Jane Avril, the bell of the Moulin Rouge is mainly known for the many images that Toulouse-Lautrec painted of her. However, there is always more than that to her story. Born on June 9, 1868 in Belleville her mother Leotine Beaudon was a prostitute and her father an Italian nobleman that would never recognise her as his own. She was raised by her grandparents in Etamps until they passed away, sending the young Jeanne Beaudon as she was known to a convent.
Jeanne’s childhood was in constant upheaval, just when she was in a good place her mother would find her and would try to force her into the family business. Her mother would lock her out of the house unless she returned with a certain amount of money each day. Jeanne didn’t want to follow in her mothers footsteps so she would sing and dance on the street for spare change allowing her to return home.
Thanks to the kindness of a few of her mothers loyal customers, Jeanne was able to enroll in school, until the money ran out. Growing close to Sister Bertha at school who noticed she hadn’t been at school for weeks and paid a visit to her home. Bertha had always noticed something in Jeanne and knew she had a hard life. When Leotine answered the door, Sister Bertha let her know that she knew what was happening under her roof and Jeanne needed to return to school or she was going to the police.
Jeanne returned to school until she turned 12 then was forced back home and to her mothers overbearing ways The days of tricking her with money made from singing didn’t work anymore and now began to beat her when she returned home. One night she was attacked and almost raped on the street and that was the last straw. Jeanne ran away from home and would end up in the Salpetriere Hospital after a short time living on the street.
While at the Salpetriere, Jeanne was diagnosed with St Vitus Dance disorder which resulted in jerky movements. At a Mardi Gras dance, Jeanne took to the dance floor. She would later say that dance cured her but later it was the jerky movements that became her signature.
Once released, Jeanne was heartbroken and contemplated jumping into the Seine. A group of friendly prostitutes intervened and took care of her and gave her a place to sleep and also showed her the nightlife of Paris. Once she discovered the Bal Bullier she fell in love. Charles Zidler, the owner of a new dance hall in Montmartre discovered her and asked Jeanne to be in the opening cast. From the moment she took the stage of the Moulin Rouge she was a star.
Now she needed a new name, partially for the stage and also so she could hide from her mother. Jane Avril was born over a lunch with her friend Robert Sherard who said her last name should be named after the perfect springtime in Paris.
Unbeknownst to anyone in Paris, Jane became pregnant and left before she was showing. On July 17, 1899 Jean Pierre Adolphe Beaudon was born and after a few weeks was handed off to close friends that served as foster parents. Back in Paris she returned to the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère. Jane traveled to London and Spain spreading the can-can love to an audience that had never seen anything like it.
One of the reasons many know Jane Avril is the work of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. He spotted her from his perch at the Moulin Rouge and the two became fast friends and he immortalized her in posters that are still available today. Toulouse-Lautrec painted her more than twenty times for her stage productions and now can be seen in the Musée du Montmartre.
In June 1911 Jane married Maurice Biais, a German artist who also adopted her son. The three had a nice little life for a very brief period of time. A trip to visit his family in New York quickly took a wrong turn. His family didn’t approve of Jane and her profession. At the time a stage actor or dancer was barely a step above being a prostitute. The two were in a constant fight and she took her son and returned to Paris.
Maurice followed later and upon his return bought the family a small house near Versailles. It was an idyllic life until she figured out what her husband did all day. First, Maurice had been fired from his job months before and was taking possessions out of the house to sell to help fund their home and his secret lift. Maurice was disappearing to Paris for days at a time drinking and philandering. Jane had to sell her jewelry and her art to help take care of the home and her son and would find many of her lavish costumes missing. Apparently Maurice had a really fun time in Paris in her costumes.
Maurice would die locked away in an asylum in 1926 and at the same time her son ran away from home, she would never see him again. Now semi-retired but unable to say no to anything anyone asked her for. She would reappear on the stages of Paris raising money for others while at the same time struggling to pay her bills. When her friends knew how much trouble she was in a large benefit for her would raise enough money to pay off all her debt and take care of her the rest of her life.
Jane lived through two World Wars and it began to really take its toll on her. Her final years in Paris during World War II, cold and hungry until she couldn’t take it anymore. Struggling with angina, on January 17, 1943 she took her last breath in her home at 5 Rue de La Saïda in the 15th and was buried in Père Lachaise.
Her last words were written as she had lost her voice a year before. Scrolled out on a piece of paper she wrote “I hate Hitler”. She was 79 years old and had lived a long and interesting life.
Nicole Kidmen’s character in Moulin Rouge is loosely based on her.