those wooden shoes that we tend to think of as dutch were quite prevalent over a much more wide-ranging area of europe. the french speakers know them as sabots - the root word, incidentally, of sabotage - the act of using your sabots to muck something (say, machinery...) up.
theres an issue of le cycliste from the 50s with a photo of a pile of new sabots on the cover - a beautiful shot.
great shoes, mind you, and far more comfortable than youd realize (some of the earliest shoes with arch support!). i love mine, and wear them like crazy.
ive spotted them on the feet of people in rural france, holland and belgium on trips in the last 10 years.
they dont fit well in toeclips though. you could probably fit a cinelli m71 cleat though... (a real reach to keep on topic! :) )
as for that tdf music... theres a cd that radio france put out some years back called "le velo en chansons 1927-50". its tough to find - if theres enough interest i might be encouraged to put upload a zipped copy of the album in mp3 format, at least for a little bit... none of the songs from this sheet music though...
-joel
At 22:36 -0500 01.09.2006, oroboyz@aol.com wrote:
><< Note the wooden shoes on the spectators (and no, the 1949 TdF
>didn't go through Holland),>>
>
>When I was a kid traveling through France with my parents in 1954-55
>I remember the French villagers wearing wooden shoes.... I wonder if
>they still do in the more remote areas?
>
>Dale Brown
>Greensboro, NC USA
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Aldo Ross <aldoross4@siscom.net>
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Sent: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 20:58:24 -0500
>Subject: [CR]Pic of the Day - Songs of the 1949 TdF
>
> Pic of the Day
>10th January, 2006
>
>Songs of the 1949 Tour de France
>
>http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/album17/March_du_Tour_1949
>
>Don't put away those accordions just yet! Accordion manufacturer "Paul
>Beuscher" published a collection of music specially selected for the
>1949 Tour de France. Songs included "Maitre Pierre", "Avec Son
>Tra-La-La", "Pour Sur", "La Vie En Rose", "Des Mots d'Amour" (The Words
>of Love), "Congo" (?), "Danse Avec Moi", "Valse Perdue" (Lost Waltz -
>not what you want to hear in the middle of a bike race!), "Pedalou", "A
>Bicyclette", "L'Equipe", and "Joseph Aime le Velo".
>
>This image shows the header to the sheet music. Illustration by
>"Gralliant" or "Cralliant"??? Note the wooden shoes on the spectators
>(and no, the 1949 TdF didn't go through Holland), detailed illustration
>of brake levers, bizarre headtube treatment, a hole in one spare tire on
>the back of the car, and how the "O" in "Velo" becomes part of the rear
>wheel of the car.
>
>And is that a baby pacifier tied to the end of the string leading from
>the cork in #2's waterbottle?
>
>>From "Editions Paul Beuscher - Arpege".
>
>Aldo Ross
>Middletown, Ohio
>
>_______________________________________________
>
> _______________________________________________
--
joel metz : magpie@blackbirdsf.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
bike messengers worldwide : ifbma : http://www.messengers.org/
portland, oregon
==
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...