A few years ago in Paris I saw a wonderful film called _Etoile sans lumiere_ starring Piaf (as well as a very young, ripe Yves Montand). It's very _Singing in the Rain_: Piaf is a maid whose mistress is a silent star whose career will soon vanish because the onset of sound demands musical performers, and the mistress is tone deaf. Naturally, Piaf has to end up providing her voice. There are some rather fun shots of Piaf looking at a microphone as if its from Mars. Of course, when she hears her own voice, she's dumbstruck and can't believe it's herself. (I.e., she's 'natural' and 'unselfconscious' and the technology spoils this.) NB: I believe this film is from 1946, and I'm not sure if anyone's ever noticed that _Signin' in the Rain_ is not exactly original in using this plot. I've never seen the film on video, but it's worth a trip to Paris. Yours, Edward R. O'Neill UCLA General Education Program ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite