Lunching With Mirtha Legrand

A couple of English friends mentioned the longest running British TV Programme being 'Caronation Street', and the longest running theatre play being 'The mouse Trap'. That reminded me of a Spanish TV programme perhaps even longer running.

A couple of years ago, Robert Mur, a foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires who had come over here in Barcelona & was talking about a longest running television programme, called "Lunching with Mirtha Legrand", likely a worldwide record, and was then still running after having then completed 43 years. What's more amazing, hosted during all that time by the same lady presenter, Mirtha Legrand, who had then just celebrated her 84th birthday. At that moment this was also being shown in America.

The TV show started in April 1968, very unusual presentation too. Each and everyday in all these 40 years, at exactly 1pm, she puts on a lunch in her 'house' - fictional, built into the recording studio set - during which the invited guests would be eating, drinking, followed by coffee and cigars, and all the time being interviewed. The guests are professional people in varied fields and backgrounds, but the majority are artists, writers, sportsmen, politicians, scientists, actors and actresses, singers, dancers ... in other words celebrities in today's terms. It had been originally her idea, to make the guests feel truly at home, in cosy environment and at ease. A well fed person is also a happy person and more willing to talk, especially if the wine is good and plenty.

She once invited several wives of Argentinean sportsmen to lunch, of a footballer, a tennis player and a golfer. Sometime during lunch she asked the question that when their husbands had a competition game on, did they have, or perform, any kind of ritual to wish him good luck.

Just like how a good story usually goes, the footballer's wife said she prayed to the name of the Saint which is the name of her husband, the tennis player's wife said she made him wear his lucky shirt. The wife of the golfer (Roberto de Vincenzo) was the last to answer. She said: "Every time before he goes to a competition match, I would kiss his balls".

This was followed by the longest silence in the duration of a mere few seconds before Legrand said: -

"Golf balls, right? "

Tags:tvlunch,football,tennis,golf

Current Mood: Amused