Brains v. Brawn

In France every Thursday night some 2,500,000 people forgo their Sagan, their cinema and other well-known Gallic pastimes to watch a new-style quiz show called Tetes et Jambes, literally "Heads and Legs" but loosely translated "Brains and Brawn." On Brains, the glint of gold is only incidental to the visual gimmicks and the sheer fun of watching the nation's top musclemen come to the aid of the IBMinded. To take home his cut of a $5,600 jackpot, Brain must correctly answer a series of questions spread over four weeks. If he misses, the scene quickly shifts to a race track, a gymnasium or another studio, where Brawn, a topflight French athlete or even a whole team, has to pull off some spectacular physical feat to keep the game going.

Lost Battle. Last week a retired army officer named Marcel Doher was up for his fourth and last stand on the show. His brawny crutch, France's crack 400-meter relay team, waited on a track nearby. When Doher failed to identify the French priest (Abbe Henriot) who in 1815 became a close friend and horseback-riding crony of Napoleon, the scene shifted to Brawn. The team matched its former record of 45 seconds flat, giving Brain another go at Napoleon, but Doher missed again, and by this time the relay boys were tired. Twice the baton was dropped as it changed hands, and the battle was lost. As a consolation prize, Doher won a framed letter signed by Napoleon, then invited his relay helpers out for some consoling champagne.

Old Soldier Doher took his loss like a gentleman, but such defeats arouse national protest in France. Recently an aviation expert flubbed three questions in a row. His Brawn, Swimming Champion Aldo Eminente, saved him twice. But the strain on Aldo's stroke was too keen. On his third try, Aldo slowed down and their joint jackpot went down the pool drain. From the nation's 700,000 TV rooms came scores of outraged calls and letters.

Last Lift. Last December a Brain whose specialty was explorers tripped over three successive questions. Sample: Who was the first explorer to reach Timbuktu and live? Answer: Rene Caillie. The Brain's Brawn, an amateur champion weight lifter, did well the first two times around, pleaded for time out before attempting to lift 275 Ibs. from a snatch position and 330 Ibs. "clean and jerk." For fully five minutes, viewers watched Brawn parade in front of the camera, flexing muscle and steeling nerve. Finally, to the relief of several hundred thousand Frenchmen, he raised his weights sufficiently high; Brain and Brawn happily split their jackpot.

Brain behind Brain is young (28), burly Pierre Bellemare (who also originated a similar show in Italy), a TV program contractor, who believes in "people doing things, not just saying them." As a result, the studio is clogged from week to week with such odd items as a World War I airplane, a collection of vintage automobiles, a chunk of a 17th century galleon. Bellemare draws on a seemingly inexhaustible supply of Brawn, goes after horse jumpers, crossbow experts and ice skaters (Amateur Skater Roger Tourne broke the 500-meter record for France on the show) as well as conventional runners and jumpers. But, says he, picking Brains "is a more difficult business."

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