Paris Noir (37 page)

*
  
Vel' d'Hiv

The Velodrome d'Hiver‚ an enclosed stadium on Rue Nélaton near the Quai de Grenelle in the 15th arrondissement‚ built in 1910 for track cycle racing. An annual six-day non-stop cycling event‚ in which pairs of riders competed (one cycling while the other rested)‚ attracted huge numbers of spectators. The Vel' d'Hiv has become notorious for the round-up‚ carried out by French police on the 16th and 17th of July 1942‚ of thousands of Jews who were held in the stadium before being deported. Most died at Auschwitz. The stadium was demolished in 1959. In July 1994‚ a national commemoration day was instituted‚ and in 1995 President Jacques Chirac spoke officially of the nation's collective responsibility for the deportation of French Jews.

*
  
Mosul

City in Iraq that at one time fell within the ancient Persian empire‚ but has never been part of Persia‚ or Iran‚ proper.

*
  
La Goulue

The French cancan dancer Louise Weber (1870–1929)‚ who performed at the Moulin Rouge 1890–95‚ until she became too overweight‚ owes her nickname (meaning ‘the Glutton') to her enormous appetite. The subject of a number of works by Toulouse- Lautrec‚ she ended up alone and destitute‚ and died at Lariboisière Hospital.

*
  
Moulin Rouge

Charles Zidler opened this celebrated nightclub at 90 Boulevard de Clichy in 1889.

*
  
Valentin the Contortionist

The stage name of Etienne Renaudin (1843–1907)‚ who was La Goulue's dance partner at the Moulin Rouge‚ and featured in works by Toulouse-Lautrec.

*
  
Edward VII

Eldest son (1841–1910) of Queen Victoria‚ he succeeded to the throne in 1901. As Prince of Wales‚ he was known for his racy lifestyle and numerous mistresses. In
God's Fifth Column: a biography of the age: 1890–1940
‚ William Gerhardie writes of ‘the frigid silence which greeted [Edward VII] as he drove through Paris on his arrival. “They don't seem to like us‚” said his companion. “Why should they?” said the King. But he liked French ways and French cooking. And when on the fifth day of his stay he drove to the station through Paris‚ the crowds‚ this time‚ cheered him.' As Gerhardie puts it‚ Edward VII ‘liked to swing a loose leg in Paris'.

*
  
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

Severely crippled by a congenital bone disease‚ Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) found models for his paintings among the dancers‚ actresses‚ and artistes in the world of Parisian entertainment to which he was drawn. He had his own table at the Moulin Rouge and at various times lived in a brothel. When La Goulue left the Moulin Rouge‚ he decorated the fairground stall she had at the Trône Fair on what is now Place de la Nation. He was a friend and advocate of Van Gogh‚ an admirer of Oscar Wilde and James Whistler‚ whom he met in London‚ and was greatly influenced by Japanese prints.

*
  
Rocher de Cancale

A restaurant at 78 Rue Montorgueil‚ the successor to an earlier and very successful restaurant by the same name at no.59 that features in several of Balzac's novels. (The actual Rocher de Cancale is a rock formation that stands in the sea off the Britanny port of Cancale‚ famous for its oysters‚ for which the original restaurant too was celebrated.)

*
  
Gavarni

Lithographer and painter (1804–1866)‚ who specialized in genre scenes.

*
  
Karel Kapek

Czech writer (1890–1938)‚ anti-Nazi and anti-communist‚ credited with inventing the word ‘robot' and author of the anti- technology play
RUR
‚ he explored many themes taken up by later science-fiction writers and wrote pieces for Czech puppeteers‚ who were persecuted by the Nazis for their underground opposition.

*
  
three knocks

A theatrical tradition dating back to Roman times‚ whereby it is signalled to the audience with three knocks on the boards that the performance is about to begin.

*
  
Frères humains qui après nous vivez

This is the first line of Villon's ‘Epitaph'‚ or ‘Ballad of the Gallows-Birds'.

*
  
Val-de-Grâce

A military hospital‚ formerly a Benedictine convent founded in the 17th century by Anne of Austria‚ at 1 Place Alphonse-Laveran on Rue St-Jacques in the 5th arrondissement.

*
  
Pre-war Jewish films

Yiddle with his Fiddle
‚ Poland‚ 1936‚ a musical written and directed by Joseph Green‚ starring Molly Picon;
The Yiddish King Lear
‚ USA‚ 1935‚ adapted from a play by Jacob Gordin‚ directed by Harry Thomashefsky;
The Dybbuk
‚ Poland‚ 1937‚ based on the play by Sholem Ansky‚ directed by Michael Waszynski.

*
  
Etienne Boilève

Etienne Boilève (also Boislève‚ or Boileau) was appointed Provost of Paris by Louis IX in 1254. He won a reputation for zeal and integrity‚ as Joinville recorded in his
Life of St Louis
. Boilève was responsible for
Le Livre des Métiers
(Book of Trades)‚ a compilation of the rules and regulations governing all the merchant guilds authorized to trade in the city of Paris.

*
  
Dagobert's Tower

At 18 Rue Chanoinesse‚ a fifteenth-century structure that served the old port of St Landry‚ named after Dagobert I‚ a Merovingian king who ruled 623–639.

*
  
Pope Clement VI in Avignon

After the election of a Frenchman as Pope Clement V in 1305‚ the papacy settled at Avignon. This was the beginning of what is referred to as the Babylonian Exile. Clement VI was Pope 1342–52.

In 1376‚ Gregory XI returned to Rome‚ where he died. The election of an Italian successor‚ Urban VI‚ led to a schism in the church‚ with Robert of Geneva elected contemporaneously as Pope Clement VII residing in Avignon‚ which had been made over to Clement VI by the Angevin Queen Giovanna I of Naples in 1348.

*
  
Hubains‚ Coquillards‚ Francs-Mitous‚ Piètres

See note p.272 on
Rifodés
and
Malingreux
‚ ch.ix‚ p.148.

*
  
Mont-Fêtard

Supposedly one of the interim deformations of Mons Cetardus‚ the origin of Mouffetard.

*
  
Oléron

Island to the south of La Rochelle‚ off the west coast of France.

*
  
Kirity-Penmarc'h

Important fishing port on the Penmarc'h peninsula to the south- west of Quimper in Brittany.

*
  
De profundis clamavi‚ Domine‚ Domine… Fiant aures tuae intendentes in vocem …

Out of the deep have I called unto thee‚ O Lord: Lord hear my voice./ O let thine ears consider well: the voice of my complaint … Psalm CXXX.

*
  Lazare

Dictionnaire administratif et historique des rues de Paris et de ses monuments
‚ Felix and Louis Lazare‚ Paris‚ 1844‚ 2nd ed. 1855.

*
  
Jehan Augier

From 1268 to1276‚ Jehan Augier was head of the ancient guild of merchant shippers an extremely powerful body in the early history of Paris‚ whose Provost was known until the late fourteenth century as the Prévôt des Marchands d'Eau and effectively acted as head of the City Council‚ based from the mid-14th century in what was to become known as the Hôtel de Ville.