Shah of Iran Big Party in 1971 (DVD0 مهمانی بزرگ شاه

Shah's Big Banquet DVD

 

 

A different time

1971: Mao was in power in China; Leonid Brezhnev, in the Soviet Union. The dictator Franco ruled Spain; and Richard Nixon, the USA. Students were protesting against the war in Vietnam and the Shah of Persia. The Shah’s visit to Berlin sparked the 1968 riots in Germany, after the police shot down student Benno Ohnesorg during a demonstration against “America’s puppet Pahlavi”.
 

Billion-Dollar Camping
 

In Persepolis, near the tomb of Cyrus I, the Shah planned to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire, for three days, from 12 to 14 October, 1971. It would be “the biggest party on earth”, announced the Shah. He wanted to show the world the new face of an ancient empire, a modern and proud Iran, a nation of oil, not of Islamic mullahs.

As Farah Diba asserted 33 years later in her memoir, the royal family had to prove that the Pahlavi era was “a period of renaissance for Iranian civilization”. The Shah hired French architects, interior decorators and couturiers to design 50 tent-like suites for the royal visitors, right next to the ruins. A main tent, measuring 68m by 24m, was to be the banquet hall. The tent city took a year to build and 37 km of silk. The tents were arranged along five avenues, radiating out from a central fountain.
“Billion-Dollar Camping” read the headline in the Schweizer Illustrierte.

“The party of the century”, claimed Life magazine.

And according to Stern: “The mother of all parties”.
“It was magical, like in One Thousand and One Nights – except for the punch-up, but we’ll get to that later,” enthuses waiter Oswald Toutsch.
50,000 songbirds were flown in from Europe. Three days later they were all dead.

 

“The ladies were provided with a separate bunker for their jewellery. As with their clothes, they had to change into something new for each meal,” recalls co-organiser Felix Real, 85. “Right next to the tent city they built an airfield, as well as a 1000-km motorway from Tehran to Persepolis. They also planted an entire forest next to the ruins. And to create atmosphere, 50,000 songbirds were flown in from Europe. Three days later they were all dead — the desert climate had been too much for them. At noon, temperatures topped 40, and at night they dropped below zero.”

 
Emil Real, 74, Felix’s brother and co-organiser: “Of course, we had a big kitchen, too. Iranian military machines flew in 150 tons of kitchen equipment, some 5000 kilometres, from Paris to Persepolis. Everything was of the very best quality, and I’ve seen some hotel kitchens in my day.”
Felix Real: “The culinary preparations for the celebration began in the summer of 1970, when the Iranians asked Louis Vaudable, the owner of Maxim's in Paris, to manage this part of the festivities. In those days, Maxim’s was considered the best restaurant in the world.”

 
Emil Real: “Three days before the gala banquet, eighteen tons of food arrived. According to the list, this included: 2700 kg of beef, pork and lamb. 1280 kg of fowl and game. And 30 kg of caviar — although some people claim it was 150 kg.”
“And a lorry full of ice,” waiter Oswald Toutsch adds.
“Everything was flown in from Paris, even parsley and chives. Only the caviar came from Iran,” Felix Real recalls.
 

 

Runtime: 90 minutes
Type:  History / Political
Language: In Farsi & English

Format: DVD-R

Picture quality:

 

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