JACKIE KENNEDY AND i

TEA AND SYMPATHY
10 August 1970

 She does well to marry him, he is as handsome as Croesus, I wish them
well the worst, I cast a spell ,see what happens.
We met a second time,the day Ari kicked me out,my last day on the Christina.
It was not a set-up,Ari is sadistic but he would not dare that one.
An encounter that I wished it never happened,I was at the airport with
Larry waiting for the first flight out of Greece and there she was in
the VIP Lounge.It was four in the afternoon,Larry ordered English Tea,cucumber, smoked salmon sandwiches,scones with clotted cream,a Battenberg cake, all served on a tiered stand, very proper,very British,couldn't eat a thing nor she.

JACKIE
   Miss Callas, I understand your anger,I heard what you said ,the
gold digger, you hate me,I admire you,you have a career,you made
history,I remember our meeting at the Met,your Tosca was beyond words,love,anger,jealousy,you portrayed them all in your own unique way,I envied your talent.
MARIA
  You can sing, act ,dance? Did you like my voice when you first heard it ?
JACKIE
   I didn't,but I was moved,you have a gift,people see the music when
you sing.
MARIA
   I heard it before,no wonder Ari fell for you,you know  how to
flatter ,what did you tell him the first time you met? It was during that
cruise,your sister Lee orchestrated it,it served her right,she hoped
to marry him.
JACKIE
  You make it sound like we are two mercenaries.
MARIA
   But you are !
 JACKIE
  Miss Callas, I love my son,I want to protect him,they are killing the
Kennedys,sooner than later a stray bullet will end Jon's life, Ari will
give him a safe heaven,Scorpios,this country will be a good place
for them to grow up,I have only him,and Caroline .
MARIA
   You don't love him,how can you  spend the rest of your life with a man
you hardly know.

JACKIE
 I know a good man when I see one

MARIA
     You know a rich man when you see one

JACKIE
  Miss Callas,I was hoping to have a friendly chat
MARIA

  How can I be friendly when someone destroys my life,he is the
man I love,I gave up my career for him,I wanted him to be the father of my
twins
JACKIE
 You gave up your career when you had no voice left, you met Ari at the
right time, had you met him when you were the queen at La Scala,you would
not have given him a second look,you used Mr.Meneghini to become la
Callas,you used Ari  to be queen of the Jet Set,you are an ambitious
lady,vous avez la Folie des Grandeurs

MARIA
 You speak French now ?
JACKIE
 My French is as good as yours, I don't sing Carmen so ,didn't you
take him from his wife ?,

MARIA
 Tina was leaving him
JACKIE

He is leaving you,nine years,the same time he spent with his wife

MARIA

 He is a collector of famous women, he will dump you sooner or later,
you won't last nine years

JACKIE
Then wish me the best of luck,and who said I don't love him ? Who,you ?
Who are you, a nightingale with no  voice left

THREE AMERICAN GIRLS : GRACE,JACKIE AND I

We were three American girls,ambitious and determined to reach the top.Grace Kelly is the luckiest, born into a rich family,went to Hollywood to check things out,won the leading part of High Noon,and the Oscar for best actress,like that, on her first nomination ! Off she goes to the French Riviera to rest and some fresh air,met,fell in love and marry Prince Rainier .Love at first sight,can you imagine ? The little girl from Philadelphia became S.A.S Princess Grace of Monaco overnight.

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier ,the woman I admired and hated.After Vassar,bought a camera to meet people and work al fresco,street photography, they call it.Met young Senator of Massachusetts,set her mind and before he knew it,married him .Became First Lady. Et voila !.

I am not taking anything away from La Femme Jackie,the woman  is smart,a go-getter,was,is and will always be the greatest First Lady in American history.

She was a courtisane, when in Paris did as the French do. 

---For me France is the country of Courage, Culture and Cuisine . It 'S hard to dislIke her after she said that on  TV ,and in French if you please !

When in Europe with the President she wore Chanel by day,Givenchy by night.Upon leaving Paris President Kennedy introduced himself to the World Press :

--- Now you all know me, I am the man who accompanied Jackie on her trip to Paris

I am not taking anything away from her,had John Kennedy had his eight years he would have achieved a lot for   America's popularity around the world and for World Peace.She was the woman behind the Kennedy legend.

ATHENS--- NEVER SHALL I FORGET

ATHENS, THE REVELATION 

In Athens,plain,fat and dead broke,people ask me how I manage to seduce the Rich and the Famous

--- What do you do ?

--- Nothing,men have good taste,they fall for the right woman, my talent is a magnet I have it in abundance

In April 1954 during the rehearsal of Tiefland at the Olympia Theatre,I fell for the most celebrated tenor of Greece,a married man,living with another woman with whom he had two kids.It was love at first sight.

--- Why did you sleep with him,you could have got so much more from the other.The other was Tenakis,twenty-four, good looking,rich, very rich, from the best family of Athens .His old man man who opposed our marriage died at the right time.I didn't kill him !

---- You turned Tenakis down ?

---  Yes,le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ignore
---  What ?

--- Le coeur dicte ,le c...  decide.

--- I don't speak Italian
--- It's Esperanto

I like Takis,love Vangelis. He was my Sebastiano,I was his Marta ,under the Greek skies, on stage at the foot of the Parthenon, it was love at first sight,we sang our hearts out.

"Love opens door to all that is possible",night after night I had the vision of the future,of greatness ,of my destiny,the revelation  of  what my Voice will be, I could develop my histrionic talents beyond anyone's imagination, I will colour my voice a thousand times,to express love,despair,hatred,all the gamut of the human heart. My rivals sing,or try to,I act with body,soul and voice, it had a thousand colours,a "Many-Splendored Thing  a gift from Heaven,there and then I sensed my destiny.

 

 Anger motivates me,I use it on stage,off stage to become a Star, my rivals were jealous, hated me,called me names.

---I am demented they say,so what,it's better than Maria... Who ?

With the success of Tiefland,my rivals,slandered,intrigued,spat their venom :
  

--- She pays with her body

--- Of  course she  does  !

--- You seduced him to get the job !
--- Go back to your country !
 I was born in America of Greek parents, the blood that runs through my veins is Greek,I am no stranger in this land,my land,and because I was dead broke,fatherless,defenceless they called me the Gypsy. 

 

---Never,ever shall I forget.Their hatred.Never,ever.