22 February 2020

New acquisitions: Nos artistes dans leurs expressions

We love the Nos artistes dans leur loge series with postcards of French artists in their dressing rooms, and in the past, EFSP did two posts on the series. The publisher, the newspaper Comoedia published also another, less known postcard series on French film and stage artists: Nos artistes dans leurs expressions.  Lately we found some sepia-tinted postcards of the series. They offer a fascinating view of French comedians and character actors of the 1920s, often forgotten stars of the Music-halls and Café-concerts. And, which expression is your favourite?

Cora Laparcerie
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Edit. Art de Comoedia, no. 7. Photo: Comoedia.

Marie-Caroline Laparcerie, better known as Cora Laparcerie (1875-1951), was an actress, poetess and French theatre director.

Abel Tarride
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Edit. Art de Comoedia, no. 13. Photo: Comoedia.

Abel Tarride (1865-1951) was a French stage and screen actor and playwright, best known for his interpretation of Commissioner Maigret in the film Le Chien jaune (1932), made by his son Jean Tarride. Tarride first had a rich career as stage actor and playwright between the 1880s and the 1920s. He was also manager of the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris after Sarah Bernhardt and Lucien Guitry, and also managed the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens and the Théâtre des Mathurins, and was also involved in the Théâtre national de l'Odéon and the Théâtre de l'Apollo. With the actress Marthe Regnier he had two sons, the future director Jean Tarride and the future actor Jacques Tarride. In the 1930s Tarride had an active career in French sound cinema, after incidental screen performances in the 1920s.

Robert Hasti
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Edit. Art de Comoedia, no. 19. Photo: Comoedia.

French actor and painter Robert Hasti (1880-1956) or simply 'Hasti' appeared in a dozen French films of the 1920s and 1930s.

Louis Baron fils
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1016.

Louis Bouchêne, known as Louis Baron, fils or just Baron fils (1870-1939), was an actor and singer, who performed in many operettas and comédie-musicales, and also in some 50 films between 1910 et 1938. He was the son of Louis Baron often associated with the works of Jacques Offenbach.

Pelissier
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1017.

On basis of the French site Gallica, we can conclude that Pelissier (?-?) must have had his breakthrough around 1910 at the Eldorado, soon rivalling Dranem, Boucot and Tramel. He was between the mid-1910s and the mid-1920s a highly popular Parisian music-hall comedian, performing at e.g. La Cigale, Olympia, Moulin-Rouge, Concert Mayol, and above all the Eldorado and the Ambassadeurs.

Tramel
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leurs expressions series by Paris sur Scène, no. 1018. Photo: Comoedia.

Félicien Tramel (1880-1948) was a French singer and actor. Tramel made more than 30 78’s at Odeon with such hits as 'T'en fais pas Bouboule' (Do not worry Bouboule) and 'Y me faut mon patelin' (I miss my hometown). Between 1911 and 1947 he played in dozens of films. In a series of silent and sound comedies Tramel starred as the character Alfred Bicard or Le Bouif.

Firmin Gémier
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1019.

Firmin Gémier (1869-1933) was actor, director and theatre manager at the French stage, promoter of the Théâtre populaire and founder of the first Théâtre national populaire (Paris 1920). He also acted in French silent and sound cinema of the 1910s to the 1930s.

Charles Le Bargy
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1020. Charles Le Bargy in the play 'Le Duel' by Lavedan.

Charles Le Bargy (1858-1936) was already a famous stage actor in his time, performing at the Comedie Française, when he debuted in film as the perfidious King Henry III in L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise (1908).

Georges Biscot
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1024.

Georges Biscot (1886-1945) was a popular French music-hall and revue singer and actor, who also knew a career in the French silent and sound cinema.

Bach
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1025.

Bach (1882-1953) was a popular French actor, singer and music hall performer. During the 1930s, he was the king of the Comique Troupier (coarse comedy).

Georgé
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1041.

Georgé (1880-1969), born Ernest Georgé, was a French stage and screen actor, who played in 16 films between 1920 and 1948. While his debut was in the fantasy film Asmodée à Paris (1921), the next year he had the title role in Le Noël du père Lathuile (1922) by Pierre Colombier.

Georges Colin
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scène, no. 1044.

Georges Colin (1880-1945) was a French actor, who appeared in nearly 40 silent and sound films between 1909 and 1945.

Marcel Lévesque
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leurs expressions series by Paris sur Scene, no. 1047.

Marcel Lévesque (1877-1962) was a French actor and scriptwriter who excelled in French silent and sound comedies but also played memorable parts in the crime serials by Louis Feuillade and in Jean Renoir’s Le crime de Monsieur Lange (1936).

Gabriel Signoret
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions' by Paris sur Scene , no. 1049.

Gabriel Signoret aka Signoret (1878-1937) was a French actor and director who played in some 85 films, mostly silent ones.

Maurice Chevalier
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions', no. 1051. Photo: Comoedia.

Maurice Chevalier (1988-1972) was a French actor, singer and entertainer. His trademark was a casual straw hat, which he always wore on stage with a cane and a tuxedo.

Fortugé
French postcard in the series 'Nos artistes dans leurs expressions', no. 1053. Photo: Comoedia.

Fortugé (1887-1923) was a French artist, who was a popular Music-hall and Café-concert singer before and after World War I. He recorded several of his comic songs for Pathé Frères. His early death made an end to his successful career.

Paul Mounet
French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leurs expressions series, no. 1023. Photo: Paris sur scène. Paul Mounet in Par la vérité/By the truth (Maurice de Féraudy, Gaston Leprieur, 1917).

Paul Mounet (1847–1922), born Jean-Paul Sully, was a French stage and screen actor. Between 1908 and 1917, Mounet appeared in a number of silent films, mostly Film d'Art-like productions at the companies Le Film d'Art, Pathé and Eclipse.

And check out our posts on the 'Nos Artistes dans leur loge' series: Nos artistes dans leur loge (2012), New acquisitions: Nos artistes dans leur loge (2019) and New acquisitions: Nos artistes dans leur loge (2020).

Sources: Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

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