Ronald & Tony

The windmill of Pigalle

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Large warm exhibition view: framed drawing, photo and note on wall; neighbours admire. Luc explains. Ronald/Tony near left end of room, girls independently at right end with Odette, clear intervening visitors. : Visitor: I came to see a windmill. Luc: There’s someone beside it you should meet.

Close Luc and Tony by exhibit, Ronald several feet behind. Luc relieved, Tony proud. : Luc: You found more than a name. Tony: And I only promised a windmill.

Girls and Odette outside print shop looking uphill, warm Paris evening. Ronald absent. : Karen: A date, a gallery, a flower pin. Harly: Little things can tell a big story.

Wide closing exterior Pigalle cafe. Ronald/Tony at their own small table left, Karen/Harly at entirely separate table right with large gap and planter. Luc serves a basket of bread standing in middle. Nobody touches Ronald. Cafe lights, distant red windmill silhouette at street end, simplified geography. : Tony: After all that history, I’m hungry. Ronald: Good. Today’s final clue is edible.

Read the transcript

Large warm exhibition view: framed drawing, photo and note on wall; neighbours admire. Luc explains. Ronald/Tony near left end of room, girls independently at right end with Odette, clear intervening visitors.
Visitor: I came to see a windmill. Luc: There’s someone beside it you should meet.

Close Luc and Tony by exhibit, Ronald several feet behind. Luc relieved, Tony proud.
Luc: You found more than a name. Tony: And I only promised a windmill.

Girls and Odette outside print shop looking uphill, warm Paris evening. Ronald absent.
Karen: A date, a gallery, a flower pin. Harly: Little things can tell a big story.

Wide closing exterior Pigalle cafe. Ronald/Tony at their own small table left, Karen/Harly at entirely separate table right with large gap and planter. Luc serves a basket of bread standing in middle. Nobody touches Ronald. Cafe lights, distant red windmill silhouette at street end, simplified geography.
Tony: After all that history, I’m hungry. Ronald: Good. Today’s final clue is edible.

Behind the adventure

An original fictional adventure set around Pigalle and Montmartre. Luc, Odette, Jeanne, Henri, the family drawing, its inscription and the exhibition are invented. The historical scenes are imagined, and the route and architecture are simplified. Dialogue is presented in English for readers.

The Moulin Rouge opened in 1889. Montmartre once had numerous working windmills; the Radet and Blute-fin survive, and the Moulin de la Galette is associated with the neighbourhood’s dance-hall history. The comic’s drawings are original, rather than reproductions of historic artworks. Paris tourism: cultural sites north of Pigalle.