It's “the” photo that tells a beautiful story on this first day of 2025. The image revives a happy past and above all, the photo made it possible to find some of the people photographed. A photo signed by the truculent local reporter-photographer Charles Bébert, plastered large (meters by 3) under the pergolas of the Promenade des Anglais. An installation as part of a photographic exhibition, part of which can be discovered in the gardens of Villa Masséna and the other, on the seafront. An event which runs until Monday January 20.
Scene of life in Nice
The photo appeals to many passers-by. Onlookers stop to observe him. No doubt because it expresses a joy of living, a carefree era.
It dates from December 1965. It is Christmas Eve. The photo was taken at the Canastel glacier, which still exists, at the bottom of Boulevard Gambetta. We see twelve people there, women and men, four are behind the counter, the others are waiting to pay for their purchases. Most of them are laughing their heads off, except for a granddaughter in the foreground, with a sullen expression.
A scene from the daily life of the people of Nice, which could have stopped there. But actually, no…
Thanks to social networks, Stéphane, one of Charles Bébert's sons, discovered a video on Facebook of a lady who recognized herself in this photo. It is, in fact, the little girl. Her name is Michele. At the time, she was 12 years old and was sullen because the company of adults annoyed her a little, but she had to accompany her mother, who came to buy sweets at Canastel.
By chance viewing this sequence on Facebook, Stéphane manages to contact the little girl who has become an adult. As the discussion progresses, other names of people also present in the photo are added to the unknown faces.
Gold medal
A few phone calls later, Stéphane finds a couple in the center of the image, now aged 90 and 87. He suggests that they take another photo in front of the one from 1965. That’s okay. This is how these people were brought together for a photo, in front of “the” photo, taken again by Charles Bébert, who evokes “a living photo”. Lively and invigorating, as was the secret of this unclassifiable Bébert, to whom the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, a little later presented the city's gold medal of honor and recognition. And not to be cliché…
