s interesting to see how they put the blade back up.”

The sails are only provisional and will not rotate but they enable the landmark to look the part in time for the Paris Olympics.

“The Olympic torch is due to pass the Moulin Rouge on July 15th, so it’s very important for us to be ready by then,” said Virginie Clerico, the Moulin Rouge brand manager.

In late April, the management confirmed the incident was not a ‘malicious act’.

The birthplace of the can-can and the location for Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge, the club has remained open to the public since April 25.

For the ceremony on July 5th to celebrate the arrival of the new sails, the venue has promised an outdoor ‘sound and light show, with a score of performers dancing the French can-can’ on the street.

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PARIS

Iconic Parisian cabaret Chez Michou shuts its doors

Paris's trailblazing drag cabaret Chez Michou on Monday announced its closure for financial reasons, bringing an end to a risque fixture of the French capital's nightlife that inspired a Hollywood film.

Published: 2 July 2024 08:09 CEST
Iconic Parisian cabaret Chez Michou shuts its doors

After 68 years in the burlesque business, Sunday’s performance would be the last, the managers of the cabaret wrote on social media.

A liquidator “will be appointed from July 16, 2024, with the task of finding a buyer for our establishment”, they added.

Run by Paris nightlife icon Michou until his death in 2020, the cabaret brought drag entertainment to France in the mid-1950s when it put on shows featuring men caricaturing women personalities of the time.

Despite being the capital’s smallest cabaret, the tiny venue in the northern Montmartre district vied for attention with the larger, more conventional Moulin Rouge, Lido and Crazy Horse.

The all-blue-outfit, chunky-dark-glasses wearing Michou — real name Michel Catty — and his camped-up “Michettes” inspired a hit 1978 French comedy film, “La Cage aux Folles”.

It was later remade in Hollywood as “The Birdcage” starring Robin Williams.

But the cabaret’s future was already in doubt prior to the announcement of its closure.

On Saturday, Michou’s niece Catherine Catty-Jacquart told AFP she did not know if the cabaret would reopen in September.

“We’re living from day to day,” she said, with the venue seeing a lack of bookings in July despite the Olympic Games.

Catty-Jacquart blamed strikes, protests, parking issues and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic for the venue’s financial difficulties.

Chez Michou employed 23 people, including the performers and staff in the dining room, kitchens and reception.

Drag shows have experienced a revival in recent years, driven by venues such as nearby Madame Arthur that have been able to attract a young, hip audience.

But this upswing did not help Chez Michou.

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