French postcard by C. Jeangette éd., Paris. Card mailed in 1906.
French postcard in the Series Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles by S.I.P. Photo: Reutlinger. Caption: To avoid being fragile, let us drink Désiles wine.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, in the series Les Reines de la Mode, no. 3849. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: Théâtre des Capucines.
Alternating plays with operettas
Little is known about beautiful Renée Desprez. She was born Célina Paganel in 1877. The earliest notices of her, according to Gallica, were of her singing at the Casino in Grenoble and at the Eldorado in Roanne in 1898 and at the Casino in Lyon in 1899. The magazine L'Art lyrique noted on 11 December 1898 about her: 'She has a fine voice, but those gestures!'
Yet, Paris soon called, and from 1900 she worked at the Palais-Royal theatre, the first of a long list of venues. Desprez performed in Paris both at prose theatres such as the Palais-Royal, Théâtre du Gymnase, Théâtre de la Renaissance, and Théâtre des Nouveautés.
She acted in prose plays by Alfred Capus, such as 'Les Deux Écoles' (1902) and 'Monsieur Piégeois' (1905) and by Paul Gavault, who later became the most important scenarist for the company Film d'Art.
She alternated these plays with operettas composed by Claude Terrasse and written by the popular stage duo De Flers & Cavaillet, such as 'Les Travaux d'Hercule' (1901) and 'Pâris ou le bon juge' (1906).
She also performed at operetta houses such as Bouffes Parisiens, Variétés, and Capucines. Outside of Paris, she would perform, e.g. at the Alcazar in Vichy. Around 1911-1912, Desprez even appeared at the Theatre Michel in St. Petersburg in Pierre Wolf's play 'Les Marionettes' (1911) and in 'Bonne Maison' by Gandrey & Clerc (1912).
French postcard, no. 102. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., no. 143. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1099. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1151. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1153. Photo: Reutlinger. Design by E. M.
Promoting fashion houses
Renée Desprez was so popular that her photographs were used to promote fashion houses such as Agnès, Lewis, Noirat and Dœuillet. Around 1900, her photos by Reutlinger were used for countless postcards by such publishers as S.I.P.
As far as is known, Desprez only acted in three silent films: Les Lois du monde / The Laws of the World (Fanny Liona, 1917) starring Jean Yonnel, L'Équipe / The Team (Maurice Lagrenée, 1922), based on the novel by Francis Carco, and Cœur léger / Weak Heart (Robert Saidreau, 1923) starring Pierre Etchepare.
Notre Cinéma notes about her director Maurice Lagrenée: "In 1922, he directed L'Équipe / The Team, a filmed version of a novel by Francis Carco, a vision of the underbelly of the capital with poignant encounters with prostitutes, drug addicts, racketeers of all kinds. The film was successful as a social drama, but it was not a box office success.
After the First World War, Desprez performed on stage in e.g. 'Arlequin' by Maurice Magre (Théâtre Apollo, 1921), and 'Le Baiser d’Aphrodite' by Grace Constant-Lounsbery (1922). Then her film and stage career stopped.
Renée Desprez died in 1960 and was buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. She was 83. She is not to be confused with actress and author Suzanne Desprès (1875-1951).
French postcard by KF éditeurs d'art, no. S.2191. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: Théâtre des Capucines.
French postcard, no. 2268. Phot: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1416. Photo: Paul Boyer, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., in the series Les Enseignes, no. 1560. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P., no. 135/6. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
Sources: Sources: Père Lachaise, Notre Cinéma, Gallica (French), Les Archives du Spectacle (French), Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.
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