MAURICE CHEVALIER & MISTINGUETT ❘ PEOPLE
“THE GLAMOROUS DUO ENJOYED THEIR NEW STATUS AS HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER CELEBRITIES”
for a while. “When we went into the trenches, there was no more singing or dancing,” he recalled gravely. “One by one, my friends were killed or wounded – and I was
beginning to think myself a very lucky fellow to remain unscathed.”
That stroke of luck didn’t last long, however. He was soon hit by an exploding shrapnel shell, which punctured his lung and left him seriously wounded. As fate would have it, within hours of the attack, the Germans gained a stronghold on the local area,
ruthlessly capturing any soldier too injured to move – and that included Chevalier. His frustration was palpable. He’d come an extraordinarily long way, from a young penniless boy whose employers had disparagingly sneered at him and branded him a ‘titi’ to a highly paid and respected performer. Yet now, wounded and captured, with blood pouring from his mouth, it seemed all was lost.
picture of political neutrality. “Through the King, it had been arranged that the French and Germans should exchange prisoners who were ambulance workers,” Chevalier revealed to journalist Percy Cudlipp, “so I became an ambulance worker. That is, I altered my identifi cation papers, then claimed a mistake had been made in that I should have been sent back to France. Had the deception been discovered, my punishment would have been severe.’’
The risk paid off. Free at last, he returned to Paris and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his wartime bravery. Years later during the Second World War, he heroically returned to the same camp where he had once been held prisoner, performing for the inmates and then demanding the freedom of ten of them as payment for his services.
Back in Paris after his experiences in the
First World War, however, Chevalier found he was too traumatised to perform. Ever devoted, Mistinguett played a major role in nursing him
Clockwise from main: The famous Folies Bergè re in Paris; a poster promoting Mistinguett at the Moulin Rouge; the First World War trenches in France, 1916; Mistinguett dressed for a Moulin Rouge performance; the Moulin Rouge in 1905; Enghien-les-Bains, where Mistinguett grew up; Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett performing together
the blink of an eye. As a single mother in her 30s with a young son to care for, Mistinguett had more responsibilities and burdens to bear than Chevalier did, yet they became closer than either could have imagined. After he reportedly warded off her ex in a street fi ght, the pair offi cially became lovers. For several years, the glamorous duo enjoyed their new status as highly sought- after celebrities, but then disaster struck in the form of the First World War. Chevalier, who was part way through his National Service, found himself on the front line. Later recounting his memoirs to journalist Percy Cudlipp, he lamented that the confl ict had meant “putting aside” his stage ambitions
THE TRAUMA OF WAR Chevalier was hauled off to a prisoner of war camp, where he spent two years and four months. Undaunted, Mistinguett stepped in to save the day – a risky manoeuvre that almost proved fatal for them both.
She embarked on a perilous rescue mission to save her man, but ended up walking a tight-rope between two warring countries. During her deadly, dangerous escapades, she secretly offered her services as a spy to both France and Germany – and ended up almost being executed by both. The French detained her and threatened to kill her after she was mistakenly identifi ed as Mata Hari, and after she’d wriggled her way out of that one, her fake collaboration with the Germans almost saw her meet her untimely death too. Finally, she discovered an admirer in Spanish King Alfonso XIII – and he struck a clandestine deal that would lead to Chevalier’s release. As someone who had both British and Germany ancestry, Alfonso XIII was the
back to health, loyally telling venues she wouldn’t perform unless he was on the billing by her side. Although she’d made the ultimate sacrifi ce and risked her life for him, her heart broke all over again when, eventually, she realised they were drifting apart. By 1918, he’d started an affair with another woman and Mistinguett had lost the love of her life for good. Despite the pain of betrayal, she never regretted helping him in the spirit of friendship – and both went on to achieve giddy heights in their careers individually. Mistinguett became the highest paid female performer Paris had ever known, eventually dying at 82 in 1956. In her obituary, Jean Cocteau paid tribute to her “husky, trailing voice of the Paris people”. Meanwhile, Chevalier became a household name around the globe. After his death aged 83 in 1972, Newsweek wrote “as effervescent as vintage champagne, as durable as the Eiffel Tower… [he] easily lived up to his billing as The Most Popular Frenchman In The World”. FT
Aug/Sep 2022 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 61
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