US: It sounded like the famous scene from Casablanca, where Victor Laszlo instructs the orchestra in Rick's Cafe to play La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, to counter the German officers singing Die Wacht am Rhein, writes Conor O'Clery.
It happened this time in a French restaurant in Manhattan called La Mirabelle, where a singing waitress, Danielle Luperti, sometimes entertains diners.
The other evening she stood beside a couple, and sang La Vie en Rose. When she finished there was applause, and the customers returned to their meals, according to an account of the incident in the New York Times.
Then at another table a patriotic American customer, who evidently could tolerate a French meal but not a French song, began singing God Bless America, the unofficial national anthem of the United States.
As he belted his way towards the final line, "God Bless America/ My home sweet home", some customers joined in, but, most just looked uncomfortable. Silence then ensued until, from another part of the dining room, a patron stood up and began to sing passionately, "Allons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé!"
There was little reaction. Perhaps some of the diners did not recognise the opening lines of La Marseillaise. But the French staff were seen smiling.
The strength of feeling against France over its opposition to the war in Iraq has not diminished since the US military triumph. If anything it has got stronger.
French restaurants, though not apparently La Mirabelle, have suffered a huge drop-off in clientele. Le Rivage in West 43rd Street has seen a decline of 75 per cent and has been getting hate mail despite the fact that not a single French person works there.
Lespinasse in the St Regis Hotel has closed. Montrachet is struggling, though its owner, Drew Nieporent, protests that "we are not tied into the Chirac government".
And this is liberal New York. Everyone agrees that the most unpopular winner of today's Kentucky Derby would be the French-trained colt Brancusi, not just because it is a 30-1 shot but because it would symbolise a French defeat of the 6-5 American favourite with the extraordinarily apt name of Empire Maker.
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At the highest level, it is said, the anti-French feeling is strongest. A White House official, seeking to find words to criticise Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry, said: "He looks French."
The Americans are sore winners, insiders say, and while the Russians will be forgiven and the Germans excused over their opposition to the war, the French must pay the price.
At a diplomatic reception in New York on Thursday, to mark the end of the Mexican presidency of the Security Council, there was much talk of how poisonous the atmosphere between Washington and Paris has become, and the problems this will cause, especially as the UN tries to get involved in Iraq again this week.
One high-ranking envoy told me that if Ireland had denied the use of Shannon Airport as a stop-over for US troops, it would have been viewed by the President as a hostile act, and Ireland would have got some of the French treatment.
For George Bush it is personal. He is said to have taken a shine to Bertie Ahern, not least because of the problems he had over Shannon from anti-war protesters. Ireland did not claim a place in the "coalition of the willing", however, which might explain the omission of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to invite the Irish Ambassador to a triumphal reception for willing diplomats in Washington last week.
Canada did not support the war. Bush cancelled a visit to Ottawa next Monday, and it has been made clear in the US capital that Canadian Premier Jean Chretien will never again be invited to the Bush White House.
And down in Havana, Cuba is getting nervous. Fidel Castro, who has been throwing hostages to fortune by having 75 dissidents consigned to prison for long terms on charges of collaborating with US diplomats, told a May Day rally that in Washington "they are now discussing where, how and when Cuba will be attacked".
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The White House Correspondents' dinner, the black-tie occasion in Washington when politicians and the people who report on them like to make fun of each other, and to which correspondents regularly bring celebrities and personalities who have embarrassed the White House, was a sombre affair this year. The night's official entertainer was not a comic like Jay Leno or David Letterman but singer Ray Charles.
George Bush, who made a funny speech last year, dedicated his remarks on Saturday to NBC reporter David Bloom and Washington Post columnist Michael Kelly, both of whom died in Iraq.
Kelly was a regular guest at the dinner , and once invited the notorious document-shredder Fawn Hall to join his table in the midst of the Iran-contra scandal.
Rumours that a network planned to bring anti-war documentary-maker Michael Moore proved to be untrue, nor was there any sign of other Hollywood activists, such as Susan Sarandon or Janeane Garofalo.
Comic Al Franken had a bit of fun with Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz however, suggesting to him that the previous president should be given credit for building up the victorious US forces. "Clinton's military did pretty well in Iraq, huh?" asked Franken, to which Wolfowitz allegedly replied, after a pause, "\ you."
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Howler of the week was undoubtedly the news report about Alan Greenspan's recent operation. It said that the Federal Reserve chairman had been hospitalised "with an enlarged prostitute". His wife, NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, commented: "He should be so lucky."