Folies Bergères
Encyclopedia
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
which was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s through the 1920s. the institution is still in business.
History
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
by the architect Plumeret. It was patterned after the Alhambra music hall
Alhambra Theatre
The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...
in London. The closest métro stations are Cadet
Cadet (Paris Metro)
Cadet is a station on Line 7 of the Paris Métro. It is named after Rue Cadet, itself named after M. Cadet de Chambine, owner of much land through which the street passes. The street was called Rue de la Voirie before being renamed. Numbers 9 and 11 are the old Hôtel Cromot du Bourg...
and Grands Boulevards
Grands Boulevards (Paris Metro)
Grands Boulevards is a station on lines 8 and 9 of the Paris Métro. The section of lines 8 and 9 from just east of Richelieu - Drouot to west of République was built under the Grand Boulevards, which replaced the Louis XIII wall and is in soft ground, which was once the course of the Seine. The...
.
It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with fare including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after a nearby street, the rue Bergère ("bergère" means "shepherdess").
In 1882, Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
painted his well-known painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère , painted and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882, was the last major work by French painter Édouard Manet. It depicts a scene in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris...
which depicts a bar-girl, one of the demimondaines, standing before a mirror.
In 1886, Édouard Marchand conceived a new genre of entertainment for the Folies Bergère: the music-hall review. Women would be the heart of Marchand's concept for the Folies. In the early 1890s, the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dancer Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller
Loie Fuller Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (also Loïe Fuller; (January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928) was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.-Career:...
starred at the Folies Bergère. In 1902, illness forced Marchand to leave after 16 years.
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, Mistinguett
Mistinguett
Mistinguett was a French actress and singer, whose birth name was Jeanne Bourgeois. She was at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world...
, Joséphine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
, Fernandel
Fernandel
Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin , better known as Fernandel, was a French actor and singer. Born in Marseille, France, he was a comedy star who first gained popularity in French vaudeville, operettas, and music-hall revues...
and many others. In 1926, Joséphine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
, an African-American expatriate singer, dancer, and entertainer, became an overnight sensation at the Folies Bergère when she performed the Danse sauvage, wearing a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas and little else. Her erotic dancing
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
and near nude performances were renowned. The Folies Bergère catered to popular taste. Shows featured elaborate costumes; the women's were frequently revealing, practically leaving them naked, and shows often contained a good deal of nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
. Shows also played up the "exoticness" of persons and objects from other cultures, obliging the Parisian fascination with the négritude
Négritude
Négritude is a literary and ideological movement, developed by francophone black intellectuals, writers, and politiciansin France in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and the Guianan Léon Damas.The Négritude...
of the 1920s.
In 1936, Derval brought Joséphine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to lead the review En Super Folies. Michel Gyarmathy, a young Hungarian arrived from his home in Balasagyarmath, designed the poster for En Super Folies, a show starring Josephine Baker in 1936. This began a long love story between Michel Gyarmathy, Paris, the Folies Bergère et the public of the whole world which lasted 56 years. The funeral of Paul Derval was held on 20 May 1966. He was 86 and had reinged supreme over the most celebrated music hall in the world. His wife Antonia, supported by Michel Gyarmathy, succeeded him. In August 1974, the Folies Antonia Derval passed on the direction of the business to Hélène Martini, the empress of the night (25 years earlier she had been a showgirl in the revues). This new mistress of the house reunited the qualities proper to maintain the continued existence of the last music hall which remained faithful to the tradition.
Since 2006, the Folies Bergère has presented some musical productions with stage entertainment like Cabaret (2006 - 2008) or Zorro the Musical (2009 - 2010).
Notable performers
Other notable Folies Bergère performers
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Jean Gabin -Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly... Grock Grock , born Charles Adrien Wettach, was a Swiss clown, composer and musician. Called "the king of clowns" and "the greatest of Europe's clowns", Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world.... , clown Benny Hill Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:... Zizi Jeanmaire Zizi Jeanmaire is a ballet dancer and widow of renowned dancer and choreographer Roland Petit. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet version of Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films.-Background:Born in Paris,... Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor... Margaret Kelly Leibovici Margaret Miss Bluebell Kelly Leibovici , Irish dancer, was the founder of the "Bluebell Girls".-Biography:... , founder of the Bluebell Girls Valérie Lemercier Valérie Lemercier is a French actress, scriptwriter, director and singer.-Biography:Born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime as the daughter of farmers, she grew up in Gonzeville and then studied at the Rouen Conservatoire - a dance, music and drama school. Lemercier made her screen debut in 1988, in the... Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:... Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century.... |
Mistinguett Mistinguett was a French actress and singer, whose birth name was Jeanne Bourgeois. She was at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world... Yves Montand -Early life:Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in... Édith Piaf Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads... Liane de Pougy Liane de Pougy , was a Folies Bergères dancer renowned as one of Paris's most beautiful and notorious courtesans.- Early Life and Marriage :... Yvonne Printemps Yvonne Printemps was a French singer and actress.-Biography:Born Yvonne Wigniolle, she made her debut at the age of 12 in a revue at La Cigale in Paris. She was dancing at the Folies Bergère at age 13... Raimu Raimu was the stage name for the French actor Jules Auguste Muraire .-Biography:Born in Toulon in the Var département, he made his stage debut there in 1899. After coming to the attention of the then great music hall star Félix Mayol who was also from Toulon, in 1908 he was given a chance to work... Régine - External links :*... , in [2004 Frank Sinatra Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the... Charles Trenet Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s... |
Filmography
- 1936: Folies Bergère de Paris directed by Marcel AchardMarcel AchardMarcel Achard was a French playwright and screenwriter whose popular sentimental comedies maintained his position as a highly-recognizable name in his country's theatrical and literary circles for five decades...
and Roy Del Ruth with Maurice Chevalier, Natalie Paley, Fernand LedouxFernand LedouxFernand Ledoux was a French film and theatre actor of Belgian origin. He studied with Raphaël Duflos at the CNSAD, and began his career with small roles at the Comédie-Française... - 1956: Folies-Bergère directed by Henri DecoinHenri DecoinHenri Decoin was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who competed for France in the men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1908 Summer Olympics and the water polo tournament at the 1912 Summer Olympics.-Selected filmography:*...
with Eddie ConstantineEddie ConstantineEddie Constantine was an American-born French actor and singer who spent his career working in Europe....
, Zizi Jeanmaire, Yves Robert, Pierre MondyPierre MondyPierre Mondy, whose real name was Pierre Cuq, born 10 February 1925 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, is a French actor and director.He began his film career in 1949 and has appeared in over 140 films. In 1960, he received international revcognition for the role of Napoléon Bonaparte in the film Austerlitz... - 1956: Énigme aux Folies Bergère directed by Jean MitryJean MitryJean Mitry was a French film theorist, critic and filmmaker, co-founder of France's first film society and later of the Cinémathèque Française in 1938....
with Dora DollDora DollDora Doll is a French actress. She was born Dorothea Feinberg in Berlin.One of her first screen appearances was as Juliette in Henri-Georges Clouzot's Manon . She appeared as Lola in Jacques Becker's Touchez pas au grisbi and as Genisse in Jean Renoir's French Cancan...
, Claude Godard - 1991: La Totale!La Totale!-Plot:Everyone thinks that François Voisin is a model executive with a calm and orderly life, but it is only a front. In reality, François is a secret agent, one of the best: in the game he is nicknamed l'Épée, "the Sword". But even as he infiltrates arms-smuggling rings and prevents terrorist...
directed by Claude ZidiClaude ZidiClaude Zidi is a French film director and screenwriter who is noted for his mainstream burlesque comedies. Born in Paris, he started as a cameraman and then cinematographer, and made his directorial and screenwriting debut in 1971...
with Thierry LhermitteThierry LhermitteThierry Lhermitte is a French actor, known for his comedic roles. He was one of the founders of the comedy troupe Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, and Michel Blanc...
Similar venues
The Folies Bergère inspired the Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and other similar shows, including a longstanding revue at the Tropicana Resort & Casino
Tropicana Resort & Casino
Tropicana Las Vegas is located on the Las Vegas Strip, in the township of Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Resort Inc. and operated by Alex Yemenidjian's Armenco Holdings. It offers 1,658 rooms and is attached to a casino...
in Las Vegas and the Teatro Follies in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The Las Vegas Folies Bergere, which opened in 1959, closed at the end of March 2009, after nearly 50 years in operation.