………………………….This is a candid photo of Anne Klein and Kay Thompson during a rehearsal at the Versailles Fashion show at the palace of Versailles in 1973…….Kay, a Hollywood actor, and director, was hired to direct the entire American segment….I think she is best known for her role in “FUNNY FACE” with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire….Everything and anything that could go wrong…..went wrong! There was infighting between the American designers, and Halston through a hissy fit and walked out. Of course he returned….. None of the male designers thought Anne Klein should even be there…..After all she was JUST a sportswear designer!…..The French took so much time to rehearse that the Americans could only rehearse at night in the freezing palace….It was November, and it was bitter cold. The backdrops and sets didn’t fit, because the people who made them used American measurements and not European measurement…..so they were all scraped! They would just show on an empty stage……..There is a saying…..”a bad rehearsal means a good show”……Well this was a disastrous rehearsal….but the show was a TRIUMPH! The Americans blew the French out of the water……It was unanimous…….THE AMERICANS WON THE BATTLE OF VERSAILLE!!!!!……..Upon Anne’s return to NYC she went to her doctor only to find out that her breast cancer had returned…….She didn’t want to go for her check up until the Versailles show was over….She at least wanted to have that…..The result of the exam was the worse it could be, and Anne would be gone in four months. The triumph of Versailles was the pinnacle of her career……She will go down in Fashion History as being one of the five American designers that destroyed the French mystic with one show…..The BATTLE OF VERSAILLES!