Phoenix Arizona: Finding Franco Culutre in the Southwest

Travelers to Phoenix, in Southwest Arizona, might be surprised, like my husband and I were, to find a quiet dose of French culture among the Spanish influenced architecture, language and missionary history. Seeking out French culture in our travels is a hobby, sort of a travel and cultural Sudoku. Our game ends when we find a number of unexpected things of French heritage.

Our first surprise came at the Herberger Theater in downtown Phoenix, to see the live matinee performance of the play, “Ella”. It’s an entertaining biographical musical performance with jazz ensemble about the famous “first lady of song”, the popular singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996). “Ella” is played by the singer and actress Tina Fabrique, a talented lady with a distinctly French name. Nevertheless, her name along does not count in our cultural detective game. After all, lost of people who have French names don’t even know it. Instead, our surprise came in the program guide where we learned the stage story was set in 1966, in a concert hall in Nice, France. In the plot, Fitzgerald was performing in France shortly after attending the funeral of her beloved sister, Frances, who died unexpectedly in the United States shortly before the story began. Ella, and her agent Norman are worried about her son. They search for an available seat in Ella’s otherwise sold out performance, just in cast her recently estranged and only son will change his mind about flying to France to be with her. Throughout her energetic and wonderfully lyrical performance, Fabrique frequently speaks in short French phrases, using the polite, “Mesdames et messieurs”, during her ongoing dialogues with the audience.

Fabrique sang 24 of Ell’s songs like “ It Don’t Mean a Thing”, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and her well known theme song, “A Tisket A Tasket”. She especially delighted the audience when she performed what her manager Norman called “scat”, or vocal jazz.

Finding “Ella” was staged in Nice, France, did not qualify for finding French culture in Phoenix. There was more. It turns out, the nearby adobe missionary style Basilica of St. Mary’s, a historic monument in Phoenix, is a building with a distinct French origin. It was founded by a French missionary named Father Edouard Gerard. He was the first priest to be ordained in Arizona. A casual visitor would not know this history except by reading a blackened brass plaque honoring Father Gerard mounted on the front entrance of the Basilica. Inside the Basilica is a shrine to the popular French Saint Therese (Martin) of Lisieux, who is an icon of faith to religious Franco-Americans. While we attended Mass as the Basilica, the Franciscan friar happened to give a homily with a focus on the origins of the word “église” (meaning “church”). This word is apparently rooted in the Greek meaning “going forth”. As a subject of the homily, the priest explained how “église” related to the moral message of creating a unified church.

Driving to our hotel, we listened to French Mountain Air music performed on the Phoenix classical music radio station. Our French reverie was interrupted with commercials promoting the Arizona Opera Company’s production of “Madame Butterfly”, a Puccini opera based upon a French libretto.

We pulled out the immense Phoenix telephone directory to see any unknown relatives lived in the area. Indeed, nine names listed were similar to ours, like “L’Heureux” or “L’Heureault”.

There you have it. “Neuf et neuf”. Nine French experiences in Phoenix Arizona plus another 9 names like “L’Heureux in the telephone book. It’s our cultural Sudoku.