No Regrets - Carolyn Burke [137]
11 a lushly orchestrated ballad: Emer wrote “Si tu partais” for Piaf after she told him of her “platonic” affair with Horn, according to Bret (p. 68).
12 “We’re street kids”: Charles Aznavour, Le Temps des avants, p. 120.
13 “I wasn’t in love”: Ibid., p. 122.
14 “her sense of humor”: Ginou Richer, Mon Amite Edith Piaf, p. 20.
15 “When you’ve been singing”: EP, Au bal, p. 128.
16 “fervor” was justified: G. Joly, “Edith Piaf à l’Etoile,” Aurore, Sept. 10, 1947, in Marchois, Piaf: Emportée, p. 49.
17 “She didn’t just sing”: Freedland, in William Laurent, Edith Piaf, p. 69.
18 “I don’t do things”: EP, Au bal, p. 129.
19 “during the war”: Louis Calta, “Edith Piaf Bows to Rialto Tonight,” New York Times, Oct. 30, 1947, p. 31.
20 “no sequins”: Lester Bernstein, “The Perils of Piaf,” New York Times, Oct. 26, 1947, p. X3.
21 “a quality that I find commendable”: EP, Au bal, p. 134.
22 “What a marvelous country”: EP to JB, Oct. 25, 1947.
23 “of the kind encountered”: George Jean Nathan, “Edith Piaf and Company,” in Theater Book of the Year, 1947–1948, pp. 124–25.
24 “She is a genuine artist”: Brooks Atkinson, “At the Theatre,” New York Times, Oct. 31, 1947, p. 30.
25 “syrupy melodies”: EP, Au bal, p. 123.
26 “I’ve had enough”: EP to JB, Nov. 4, 1947.
27 “the art of the chansonnière”: Virgil Thompson, “La Môme Piaf,” New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 9, 1947, Sec. V, p. 6.
28 “brightened up her repertory”: “Lugubrious Mama,” New Yorker, Nov. 15, 1947, pp. 26–27.
29 “She had us mesmerized”: Jeanne McDonagh interview with the author, Oct. 15, 2007.
30 “quaint but understandable”: Nerin E. Gun quoted in EP, Au bal, pp. 133–34.
31 “She said that she was dying”: Bonel and Bonel, pp. 234–35.
32 “we both have to make our names”: EP to JB, New York, Jan. 5, 1948.
33 “She was for ever calling herself”: Dietrich quoted in Bret, p. 73.
34 “When she saw me downcast”: EP, Au bal, p. 137.
35 “Men treated me”: EP, in France Dimanche [n.d.], quoted in Bret, pp. 73–74.
36 “Edith Piaf has won”: “Edith Piaf a conquis Broadway,” Ce Soir, Feb. 2, 1948.
CHAPTER TEN • 1948–1949
1 “conquered the American public”: M.M., in Le Matin, March 13, 1948, in Marchois, Piaf: Emportée, p. 52.
2 “I’ve felt all sorts”: EP quoted in Robert Bré, “Merci, Marcel, tu es un grand bonhomme,” Paris-Presse, March 16, 1948, quoted in Grimault and Mahé, pp. 108–9.
3 “With Marcel”: Quoted in Mella, p. 154.
4 “I worshipped him”: EP, Ma vie, p. 44.
5 “Just look at her”: Quoted in Jacques Marchand, “L’Affaire Cerdan,” L’Evénement, April 12, 1983, p. 4.
6 “with things that aren’t too complicated”: EP to JB, n.d.
7 “When I went outside”: EP, quoted in Duclos and Martin, p. 277.
8 “Since his return”: France Dimanche, May 30, 1948.
9 “Oh, the bastards”: EP quoted in Grimault and Mahé, p. 123. Piaf summoned the journalist she suspected of writing the article to her apartment, where Cerdan punched him after he admitted his guilt.
10 “the perfect couple”: Edmonde Charles-Roux interview with the author, June 12, 2008.
11 “best propaganda for France”: Pierre de Gaulle quoted in Grimault and Mahé, p. 148.
12 “Easy on the sex”: Lucien Roupp quoted in ibid., p. 146.
13 “The only thing”: EP to JB, Aug. 31, 1948.
14 “Voici M’sieur Cerdan”: Herbert Mitgang, “Moroccan Bombardier,” New York Times, Sept. 12, 1948.
15 “Come on, Tony”: EP quoted in Grimault and Mahé, pp. 165–66. See also “Cerdan Captures World Middleweight Title by Knocking Out Zale in Twelfth,” New York Times, Sept. 22, 1948, Sports, p. 41.
16 “Marcel had never felt”: Grimault and Mahé, pp. 170–71.
17 “Hello champ!”: Ibid., p. 174.
18 “Like Marcel she wore”: Gaston Firnin-Guyon quoted in “Edith et Marcel aux ‘States’: La Fête,” Les Nouvelles littéraires, April 7–13, 1983, p. 20.
19 “the happiest moment”: EP, Ma vie, p. 59.
20 “I love him”: EP to JB, Oct. 1, 1948.
21 “there are times”: EP to JB, Oct. 8, 1948.
22 “literally obsessed”: EP to JB, Oct. 12, 1948.
23 “dark thoughts”: EP to JB, Nov. 1, 1948.
24 “I’m going to have him”: EP to JB, Nov. 15,