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N
THE
WORLD OF FRENCH
CAN
CAN AND ITS LOVING QUEEN
Jane Avril
An Aristocrat,
Marquise, French-Italian Nobility, Author, Writer, Philosopher, Humanitarian,
Lovers Collector, Queen of The French Can Can, Friend of Oscar Wilde, Verlaine, Mallarmé and the
Greatest Poets of the Era…and a French Legend!
By Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette
Jane Avril (1868
- ) You will never meet a woman like Jane Avril. Don’t let the naked
appearances fool you. In her own way, she was a saint and a woman with a heart
bigger and larger than the world you live in.
The
life and destiny of Jane Avril were much luckier and happier than those of La
Goulue. Although, she has been called “Jeanne La Folle” (Crazy Jeanne), also
“La Mélinite” for being extremely audacious in her Can Can performance. And
she hated those nicknames.
Photo : Jane Avril
Jane,
despite being a dancer who performed completely nude, was a refined, sweet,
generous, fun, audacious, liberal, elegant lady with finesse and savoir-faire.
French used to refer to her as a lady with
“ Une personnalité distinguée”, meaning a lady of a distinguished
personality. She was well read and evolved in literary circles and milieux.
She was born to a wealthy family. Much better, she was “noble”, an
aristocrat, a Marquise (Equal to Duchess in English nobility or other European
royalty hierarchies). Her father was an Italian Marquis. Why did
she become an exotic Can Can dancer? Why did she dance naked in public
places and cabarets? Why did she pose nude? Wait and see. Read the story.
Jane
spend her time, telling jokes, reading, perfecting her dance techniques,
visiting painters studios, conversing with the most illustrious writers, authors
and poets of the era and of course, regularly frequenting the famous and
infamous “Le Chat Noire”. Her father was loving and caring. Her mother au contraire. She used the beat the hell out of
her. So Jane, decided to run away but she was caught by her mother. At
16, she became an intern at the office of professor Charcot at “La
Salpêtrière”. All the nurses at Charcot’s clinic became fond of her and
tried to organize a “Bal Masqué” in her honor. In reality, she was not an
apprentice nor an intern. Her mother committed her to the hospital as
“Une Folle“, meaning “Crazy”. The physicians at the hospital
began to have doubts about her insanity. They conducted further tests and
psychiatric evaluations and found her to be completely sane, and they sent her
free. Instead of returning home as her mother wanted, Jane managed to
escape. Homeless and without a dime, she took refuge at “Les Filles
Publiques”, not so good! Short after, she began to visit “Le Bal Bullier”
on Boulevard Saint Michel where a new nickname was given to her “Fil de Soie”
meaning thread of silk, because she was extremely thin. New friends at “Le Bal
Bullier” invited to go dancing at “La Closerie des Lilas”. There, by pure
stroke of luck, she encountered some of the era’s most brilliant figures of
literature and humanities such as Oscar Wilde, Arsène Houssaye, Moreas, Paul
Fort, France’s great Mallarmé and the illustrious French poet of a world
fame: Verlaine. Charming, sweet and strikingly intelligent, Jane captured the
attention of Houssaye who gladly employed her as a secretary in his office. Of
course, being a noblewoman, an aristocrat with the title of Marquise (never
mind, she was poor), helped her to approach well to do people and gave her
confidence to converse with them. Besides, being a sweet, young and poor
aristocrat girl created people interest and curiosity in learning more about
this enigmatic, aristocratic “clochard”
and “vagabond” little girl. To
many, she was a puzzling little darling.
French Can Can Dancer a la Jane Avril at
Le Moulin Rouge where it was originally created.
Later on, she found a job as a cashier at the « Paris
World Fair of 1889 » where she met Charles Zidler who invited her to
« Le Moulin Rouge ». From that moment, her entire life changed. Now,
she is constantly dressed in red and wears a black hat. Zidler, the boss of the
cabaret employs her as a dancer. Just like La Goulue, she developed her own
style and refused to wear the white skirts as it was required by the cabaret
management. All the other girls had to follow the rules and wear long white “jupons”
but, Jane broke all the rules like La Goulue.
She
began to dance as a Can Can girl. At the beginning, she was very timid. But, few
days later, her eccentricity and sudden improvisations for lack of proper
training provoked the enthusiasm of
the customers. Weeks later, she
took Paris by storm. And exactly as La Goulue did before, she leaves Le Moulin
Rouge, not to create her own cabaret but to work as a super star at “L’Eldorado”, “Jardin de Paris”, even at
“Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt”, “Les Follies Bergères” and the fabulous
“Casino de Paris” where she met France’s Great Mistinguett (First Star of
France) and became her partner! What a remarkable luck!
One
year later, she leaves « Le Casino de Paris » to become the queen of
the French Can Can at « Palace Theater » in London and Madrid. In
the United States, she becomes a comédienne. She stars in various Broadway
shows including “La Belle de New York”. She returns to France to star in
« Claudine à Paris” at “Bouffes
Parisiennes”.
Her
private life was a dramatic continuation of her performance on stage. She loved men. She collected lovers. Tons of them. Some,
were not very nice to her. One particular lover gave her the nightmares of her
life. He embezzled money from her, cheated on her, even caused her bodily
injuries. Brought before a magistrate, the prosecutor asked the judge to lock
him up for a very long time and throw the key. Jane objected. Not
because she feared this brutal man but, as she told the judge « Don’t
put him in jail, I want to give him another chance in life, provided that he
promises me, that as soon as he leaves this courtroom, he will go looking for a
prostitute, any prostitute he can find in the streets…he will give her every
single penny he has in his pockets and he will get her off the street for good,
no matter how he does it… he has to do it. If he can do that, if he can save
her life, I will save his!”. This is Jane Avril!
In1910,
she marries the French painter Maurice Biais and retires to “Jouy-en-Josas”.
She lived happily with her husband until he died. After his death, she entered a
“maison de retraite”, a retirement home where she spent her time reading,
writing poetry and sewing. Never again, to talk about her glorious past, the
fame and the success she enjoyed when she was the biggest star on the stages of
Paris. She returned one more time to Paris, her last visit to Paris in 1941 for
a diner given by old friends for
old time’s sake…just a friendly token to pay homage to once upon a time, the
queen of France’s Can Can. Excited by the occasion, she stood up while
everybody was still eating, kicked a chair which was in her way and shouted “Allez
Les Enfants, Une Fois En Plus! Une Autre Dance. Peut
Ertre, C’est Ma Derniere!” meaning « Hurrah children, one more time,
one more dance, maybe this is my last!”. But this was not her last, for an
impresario asked her to choreograph a show for a major Parisian production. Jane accepted. In her memoires, she wrote about this. This
what this sublime woman wrote : « "Je serais capable, en
dépit de mes cheveux blancs et du "qu'en dira-t-on" de me laisser
emporter par la musique! C'est peut-être l'une des multiples expressions de ce
qu'il est convenu d'appeler la folie. Si c'en est une, elle me fut toujours
douce et consolante, elle m'a aidée à vivre et je reste son esclave enchantée.
Si dans l'autre monde existent des dancings, il n'y a rien d'impossible à ce
que j'y sois conviée pour y interpréter la danse macabre. » I
will translate it for you.
« Despite my gray hair, I shall be able to do it. It
is perhaps one of those multiple expressions, so convenient to call “madness”.
And if it is this one…it has always been sweet and comforting to me. It helped
me live and to it, I shall remain its enchanted slave. If in the other world,
there is dancing, then, it should not be impossible that I might be invited the
interpret the dance macabre !”- Jane Avril
ZSA ZSA GABOR PLAYS JANE
AVRIL ON THE SILVER SCREEN
After her death, a movie was made about Jane’s life. Zsa
Zsa Gabor was chosen the play Jane. Katherine
Kath played the role of de La Goulue, Walter Crisham played Valentin de
Désossé and Harold Kasket played Zidler.
Photo,
from left to right :: Madga, Eva et Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa, née Sari. She was born
on February 6, 1917, don’t tell her ! In 1936, she became Hiss Hungary.