French Kisses

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

P. notes:
"It harks back to the reputation of an American nightclub performer
named Texas Guinan. The French authorities wanted to deport
her but public opinion in her favor prevailed.
 
There is a more thorough and accurate account of this in
Steven Weisenburger's excellent book.
 
For younger listers, "forty million frenchman can't be wrong" used
to be a fairly common saying in America. It was uttered by way of
affirmation--like "natch" or "is the pope Italian?""



But, as Weisenburger notes, the original phrase is "*Fifty* million Frenchmen
can't be wrong."

The phrase was immortalized in many places.  There is a Betty Boop cartoon
in which she cavorts with the image of Maurice Chevalier and sings that
line.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)