Welcome to Red Poulaine's Musings. Here we hope to entertain and delight you with stories about the people and times from bygone eras and the vintage images that act as our windows into their times.
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Once, there was a poor and humble Georgian named Niko Pirosmani. He was a house painter, a painter of signs, and of simple pictures of people and animals that had in them a spark of magic to touch the hearts of his fellow Georgians.
One day a famous French actress on tour stopped for a bit in Tblisi, the town where Niko lived, and Niko fell in love. It was said that of all things this actress loved flowers, especially red roses, so Niko, being only a simple man, and feeling a desperate kind of passion, took all the money he had in this world, he sold all of his canvases, his brushes, everything he owned he sold, and with this money he bought red roses; thousands, perhaps a million of them, and he filled the public square beneath her hotel window with these brilliant flowers. A few old grandmothers say that they can still remember how, throughout Tblisi, on that day, the air was heavy with the perfume of those roses.
In the morning when the actress, whose name was Marguerite de Sevre, awakened, she looked out her window to find the morning sun shining down upon the thousands, perhaps a million, scarlet roses in the square below. Watching from a discreet distance, Niko saw her surprised smile, and wept for joy. Marguerite saw the flowers, but she did not see Niko.
Well, Marguerite de Sevre returned to Paris, back to the bright gaiety of her life there. But Niko, poor Niko, financially ruined by this one impulsive act, lived out the rest of his life alone and slowly died of liver failure and malnutrition.
Ah well, perhaps it is only a story.
The story became a folktale in the Soviet Union, and a popular song, "One Million Roses," was based upon it. This song remains a favorite with audiences today throughout Russia and other nations that were once part of the USSR.
We were fortunate enough to locate another De Sevre, as well as an image of Suzanne Derval posing in the same chair. These images will be available for purchase in our shop on Etsy in the very near future.
We were delighted to discover this wonderful silent movie footage of Renoir, as he paints. It appears that Renoir had a assistant who, similarly to a surgical assistant today, handed him his tools and cared for many of his needs while he painted. In this short clip, Renoir also chats with a man whose identity we do not know, but who might have been a client, patron, or friend.
For those of you who don't avidly watch every single Neo-Pagan horror movie ever exported from the UK since the 1940s, Summerisle is the fictional setting for the 1973 film, "The Wicker Man," which Christopher Lee (as he nearly always does), makes thoroughly worth seeing, in spite of almost everything else! :)
Anyway, leaving all that silliness aside, what a charming image! The lovely sepia tones, and less than perfectly clear resolution, only add to its hauntingly atmospheric allure. So sweet!
Right up until the moment one of those beautifully costumed young ladies, or that somewhat severe looking, while still rather sexy (in a kind of "dominant" way), boarding school headmistress, drops some hallucinogenic herbal tincture into your cup of Earl Grey tea, and they offer you up as a burnt sacrifice to ensure a bountiful harvest!!! Oh yeah! Like that's not going to happen!!!
***Please note*** severe looking, but still rather sexy, headmistress may not be visible in photograph, but is probably, even now, peering at you from behind a lace curtain in an upper story window.
This silent video footage from 1912 has been set to a recently-recorded musical score based on popular songs of that year. Panels displaying the lyrics of the music being played are interspersed with the video clips, and it's fun to note just how racy some of those lyrics are:
Turn off your light, Mister Moon Man,
Go and hide your light behind a cloud,
Can't you see that couples want to spoon, man,
Two is company and three's a crowd....
It's not entirely clear whether all of the clips are from the same location, but the double decker buses and brief glimpses of signage suggest that at least some of the clips were shot in England. At 3:33 white flags with a cross can be seen fluttering from windows in the background of the scene; while these might be Finland's national flag (white with a blue cross), they might also be displaying a red St. George's Cross on a white field, which although used by several nations, and even a number of municipalities, seems suggestive of England, once more, possibly in connection with a celebration of Saint George's Day.
There's a wonderful moment at 4:02 in which we see a man and woman selling flowers on a crowded street. The man sits on a curb, a bucket of flowers between his feet, and the woman appears to be braiding some of flowers.
While much of the footage is street scenes, there are also some delightful clips of women showing off their fashionable finery. Some of them seem to be on stage, either in performances or in fashion shows, but others are in more casual settings and some, especially the younger women, seem to be simply showing off for their friends. There are even a few women who are clearly acting as hat models, one of whom looks distinctly nervous, which utterly charmed us.
Pierrot's origins can be found in the Commedia dell'Arte, a 16th century theatrical movement of traveling players who performed (often with favorite "stock" characters) on temporary open air stages. The tragic opera Pagliacci(trans. players or clowns), by Ruggero Leoncavallo, premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892. It is a tale of travelling players and features a romantic triangle with a Pierrot-like clown, who betrayed by his wife and a Harlequin-like fellow performer resorts to murder.
For a real treat, check out this performance of what is probably the most well known aria in Pagliacci, "Vesti la giubba," sung by Luciano Pavarotti, one of the great tenors of our time.
It was probably in the late 17th century that an Italian troupe known as Comedie-Italienne, while performing in Paris, first introduced Pierrot to the French public.
Pierrot is often depicted as the sad clown, the ever trusting innocent, the sweet-natured soul, whose lover Colombine (sometimes called Colombinette or Colombina) betrays him with the wily Harlequin. But, with the popularity of pantomime, he often stood alone on the stage trying oh, so very hard to express his experience of life, without the words to do so.
SOLD Pierrot and Colombinette asleep on a crescent moon
By the late 1880s, with the dawning of la Belle Époque, Pierrot was to meet a new friend, Pierrette, who would vie with Colombine for his affections.
SOLD Lily Damita, in a Pierrette-like costume
Pierrot's image was a favorite of Jules Chéret, possibly the most successful commercial artist of the period. In the Fine Arts, the Impressionists, and Post-Impressionists were inspired by Pierrot.
It is not at all unusual to find wonderful photos and RPPCs (Real Photo Post Cards) of couples at Carnival, or fêtes, dressed as Pierrot and his ensemble. Sometimes, even whole families get into the act.
SOLD Pierrot plays the mandolin for his Colombine
SOLD Pierrot and family at a fête
Publishers of French postcards made successful use of Pierrot to create romantic, silly, and sometimes mysterious images to please the picture postcard buying public.
SOLD "Croissants de Lune"
We are so very fond of Pierrot, here at Red Poulaine, that he shares a section in our shop with another favorite of ours, Mignon. But, fair warning, when you find him in stock, if you are a collector, better grab him quickly, because he is a very popular character and, like the traveling players from whom he is descended, seldom stays long in one place.
Mignonwas an opéra comique written by Ambroise Thomas and first performed in Paris, in 1866. The opera was hugely popular, and its main character, a tragic Gypsy girl, set the public's imagination on fire.
SOLD Mignon, looking dreamy
With the advent of the picture postcard, images of Mignon flooded the European and UK markets. You will find Mignon with horses, toddler Mignon, infant Mignon, and one of my favorites, the Esquimaux Cat Mignon. Often, whole sets of several cards depicting scenes from the story were published.
The Australian dancer Saharet was born Clarissa (or Clarise) Rose Campbell in either Melbourne or Ballarat, in 1879.[1, 2] A talented and limber dancer known for her ability to do high kicks, "a reviewer described Saharet as an India rubber lady in her rendition of a dislocation dance."[1]
Beautiful and vivacious, she led a full and interesting life. We hope to share a more complete biographical post with our readers at some time in the future. Today, we are sharing this video of a 1905 silent film clip, showing Saharet dancing the Bolero.[3]
An interesting side note to the silent film clip shown in these videos is that it was directed by the Frenchwoman Alice Guy (married name Blanché), who was, according to IMDB, the first woman to become a film director.[4, 5]
Gorgeous soulful image of Miss Ivy Lillian Close. She was first Miss Britain of 1908, then a stage actress, then a silent film star in those very early days.
If you are a vintage photograph and postcard enthusiast, who shares our interest in Parisian music hall performers and their postcard images, you may have noticed a star in the bottom corner of some of your favorite postcards. This is the production mark of Monsieur G. Piprot, who operated a postcard production company out of number 2 Rue de l'Amsterdam in Paris. He made use of a process called emaillographie, which like the process oranotypie (used by the prodigious Mr. Steglitz of Germany), was intended to add depth and clarity to the postcard print. The great Walery, Nadar, and many other famous Parisian photographers of the time were often published by M. Piprot under his star label. Not so common, were images actually photographed by G. Piprot, but we are lucky enough to have two such images, a pair of lovely stage performers, Miss Amy, and Miss Remple.
These two young women are dressed in charmingly matched off-the-shoulder costumes and each sports a long, gorgeously thick braid. The cards have been hand-tinted, and the close observer will note that the colored panels on Miss Amy's dress correspond to the uncolored panels on Miss Remple's, and vice versa, so that each image presents a clever counterpart of the other.
One fun fact about these two cards is that they were posted by the same individual, Mateo, to two different women living in the same household. Mateo inscribed each card in a lovely hand, using violet ink.
Reverse of Miss Amy's postcard
Reverse of Miss Remple's postcard
We can't help but speculate whether Mateo, unable to make up his mind, was courting two sisters, and to wonder what reaction the women had on receiving the cards.
Two charming Oranotypes, (a process used in postcard production to maintain the depth and clarity of the photographic image), of a loving mother and her child. So sweet! The flowers in the hair are so expressive of the period. published by A.G. Steglitz in 1904.
Mother and Daughter Oranotype, Image 1
Mother and Daughter Oranotype, Image 2
Posted in Brussels, Belgium in 1906 by someone with a fine and carefully practiced hand.
On November 4th, 1868, in the town of Valga,
Galicia, not far north of Spain's border with Portugal, Agustina Otero Iglesias
was
born into poverty, but also into the very midst of the
Rexurdimento, the Galician cultural revolution, so that despite her poverty, she must often
have heard the folksongs in her native Galician tongue being reborn all around
her. Because of her family’s straightened circumstances, it was not possible
for the child to remain with them. As was true for many small children born
into poor families in those days, young Agustina left her home behind at a very
early age, having been placed in service as a household maid in Santiago de
Compostela, the capital city of Galicia.
It was while in Santiago de Compostela that,
tragically, ten year old Agustina was brutally raped, a hideous act that would
leave her physically incapable of conceiving a child.
By the early 1880's, Agustina, now fourteen, was already following the music in her heart. In the company of a
young man we know only as Paco, she traveled to Lisbon, where, with Paco as her
dancing partner, she began her career as a dancer and chanteuse. Youth and
inexperience stood in her way, but her beauty, vivacity, and natural ability worked in her
favor.
SOLD La Belle Otero, wearing a tambourine as a hat
Popular history suggests that shortly after
establishing herself in Lisbon, and while still only fourteen years old, the
young dancer made her first conquest as a courtesan, first enchanting, and then
marrying a Count Guglielmo, who whisked her away from poverty and, presumably,
away from Paco as well. With the new social standing gained by this marriage,
Agustina was said to have met with greater opportunities for advancement. That
is certainly one version of her story, though if it is true, how she ended up
still singing in cafes at 18 and 19 is difficult to explain. We do know that
she eventually met a "friend" with enough money to take her to
Marseilles and, while there, to support her ambitions, and that from Marseilles
she made her way to Paris.
While still in her teens, Agustina had changed
her name to Caroline Otero and reinvented her history as well, claiming to be
the product of a love match between a dashing nobleman and a dark-eyed Gypsy
princess. So it was that upon her arrival in Paris, she was no longer Agustina,
the poor peasant girl from a small town in Galicia, but "La Belle Otero," the seductive
Andalusian Gypsy dancer. Once in Paris, and surrounding herself with the
mystique of her new image, it wasn't
long before she found work as a dancer in the Folies Bergère. Before long, she
was the talk of that city of lights, a top billing attraction, and within a few
short years, one of the most famous women in France.
La Belle Otero was now a hugely popular performer, and also one of "Les Grandes Horizontales," an affectionate term that the people of France used for their great courtesans. She was, in fact, one of "Les Grandes Trois," or, "the three great ones." She, Liane de Pougy, and Emilienne d'Alençon, also famous music hall performers, were the three great courtesans of Europe. They granted their favors to kings and princes, but also to wealthy industrialists, amassing tremendous fortunes as a result of carefully planned liasons. Men fought duels over Otero's affections. It was claimed (though never substantiated), that six men took their own lives after she ended her affairs with them.
SOLD Emilienne d'Alençon, one of Otero's rivals
In this period known as La Belle Époque, Otero
and others like her were loved and admired by royalty and
commoners alike. They were made welcome at tables in the humblest of cafes, and
given access to the inner circles of the most exclusive social gatherings.
Their lives and loves, their rivalries, victories and defeats, were gobbled up
by a ravenous public, much as people wait today with bated breath for the
latest episodes of popular television dramas.
The fabulously costumed images of these stars of
the stage were available to all, on the faces of picture postcards, a new
medium whose "golden age" coincided with la Belle Époque. The
tantalizing photographic images of popular entertainers like La Belle Otero,
along with hundreds of others, offered for mere pennies, were visible in shop
windows in towns and cities all across Europe and available in kiosks
everywhere, in train stations, on street corners. By maintaining some control
over the rights to their images, some performers managed considerable profits
from the sales of these postcard images, as well.
SOLD La Belle Otero wearing a body stocking and a cape.
With the advent of moving pictures, Caroline
Otero also enjoyed the distinction of being perhaps the world's first movie
star. In 1898, the famous Lumière Company produced a one minute film of Otero dancing in the Czar's St. Petersburg. The
film was afterwards viewed by wide audiences all across Europe, adding to her
fame. It is a wonderful glimpse of her, and of that wonderful era and, at least
at the time of this posting, is actually available for viewing online!
By 1914, the magic of La Belle Epoque was fading
away, its spell broken by the roar of cannon and the horrors of the "Great
War." The picture postcard's vast popularity also faded amidst that chaos,
never quite regaining its place of prominence in the hearts of the people.
WWI French propaganda image
In 1918, at the war's end, La Belle Otero, still
beautiful, still greatly admired, was fifty years old and made the decision to
retire gracefully from the stage. At one point in her life she was quoted as
saying, "Women have one mission in life: to be beautiful. When one gets
old, one must learn how to break mirrors. I am very gently expecting to
die." (Time Magazine, quoted in wikipedia) She purchased a huge mansion,
lived like the countess she claimed to be, was frequently seen wagering vast
amounts of money in the casinos of Monte Carlo, and apparently spent her
fortune as if it would last forever, which of course, it did not. The photographer Edward Quinn took a photograph of her in the 1950s, standing on a balcony where, then in her eighties, she enjoyed feeding the pigeons. In 1965, at the age of 97, while living in a
small one room apartment, in the Novelty Hotel in Nice, Caroline Otero died as
a result of a heart attack. She was remembered by neighbors and acquaintances
as often speaking of her past glories, and of that golden age, La Belle Époque,
which in many ways had been typified by the lovely and celebrated La Belle
Otero.
Exclusive coupon code for our fans: RPMUSINGS. Use this code during checkout from the Red Poulaine store on Etsy to receive a 10% discount on your purchase.
We are fortunate to have additional postcards of La Belle Otero on their way, featuring photographs taken by the great Reutlinger of Paris. These beautiful images will be available in Red Poulaine in the near future.
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