La Goulue

The Queen of the Cancan !

Louise Weber, alias La Goulue (The Glutton), got her nickname in her adolescence when she would empty customers’ glasses while dancing in cabarets. Passionate about the dance from an early age, she strutted her stuff in dance halls until Monsieur Oller decided to hire her for the Grand Quadrille.

The story has it that one evening when she was dancing a frenetic cancan, between two cartwheels she spotted the Prince of Wales, who had come to spend an evening on his own at the Moulin Rouge, and called out, with the Parisian cheek for which she was well-known: ‘Hey, Wales! The Champagne’s on you?

La Goulue was also known for not mincing words, which was not appreciated by all her cancan partners, and which cave rise to spats with the ‘very distinguished’ Jane Avril.

But this doesn’t detract from her title of ‘Queen of the Cancan’, and she remains the symbol of the quadrille and Parisian sensuality.

Valentin
Le Désossé

The man in the quadrille

The memory of this rubber man with the elongated silhouette is shrouded in mystery. He was a dancer who, according to legend, danced more than 39,962 waltzes, 27,220 quadrilles, 14,966 polkas and mazurkas and 1000 lanciers, for a total of 83,112 performances on the stage of the Moulin Rouge! The son of a notary clerk, Valentin was ‘high class,’ as his quadrille partner, La Goulue, used to say. He danced at the Moulin Rouge for his own pleasure, and his behaviour was as straight as his figure: he never accepted a single cent for appearing in the show that le tout Paris flocked to see.

He disappeared suddenly one day without a trace, and no one has ever found out what became of him.

Jane Avril

Not only a pair of legs…

She was the cancan soloist and the only one with the right to wear coloured petticoats, but behind her apparent exuberance, which would earn her the nickname of ‘Crazy Jane’, or ‘Melinite’ (an explosive), Jane Avril was a refined woman about whom it was said that ‘she was a schoolmistress who had fallen in with a rowdy crowd’.
Jane Avril was the toughest rival of La Goulue, with whom she constantly vied for the status of star!

Joseph Oller

The founder of the Moulin Rouge

Joseph Oller created the Moulin Rouge. An audacious perfectionist, his ambition was to create ‘the biggest and most beautiful of cabarets; a temple dedicated to Woman, the Dance and the Cancan.’ It was a bet that paid off for this businessman bursting with ideas, who was willing to risk everything by opening the Moulin Rouge on the specific date of 6 October 1889 at 8.00pm on the dot, even when the extensive works that he had undertaken were not yet completely finished. The magic was there from the first evening, the hall was packed, and the charm has never ceased to be present in this magical place, which has become one of the most prominent symbols of France and the most famous cabaret in the world!

Charles Zidler

The co-founder of the Moulin Rouge, a man both wise and creative

Charles Zidler was a showman who joined the Moulin Rouge in 1889 to help Oller out. He was both a ‘brother’ to the artists and the man in the shadows who watched over the dancers and the rest of the personnel with a benevolent eye and ruled with an iron fist.
He stayed at Joseph Oller’s side for almost three years before leaving the cabaret due to, as rumour had it, ‘management problems’ and ‘conflicts between personnel and artists due to the temperament of the director.’ An official communiqué from the cabaret’s management at Place Blanche mentioned ‘health problems’.
He was in fact ill, and died on 12 November 1897. Oller, a good sport, closed the doors of the establishment for the first time ever so that the dancers could accompany him one last time as he went to his final resting place.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The eyes of the Moulin Rouge

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, born in Albi, a small village in the south of France, was in love with Montmartre. Lautrec, a victim from infancy of a disease that punished his bones day and night and arrested the growth of his legs, making him short and deformed, found relief in the cafés of Montmartre!
It was in these cafés that he met his muse, La Goulue. When the Moulin Rouge arrived on the scene he attended the show every evening, drawing the dancers and customers from the corner of a table, accompanied by his eternal glass of absinthe!
He was a privileged witness to the life of the Moulin Rouge, since he was the pet of the cancan dancers, who dubbed him ‘the little guy!’.
In 1891, he drew the first advertising poster for the Moulin Rouge, which today remains the best known image of the Moulin Rouge around the world.
He painted Montmartre, the cancan and the Moulin Rouge and, thanks to his canvasses, enabled a whole village to experience immortality!

Jean Gabin

The tough guy with a heart of gold

As a child, Jean only dreamed of one thing: trains! He wanted to be train driver and tame those great iron horses. He spent long hours watching them at the village station, to the great displeasure of his father, who only dreamed of one thing: an artistic career for his son. Employing an ingenious stratagem, Jean Gabin’s father dragged him along to the Folies-Bergères pretending that he had an invitation to a show. While the young man was absorbed in the contemplation of the formidable backstage machinery, his father approached the stage manager and asked him to try his son out as an extra because ‘he wanted to be in the theatre.
So Jean Gabin began his stage career as an extra, which he spoke of, with the Parisian cheek for which he was known, as: ‘Playing lampposts in the distance.’
It was on the stage of the Moulin Rouge that Jean Gabin was revealed to the public alongside Mistinguett, who hired him for his resemblance to Maurice Chevalier (who she simply couldn’t forget) in the review ‘Paris qui tourne’!

Mistinguett

Miss Music-Hall

Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, born in Enghien-les-Bains, on the outskirts of Paris, was the daughter of a labourer and a seamstress. She was searching for a vocation and a stage name (she tried out Miss Helyett and Miss Tinguett) when one day she met Jacques-Charles, who was, so to speak, the ‘father of the modern revue,’ and everything changed.
This artistic duo would profoundly change the world of show business, and together, on the stage of the Moulin Rouge, they would begin the legend of Music Hall. Starting in 1907, Mistinguette dropped the final ‘e’ and became Mistinguett ‘the woman with the divine legs.’ They performed the Apache Dance together with Max Dearly in 1909 and then created spectacular revues one after another for almost 30 years, with feathers, tinsel, glitter and chorus girls and boys. A concept which still rules at the Moulin Rouge!

Edith Piaf

The Sparrow

Edith Giovanna Gassion was born on 19 December 1915 in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. She was the daughter of a contortionist and a street singer. As a child, little Edith accompanied her father on the streets and sang while he did his act.
Edith got her break on a street corner when she was noticed by Louis Leplée, who gave her the name of ‘Môme Piaf’ (the Sparrow Kid).
She took flight little by little in French cabaret until she eventually arrived on stage at the Moulin Rouge in the spring of 1944, where she fell in love with Yves Montand, who she would later propel to fame.
‘Mon légionnaire’, ‘L’hymne à l’amour’, Milord’ and ‘La vie en rose’ are songs which will forever remain in the mind and hearts of generations the world over.

Yves Montand

The crooner and his ladies

It was a few days before the liberation that the handsome ‘Zazous’ arrived at the Moulin Rouge to open for the great Edith Piaf. The Grande Dame of French song immediately fell under the spell of this dark, good-looking Italian, in spite of his peculiar look: chequered jacket, unruly hair and western repertoire. She saw in him a genuine future Music-Hall star. So she took Yves Montand under her wing and introduced him to the authors and important people of the world of show business so he could find his style!
So she took Yves Montand under her wing and introduced him to the authors and important people of the world of show business so he could find his style!
It paid off when you look at the career of this great man, who has been, by turns, a singer, dancer and actor.

Line Renaud

The legs

This woman with the piercing blue eyes came from a small town in the north of France. She began her career singing the compositions of Loulou Gasté. She also fell in love with him, although he was 20 years her senior. They married in 1950, and she would never stop loving him for the rest of her life, even after his death in 1995.
In 1954, she was billed at the Moulin Rouge for 4 months, entirely sold out! One evening, the great American comic, Bob Hope, who was in the audience, was captivated by her talent and proposed that she become his partner in the US.
Line Renaud appeared in theatres in France and internationally (New-York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, etc.) where she was by turns a singer, dancer, MC, comedienne and TV presenter. She wholeheartedly embraced a career which she pursues to this day with talent and dedication.

Colette

A whiff of scandal

Sidonie Gabrielle Colette was born on 28 January 1873, the daughter of Sidonie Landoy and Captain Colette. She had a happy childhood, pampered by her parents, who considered her to be ‘the family jewel.
An experienced novelist, Colette began her career in Music Hall in 1906 and performed on the stage of the Moulin Rouge alongside her friend Missy, aka the Marquise de Morny.

A performance by the two of a pantomime called ‘Egyptian Dream’, quite avant-garde for the time, finished to the boos of an outraged public. The following day, the Chief of Police in person threatened to close the cabaret if the ‘Egyptian Dream’ was performed again. What was all the fuss about? A long kiss between the two artistes…