Germaine Roger

Germaine Roger (1910–1975) was a French actress, operetta singer and theatre director. She starred in several musical comedies of the 1930s.


French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques (CE), no. 100. Photo: Studio Arnal, Paris.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 99. Photo: Star*.


French postcard, no. 579.

The star of Vincent Scotto's film operettas

Germaine Roger was born Victoria Calixte Bousquet in 1910 in Marseille, France.

After winning a beauty contest in her home town in 1929, she was accepted as a light soprano at the Marseille Conservatoire. She made her Paris debut at the Gaîté-Lyrique.

She divided her time between the repertoire plays such as 'Mam'zelle Nitouche' and creations by Albert Willemetz, Josef Szulc, Georges van Parys, Louis Beydts and Maurice Yvain.

She also embarked on a film career. In 1932 she made her film debut in the musical comedy Coups de roulis/Tossing Ship (Jean de La Cour, 1932) starring Max Dearly. Another success was La mascotte/The Mascot (Léon Mathot, 1935) in which she starred opposite Lucien Baroux.

Germaine Roger was the star of the film adaptations of French composer Vincent Scotto's operettas such as Trois de la marine/Three Sailors (Charles Barrois, 1934) with Armand Bernard, Un de la Canebière (René Pujol, 1938), in which she performed 'Le Plus Beau Tango du monde', in a duet with Alibert, and Les Gangsters du Château d'If (René Pujol, 1939). Then, her film career halted.


French autograph card by Star Presse. The autograph is on the flip side.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 48. Photo: Star*.

The Parisian temple of Operetta

After the death of her husband Henri Montjoye in 1950, Germaine Roger succeeded him as director of the Gaîté-Lyrique, the Parisian temple of Operetta.

In the early 1920s, Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes danced here, and after World War II it was used for musical comedy. In the 1960s, attendance decreased, and Roger was forced to close in 1964 for financial reasons.

There were several attempts to find new uses for the building, culminating in 1989 in the construction of a short-lived amusement park, which resulted in the demolition of most of the theatre, except for the facade, entrance and foyer.

The latter was restored during a 2004 reconstruction that converted the building into an arts centre, La Gaîté Lyrique, completed in November 2010.

Germaine Roger died in 1975 in Savigny-sur-Orge.


French postcard by Editions P.I., La Garenne-Colombes, for S. Raphael. Photo: *Star.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 109. Photo: Roger Carlet.

Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.