June 02
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade's Birthday

Geoffrey Rush as Sade in Quills

One day on the Hollywood Squares, Paul Lynde was asked "How tall was the Marquis de Sade? Paul sung his reply which was the opening verse of "Has Anybody Seen My Gal."

"Five-foot two. eyes of blue.
But oh what those five feet could do."

Reports of the Marquis' height vary from 5'2" to 5'4" inches - a fact that has been overlooked by in the casting of actors who have played the whippersnapper in the stage productions of Marat/Sade and The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of Monsieur de Sade, and the films De Sade (1969 with 6' 1" Keir Dullea as Sade), Sade (2000 with 5' 7" Daniel Auteuil as Sade), and Quills (2000 with 6' Geoffrey Rush as Sade and nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal).

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade's life and writings had a profound impact on the history of literature, the development of contemporary sexual theory, and freedom of the press. The term sadism became the eponymous psychiatric terms describing behavior requiring the infliction of pain on others to achieve sexual satisfaction. His first chronicled series of sexcapades occurred in 1763 when he was twenty-three. He began an affair with the actress La Beauvosin who introduced him to menage sex - menage a trois, menage a quatre, manage a cinq, and other numerical progressions that exhaust the imagination and libido.

Sade was later tried and condemned to death for allegedly poisoning and forcing two prostitutes to perform sexual acts that were considered punishable by death under French law. A chemical analysis of the drug given to the women indicated that it was cantharides, or Spanish Fly, so named because it is made from an emerald-green beetle of the same name. In mild doses, cantharides can cause sexual arousal due to genitourinary irritation. However, the drug can also cause painful urination, fever, a bloody discharge, and even permanent damage to the kidneys and genital organs in larger doses. Catharides was historically disguised as bonbons (pastilles de Richelieu) which is the source of the caveat that little girls should not accept candy from strangers.

The Marquis was imprisoned in the Bastille after this trial The day before the Bastille was stormed at the beginning of the French Revolution. Sade was transferred to a lunatic asylum from which he was eventually released. He was subsequently recommitted and ended his days directing the inmates in plays that he wrote.

Banana Whip

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas
2/3 cup of whipping cream
1/2 cup of sugar

2 cups raspberries
1 TB lime juice

Instructions

Peel the banana, scrape off the coarse threads and press the pulp through a sieve; add the sugar and lime juice and cook over heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils; remove from the fire and let become chilled.
Chop remaining raspberries in half.
Whip the cream in a chilled bowl until firm.
Fold the chilled banana, halved raspberries, and cream together and turn into four dessert bowls or glasses. Garnish with remaining raspberries.

Serves 4