Jean Cocteau explains to President Chamoun and Madame his wife some of the scenes of his play "La Machine Infernale"

President Chamoun pins the high decoration on the chest of the famous French dramatist Jean Cocteau

The third and final round began on the evening of August 25, when the Robert Atkins company presented Shakespeare's two plays "Hamlet" and "Twelfth Night," and it had been expected in advance that the English company would express the spirit of the great dramatist better than the French company had done in "Julius Caesar."

In fact the French company excelled in the production and performance of Cocteau's play, inspired by contemporary French life, better than it did in Julius Caesar. As for the English Atkins company, it succeeded in the two Shakespeare plays, even to the point of brilliance, and the vast crowds bore the hardship of the journey to Baalbek and the long late hours... and were happy and content!

The Baalbek festivals have ended... and they met with a turnout beyond what had been reckoned for them. What further encouraged and strengthened them was the patronage extended to them by His Excellency President Chamoun and Madame his wife, who attended most of the performances. In recognition of his appreciation of this movement, His Excellency graciously pinned high decorations on the chests of prominent personalities: among them the committee's president, Mrs. Kettaneh, the French author Jean Cocteau, and some of the leaders of the musical and theatrical companies.

Lebanon will remain a balcony glittering with the light of knowledge, from which everyone who yearns to understand the good values in man may look out upon the world...

The Baalbek festivals are an outstanding progressive phenomenon, and the least we can do to express it is to offer our sincere thanks and appreciation to the energetic committee that watched all month over bringing the appointed program into execution — and with this dazzling triumph.

"Jeanne Moreau" and "Charles Nibar" in one of the scenes of "La Machine Infernale"