Eulogy to Arlene
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I first saw
Arlene Colombe Hiquily sitting on a bar stool at
the back of the famous cafe ‘Le Select’
in Montparnasse on the boulevard, in the 14th
arrondisment of Paris.
I was told that she was a friend of the writer
Henry Miller and his wife, that she was also a
writer, poet and an outsider artist. Little did I
know that this blonde, loud American with an
unforgettable Brooklyn drawl, would become my
close friend.
Some time later I was sitting on the Boulevard
next to Arlene by chance. She was with her dear
friend Rita in deep conversation.
I had only just arrived in Paris and had no
connections or friends. A man walked past whom
she knew.
‘Hi John, you must come to my vernissage
later tonight, everyone in Montparnasse is coming’.
With that she handed him a leaflet.
‘I live in Montparnasse, Can I come too?’
I heard myself say. Arlene loved my chutzpah and
gave me a leaflet with the address of the art
gallery close by in Rue Pernety.
Arlene had been married to the known sculptor
Philippe Hiquily but was now divorced. My new
friend, the dancer Carmen Aul, was his mistress.
I never met Philippe but heard all about him.
My friendship with Arlene lasted until her death
in her beloved Paris at least 25 years later.
Written
at Nightingale 20/11/24
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