I began suspecting  Oregon artists Marne Lucas and Bruce Conkle of being secretly French when they invented Eco Baroque. But here’s a few reasons to entertain the theory that all Oregonians share their hidden dual identity:

1. Wine

2. Food

3. Movies

4. Mass transit

5. Public spaces (beaches, parks, Pioneer Square)

6. Focus on quality of life (see above)

How French is Oregon?

The first ever Palme d’Or (as adjudged in 2003) went to a film based on work by an Oregon author.

In 1939, a brand new film festival on the French Riviera at Cannes was cancelled due to Hitler’s invasion of Poland. In 2003, Cannes went back and revisited the list of films that would have competed that year. That jury awarded the Palme d’Or to Union Pacific (above), directed by Cecil B. DeMille and based on a novel by Portland author Ernest Haycox.

Currently, four Oregon directors are much beloved in France.

#1: James Ivory (Klamath Falls), 6 nominations for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Winner of Cannes 45th Anniversary Special Award for Howard’s End(1992).

#2: Gus Van Sant (Portland), 3 nominations for the Palme D’Or at Cannes. Winner forElephant(2003). Winner of the Cannes 60th Anniversary Special Award for Paranoid Park(2007).

#3: Bill Plympton (Oregon City), 2 nominations for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. His latest feature, Idiots and Angels (2009), received theatrical release in France, and was seen all across that country.

#4: Penny Allen (Portland), whose latest film,The Soldier’s Tale (2007), has been seen by more filmgoers in France than America. It was a recent hit at the Nyon Festival Visions du Reel.

Oregon is so French, Bill Plympton says that everyone in France accepts without question the immediate assumption that Pink Martini is a French band.

Shawn Levy snapped this picture on his phone of Gus Van Sant, James Ivory and Bill Plympton, posing with Mike Rich at the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival. For whatever it says about Oregon, Gus Van Sant, James Ivory, and Bill Plympton are all highly regarded in France.

Stagecoach (1939), based on story by Ernest Haycox, nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture

Hud (1963), co-written by Harriet Frank, Jr., nominated for Best Screenplay

A Few Notes On Our Food Problem ( 1968), directed by James Blue, nominated for Best Documentary

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), based on Ken Kesey’s novel, nominated for 9 Oscars, won the top five, including Best Picture

Norma Rae (1979), co-written by Harriet Frank, Jr., nominated for Best Screenplay

Room With A View (1985), James Ivory nominated for Best Director

Howard’s End (1992), James Ivory nominated for Best Director

Remains of the Day (1993), James Ivory nominated for Best Director

Good Will Hunting (1997), Gus Van Sant nominated for Best Director

In The Bedroom (2001), Todd Field nominated for Best Screenplay, Best Picture

Iraq In Fragments (2006) James Longley nominated for Best Documentary, Feature

Little Children (2006), Todd Field nominated for Best Screenplay

Milk (2008), Gus Van Sant nominated for Best Director

The Final Inch (2009), directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky,  nominated for Best Documentary

Ernest Haycox tried being a Reedie, left to go to New York to be a Bohemian, came back to Portland, put on a suit and tie, and settled down to a life of writing fiction in a downtown Portland office. He was famous for keeping regular working hours, nine to five.

John Ford’s Stagecoach was based on a short story by Haycox.  Jacques Tourneau’s Canyon Passage was based on a novel by Haycox, as was Cecil B. DeMille’s Union Pacific.

Haycox began his career in pulp magazines, and graduated to “the slicks” (Saturday Evening Post and Colliers’ Weekly), where he was read by Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, both big fans.

Here’s a wonderful biographical sketch by Haycox’s son, Ernest Haycox, Jr.

Portland has never been as remote – geographically, socially and spiritually – from the rest of the country, as it would like to believe.

In 1923, a young Ernest Haycox was living in Greenwich Village, writing his first western.

In 1923, a young George Olsen was appearing on Broadway in Kid Boots, with Eddie Cantor.

In 1923, a young Mayo Methot was appearing The Song & Dance Man on Broadway, opposite George M. Cohan.

In 1923, a young Lee Morse was startling audiences with her deep bluesy voice in the Artists & Models, a musical review on Broadway.

In 1923, a young Mark Rothko moved to the Upper West Side to study painting, after being upstaged in a Portland acting class by the future King of Hollywood.

I have no idea if Mark Rothko liked jazz.

If he did, whenever he felt homesick he could have taken a quick stroll down Broadway to see his fellow Portlanders George Olsen, Lee Morse, and Meyo Methot performing onstage.