Singer, Actress, Comedienne. She was a popular French performer for around 40 years. Drawn early to the stage, she studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art, but quickly turned to music. Patterning herself after Yvette Guilbert, she began singing in the small nightclubs and cabarets of Montmarte, and was soon headlining major venues such as the Babino of Montparnasse and the Casino de Paris, always performing her signature piece, "Mon legionnaire" by Raymond Assio and Marguerite Monott. Never losing her love for the stage, she was seen in "The Hidden Love Of Sacha Guitry and Andre Messager" (1923), and in several comedies and musicals over the years, including Jehan Rictus' "The Prayer Charlotte" (1933) and Tristan Bernard's 1949 "Le Petite Cafe". She continued singing, and as Guilbert has influenced her, she herself was to be a model for Edith Piaf. Marie toured the United States in 1939, but with the coming of war, her status as a Jew (of Polish heritage) made her a target for the Vichy government, despite her marriage to a nobleman serving in the French military. Detained by the Gestapo, Marie was exiled to Switzerland; returning after the conflict, she discovered that a sister and a nephew had been lost to the Nazis. During the 1950s, she tried her hand at films, and was seen in 1951's "Over the Waves" and the 1957 "A Night at the Moulin Rouge". Marie retired in 1958, and died after having had Parkinson's Disease for a number of years; some sources list her death date as March 12, 1972. Today, a good portion of her recorded legacy, including a 1936 rendition of "Mon legionnaire", is available on CD.
Singer, Actress, Comedienne. She was a popular French performer for around 40 years. Drawn early to the stage, she studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art, but quickly turned to music. Patterning herself after Yvette Guilbert, she began singing in the small nightclubs and cabarets of Montmarte, and was soon headlining major venues such as the Babino of Montparnasse and the Casino de Paris, always performing her signature piece, "Mon legionnaire" by Raymond Assio and Marguerite Monott. Never losing her love for the stage, she was seen in "The Hidden Love Of Sacha Guitry and Andre Messager" (1923), and in several comedies and musicals over the years, including Jehan Rictus' "The Prayer Charlotte" (1933) and Tristan Bernard's 1949 "Le Petite Cafe". She continued singing, and as Guilbert has influenced her, she herself was to be a model for Edith Piaf. Marie toured the United States in 1939, but with the coming of war, her status as a Jew (of Polish heritage) made her a target for the Vichy government, despite her marriage to a nobleman serving in the French military. Detained by the Gestapo, Marie was exiled to Switzerland; returning after the conflict, she discovered that a sister and a nephew had been lost to the Nazis. During the 1950s, she tried her hand at films, and was seen in 1951's "Over the Waves" and the 1957 "A Night at the Moulin Rouge". Marie retired in 1958, and died after having had Parkinson's Disease for a number of years; some sources list her death date as March 12, 1972. Today, a good portion of her recorded legacy, including a 1936 rendition of "Mon legionnaire", is available on CD.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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