No Regrets - Carolyn Burke [133]
6 Gerny’s portly impresario was himself a habitué: Alternative versions of Piaf’s discovery, as unverifiable as the “official” one, have been proposed by some biographers. Brierre quotes a Montmartre regular’s claim that his mother, a performer at le Gerny’s, took Edith there to meet Leplée (p. 27); P’tit Louis told David Bret that one of Edith’s hoodlum lovers, who was “knocking off” Leplée because of his homosexuality, engineered their meeting in order to “screw Edith for more money” (pp. 14–15). I see no reason not to adopt Piaf’s account, which is confirmed by Berteaut and upheld by most of the singer’s biographers (including Margaret Crosland, Duclos and Martin, and Hugues Vassal): it has the merit of presenting Edith Gassion’s “rebirth” as La Môme Piaf from her own perspective.
7 “the tender blue”: EP, Au bal, p. 34.
8 “I put all my heart”: EP, ibid., p. 38.
9 “I was baptized”: Ibid., p. 40. Un piaf also suggests piaffer, the action of a horse stamping its feet, and piaffer d’impatience, pawing the ground with impatience or enthusiasm.
10 “I was dressed”: Ibid.
11 “Her voice overwhelmed”: Ibid., p. 42.
12 “That kid”: Ibid., p. 44.
13 “You really had them”: Ibid.
14 “When I think”: Ibid., pp. 47, 48.
15 “ ’Chand d’habits” (slang for marchand d’habits, old-clothes salesman), drew on the cries of the rapidly disappearing street merchants.
16 “I felt that I was on the path”: EP, Au bal, p. 56.
17 “I felt a sense of compassion”: Jacques Canetti, On cherche jeune homme aimant la musique, p. 65.
18 “a singer who lives”: “Au Gerny’s,” Petit Parisien, Nov. 1935, reprinted in Bernard Marchois, Piaf: Emportée par la foule, p. 9. The reporter recognized in Piaf’s songs the nostalgic poetics found in Francis Carco’s novels of the lower depths, Jésus-la-Caille (1914) and its sequel, Les Malheurs de Fernande (1918). On this tradition in relation to Piaf, see Adrian Rifkin, Street Noises.
19 “embarrassed at being”: Pierre de Regnier, “Toujours au Gerny’s,” n.d., reprinted in Marchois, Piaf: Emportée, p. 9.
20 “She was relaxed”: Canetti, p. 69.
21 “He was a simple”: Maillet, p. 110. In Ma vie, Piaf calls the sailor Pierrot.
22 “incapable of forgiving”: EP, Ma vie, p. 25.
23 “she had difficulty”: Maillet, p. 111.
24 in letters the same size: EP, Au bal, p. 55.
25 “How can I describe”: Ibid., p. 60.
26 “The man in the street”: Marcel Montarron, “Les Quatre Tueurs,” Détective, April 16, 1936, pp. 2–3.
27 “I had to say”: Éclair-Journal quoted in Brierre, pp. 35–36.
28 “She died eight months”: Marcel Montarron, “La Môme Piaf,” Voilà, April 18, 1936, p. 6.
29 “I might as well”: EP, Au bal, pp. 62–63.
30 “If she’s good”: Ibid., p. 64.
31 as Piaf’s “demon”: Berteaut quoted in Duclos and Martin, p. 116.
32 “She was attentive”: JB quoted in ibid., pp. 109–10.
33 “She never even thought”: Ibid., p. 114.
34 “I’m no longer with Jeannot”: EP to JB, Aug. 5, 1936.
35 “an impossible dump”: Berteaut, p. 79.
36 “She was a wild thing”: Asso quoted in Duclos and Martin, p. 125.
37 “devilish girl”: Asso quoted in ibid., p. 120.
38 “My situation wasn’t great”: EP, Au bal, p. 65.
39 “I’ve been doing a lot”: EP quoted in Asso, Marchois, Edith Piaf: Opinions, p. 15.
40 “I was saved”: EP, Au bal, p. 66.
CHAPTER FIVE • 1937–1939
1 “It took him three”: EP, Ma vie, p. 32.
2 “could she submit”: Asso quoted in Duclos and Martin, p. 125.
3 “to facet her”: Asso, in Marchois, Edith Piaf: Opinions, p. 14.
4 “Distorting the words”: Asso quoted in Duclos and Martin, p. 125.
5 “My work was”: Asso quoted in Brierre, p. 43.
6 “Now do you understand”: EP, Radio Europe 1 broadcast, 1961, quoted in Crosland, p. 60.
7 “astonishing progress”: Le Figaro, April 1, 1937.
8 “The frail street flower”: Paris-Soir, April 3, 1937, reprinted in Marchois, Piaf: Emportée, p. 11.
9 “the voice of revolt”: Henri Jeanson quoted in Duclos and Martin, p. 133.
10 “Here is the miraculous”: Maurice Verne, L’Intransigeant, quoted in ibid., p. 132. Piaf liked Verne’s piece so much that she included it in Au bal (pp.