Episode 14 - Marie de Medicis

Once upon a time there were two Florentine queens that left their mark on Paris. In the newest La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway episode we talk all about one of them, Marie de Medicis from her childhood in Florence to her life in exile. 

She was born on April 26, 1575 to Francois I de Medicis and Joan of Austria in the Pitti Palace in Florence. Joan of Austria would die by the time she was two years old and her father married his mistress Bianca Cappello, but the two would die ten year later hours apart. A touch of the Medicis poison and the urge to get ahead by another brother. 

Le Mariage par procuration de Marie de Médicis et d'Henri IV par Rubens

Marie now an orphan was raised by her uncle Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany who took the throne. As a young girl there were many suitors looking to attach themselves to the Medicis fortune but they waited until Henri IV, king of France turned in his dancing card. Marie was 25 years old when the marriage was arranged, to not only join the two families but also eliminate the debt France had to the Medicis. 

It was the second marriage for Henri IV who had first married the daughter of her distant cousin Catherine de Medicis, Marguerite de Valois. Unable to provide an heir to the king, a new more fertile wife was needed. On October 5, 1600 by proxy her uncle stood in for the groom at the ceremony and was followed by  a lavish party lasting for days, without Henri IV. 

Marie headed to France later in the month and on November 3, 1600 arrived in Marseilles thinking she was leaping into the arms of her new husband, but Henri wasn’t there. Continuing onto Lyon it would take until December 12 before Henri IV would set eyes on his new bride.  A little over 9 months later, the heir, Louis XIII was born followed by five more children. Her role was complete but everything was about to  quickly change. 

Le Couronnement de la reine à l'abbaye de Saint-Denis par Rubens

The kings of France for hundreds of years were crowned at the Notre Dame de Reims and the queens would have their own ceremony at the Basilique Saint Denis. After many years of asking, Henri IV finally gave in and a grand ceremony was held on May 13, 1610. It was quickly overshadowed the next day when Herni would be killed in his carriage close to the Louvre by  Francois Raviallac, a religious zealot. Marie was under suspicion  at first due to the timing but was quickly ruled out. 

Louis XIII was only eight years old and not old enough to take the throne. Marie would serve as regent until he was of age, but she wasn’t going to be so quick to let go of the reigns of power. In 1617, when he finally pulled the crown from her clutches he sent her into exile at the Chateau de Blois. After two years she escaped out her window and eventually was allowed back into Paris. 

Photo taken by my grandfather in 1978

Happily returning to oversee the building of her palace that was a reminder of her days growing up in Florence. In 1612 she purchased the vast location on the left bank owned by Duc de Luxembourg. Bringing in Italian artists she had a palace designed just for her. On April 2, 1615 she laid the first stone but would be exiled within two years. Upon her return in 1621 she poured herself into finishing and by 1625 moved into the first floor of the west end in the mostly unfinished palace. 

In 1621, she commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to create four paintings telling the story of her life to fill the walls of her palace in the Jardin du Luxembourg. She loved the first four so much she asked him to create twenty more based on major moments of her life. Working with Rubens and wanting to please his royal patron, her life was redesigned a bit and some of the less than lovely events were given a new rosy outlook. Filling the paintings with allegories, royal icons and the color red to direct your attention it is an amazing walk through her life. Today those paintings are in the Louvre, in the Galerie de Medicis, one of my favorite rooms to visit.  

Galerie Medicis, Musée du Louvre 2nd floor Richelieu wing

Her days back at court were made difficult by Cardinal Richelieu who had more of an influence over her son. Trying to get him ousted it would only backfire and once again she was sent away. On her way to Germany she stopped for the night and unbeknownst to her, Louis XIII had set a trap for his mother. Stripped of her title and pension she would never return to Paris or her palace. On July 3, 1642 Marie de Medicis would die of pleurisy, leaving her palace and the land to her other son, Gaston Duc d’Orleans. 

The palace would finally be finished and passed down within the family. During World War II the Germans took it over as a headquarter and is now the home of the French Senate. Opened once a year on the Journee de Patrimoine in September it is a must see if you are in Paris. Some of the rooms have been left unchanged since the days of Marie and you can see a rare slice of life in the early 17th century of Paris. 

Salles des Conférences, Palais du Luxembourg. Redesigned under the second empire

The Jardin du Luxembourg however is open for anyone to walk through. The Medicis fountain tucked away under the trees is different from what she originally envisioned but it is still one of the most beautiful places in all of Paris. 

Fontaine Medicis

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 13 - Zelda Fitzgerald

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the woman that is known by only her first name and her reputation as the life of the party.  Like many of the ladies we talk about each week on La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway there was much more to her than just the image that remains. 

Zelda was born in Montgomery Alabama on January 24, 1900, the youngest child of Minnie and Anthony who served on the supreme court of Alabama. A conservation family that was not for the strong willed Zelda. 

Studying ballet from an early age it was the only thing she did that pleased her parents. She later decided she was more interested in spending her days drinking, smoking and being adored by all the boys. Always pushing her boundaries she would swim in a skin tight nude colored swimsuit causing the town to think she was skinny dipping. Girls were to be quiet and pretty and Zelda wanted none of that. 

In July 1918 at a country club dance she met F. Scott Fitzgerald who was stationed at Camp Sheridan outside of Montgomery. He was instantly attracted to her and would visit her as soon as he had a day off. With dreams of becoming a famous author, F. Scott would use Zelda as his inspiration for his main character in This Side of Paradise. 

However, F. Scott wouldn’t stop there with his “inspiration”. Zelda was a beautiful writer and sent him letters filled with flowery descriptions. F. Scott would pull entire pieces of her letters and diary and use them in his book. It was something he never stopped doing. 

F. Scott wanted to marry her, but she wouldn’t until he became a published author. With This Side of Paradise with his editor, he pleaded with him to publish it as fast as possible. On March 26, 1920 it was published and four days later Zelda was on a train to New York and they married on April 3, 1920.

The toast of the town, they were at every party in New York and held endless parties in their suite at the Biltmore Hotel until they were kicked out. The party just moved to the Commodore Hotel until they also were tired of their extravagant ways. The parties ended in February 1921 when Zelda discovered she was pregnant and they returned to St Paul Minnesota to be closer to his family. Francis “Scottie” Fitzgerald was born on October 26, 1921 and a few years later they set off for Europe. Arriving in Paris they quickly moved down to Antibes where F. Scott worked on The Great Gatsby. While Zelda practiced her ballet and spent days on the beach and met a handsome pilot Edouard Julan. She was tired of being ignored by F. Scott and asked him for a divorce, he answered by locking her in a room until she got over it. 

In April 1930 Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia and would spend over a year in a Swiss hospital. Returning to Alabama to see her ailing father she would remain with her daughter while F. Scott left for Hollywood. 

F. Scott would die on December 21, 1940 and neither Zelda or Scottie would attend. Her last years were spent in and out of psychiatric hospitals and on March 10, 1948 she died in a fire locked in her room before she was to have electroshock therapy. Few cared at the time she and F. Scott died, but today their lives are those of legends. 

F. Scott and Zelda, just their names paint a picture of life in the 1920’s with plenty of champagne straight from the pages of his most famous book, The Great Gatsby. However their marriage was far from it. F. Scott took her writing as his own in every book he wrote but would later blame her for ruining him and cheating him of his dream. I don’t think we ever would have a F. Scott Fitzgerald without a Zelda, a fact that is quickly overlooked. 

Listen to her full story on our newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway  

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 12 - Julia Child

Julia McWIlliams Child, the woman who brought French cooking to America, fell in love with France as generations have fallen in love with her. Born on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena into a wealthy family that had very very tall children. Julia would attend Smith College and due to her 6” 2 ‘ frame she was perfect for the basketball team but would also play golf, tennis and even act. Graduating with a degree in history in 1934 she wanted to become a writer and moved to New York to chase her dreams but her vision of being the next big novelist wasn’t in the cards. Instead she settled for working in the advertising department for the W & J Sloane furniture firm. 

As World War II broke out she wanted to join the Women’s Army Corp but due to her height she was turned away. Joining the Office of Strategic Services, the OSS that would later become the CIA, she worked directly with the head of the OSS. She would also assist in creating a shark repellent, yes you read that right. Apparently the sharks were getting too curious with the underwater explosives and would set them off so a repellent was needed to keep them away. 

The job with the OSS would take her to Sri Lanka where she would meet Paul Child in the summer of 1944. Paul was ten years older than her and a man of the world. He had lived for a short time in Paris where he painted and enjoyed the amazing food and wine and Julia found him fascinating. Julia herself was a delight and even was awarded for her “inherent cheerfulness” in the OSS. 

The couple married on September 1, 1946 in Lumberville, Pennsylvania. The day before they were in a minor traffic accident and in true Juila and Paul fashion it didn’t stop them even in bandages. For their first meal as man and wife, Julia who never really cooked before decided to really take a leap by cooking calf brains in red wine. Paul was such a love, but they both found it horrible, luckily her skills would vastly improve. 

In October of 1948 Paul was offered a job with the OSS in Paris setting up the visual presentation department building the Franco-American relations. Paul was an avid photographer as well as artists so it was the perfect job for him. At 4:45am on November 3, 1948 they arrived in Le Havre to begin one of the most exciting chapters of their lives. Complete with “the Blue Flash”, their Buick station wagon packed with everything they needed, they headed towards Paris. Stopping in Rouen for lunch at the Restaurant La Couronne, one of the oldest restaurants in France dating back to 1345. It was at that meal that she enjoyed her first French baguette, cheese and sole meunière, the dish that would change her entire life. 

Early in the evening they arrived in Paris and to their apartment at 81 rue de l’Universite or Roo de Loo as she called it. The two floor apartment with its wonderful large windows was the perfect place to start their French adventure. Filling the days was the hardest part for Julia. Playing bridge and making hats was a bore to her and she wanted something more fulfilling. As a post war wife who didn’t know how to cook she enrolled in the Cordon Bleu much to the chagrin of Madame Elisabeth Brassart. Madame Brassart enrolled her in the general class for housewives that was not challenging to Julia at all and spoke with her again. With her powers of persuasion she convinced Mme Brassart  to let her join the chefs class taught by Max Bugnard. Filled with only men, she would win them all over and begin a close friendship with Max Bugnard.

During her years at the Cordon Bleu she joined Le Cercle des Gourmettes and met Simca Beck and Louisette Bertholle, two French women who were writing a French cookbook for Americans. The trio hit it off and started their own small cooking school, L'école des Trois Gourmandes. Offering classes out of Julia’s kitchen for 20 francs, they immediately drew women to their classes and became a hit with the expat Americans in Paris. Simca and Louisette constantly filled Julia in on the trouble they were having  with their American consultant and asked Julia to help them with their book. 

The project would take up all of her time, researching every detail and testing each recipe over and over and as the only English speaker took over all the writing. It would take almost ten years to complete the book filled with ups and downs with publishers, moving to Marseilles, Germany and Oslo and finally on October 16. 1961 Mastering the Art of French Cooking was released. 

Having returned to the US, Paul retired from the OSS and spent his days helping Julia and focusing on his art and taking photos. Traveling around the country promoting the book, she met James Beard and Jacques Pépin and of course her cheerful demeanor created life long friendships. 

In February 1962 she was invited to appear on the WGBH show I’ve Been Reading in Boston. Given a thirty minute spot she had no idea how to fill the time so she decided to bring a copper bowl, whisk, eggs and mushrooms. During the show she whipped up an omelet and after the station was flooded with letters and calls asking for more. WGBH asked Julia to come back for three, half hour episodes which was the basis of The French Chef. Premiering on July 26, 1962 it ran for ten years and 191 episodes. Today you can stream every one of them on the PBS app online. Julia would appear in 11 different tv shows and was on tv every week from 1963 - 2000. 

The Child’s hearts were always in France and in 1963 after a long visit  to Simca’s home in Plascassier, a small Provincial town near Grasse in the south of France they were given the greatest gift. Simca and her husband offered them part of their land for their own home. La Pitchoune was built and was the perfect place for the Child’s to escape too but also for Julia and Simca to work on volume two. Today you can rent that home on Airbnb and have your own Julia Child moment cooking up a quiche or coq au vin. 

On October 22, 1970 Mastering the Art of French Cooking volume two was released after many years of work by Simca and Julia and a diligent timeline by Judith Jones. On the road, filming tv shows and writing more books kept Julia busy and Paul was more than happy to follow along. 

In October of 1974 after having some healthy issues, Paul was diagnosed with having had a small heart attack. The years were followed by chest pains and his brain that was getting foggier as time went on. The love that they had for each other was more important than any book or tv show. Paul was the ultimate support to her at a time when it was the role of a woman to stay home and raise children. 

In 1989 Paul had a series of strokes that forced his move to a nursing home. Heartbroken at the idea of being apart, no matter where she was in the world she would call him on the phone every day at 2pm. Paul would die on May 12, 1994, the love of her life would be gone. 

After his death she packed up their Cambridge home and moved to Montecito, California where she would stay the rest of her life. In her final years she sat down with her nephew Alex Prud’homme and her stack of many letters between Paul and his brother and wrote her final book about their years in France. My Life in France released after her death is a lovely stroll through their love of each other and of France. 

Buy on Amazon

On August 13, 2004 just two days before her birthday she would die of kidney failure. The night before her final meal would be a bowl of her beloved soupe a l’oignon. I remember waking up that day to the news that she died and gasped and cried and that was long before I fell in love with her. 

In 2001, Julia donated her entire Cambridge kitchen to the Smithsonian institute complete with the peg board that organized her pots and pans and the raised counters Paul designed just for her. 

In 2009, Meryl Streep portrayed her in Julie & Julia based on her book My Life in France. The movie does an amazing job depicting their life and love in Paris and Meryl Streep brings her back to life. I could watch that movie, especially the Julia parts hundreds of times. 

Julia was in her late 30’s when she discovered the meaning of her life and would follow it until she took her last breath. So many of the women we talk about in the podcast lived in the shadows of their husbands and even watched them take credit for what they did. Paul Child couldn’t have loved her more and supported her to become the Julia Child that dreamed of sharing her love of France with generations to come. Thank you Paul and Julia.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 11 - Colette

French author Colette has been a household name in France for more than a hundred years.  Sidone-Gabrielle Colette was born on January 28, 1873 in the Burgundy region to Captain Jules-Joseph Colette and Adele “Sido”..

One day her father's old friend Henri Gauther-Villars “Willy” would stop by for a visit and return many times to visit the young Colette. Fourteen years older, he would take her to visit Paris showing her the theater, parties and the glitz and glamour of the city of lights. On May 15, 1893 they would marry and move to Paris. Colette was in a hurry to get away from her overbearing mother but things would not turn out how she hoped. 

After a visit in 1895 to her former school in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye Willy encouraged her to write down some of her stories from her school girl days. Willy was a music critic and writer, or he at least took credit for others writing as his own. Colette wrote the book and Willy tossed it into a drawer for four years. One day he found it and read it again but asked her to spice it up a bit. Colette did just that and in 1900 it would be published under Willy’s name only as Claudine at School. It was an immediate hit and Colette was forced to write another one. She didn’t like the writing process, so Wily would lock her in a room to write each day.  In 1901 Claudine in Paris debuted.  

Willy was fast to capitalize on the success and had a stage adaptation created that would premier at the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens with the young actress Polaire starring as Claudine with her short dark hair. Colette cut her hair short too and Willy would parade around Paris, basking in his literary glory with his “twins” at his side. He would let people know that Colette partially inspired his books “he wrote”. 

Colette would go on to write two more, Claudine Married in 1902 and Claudine and Annie in 1903. By 1906 they separated, without any rights to her semi-autobiographical series of books. 

After the separation, Colette trained to be a mime and one night on stage she would kiss Missy de Morny a woman who she was involved with shocking all of Paris. Remarried again in 1912 to Henri de Jouvenal, editor of Le Matin, they would have a daughter she would name Colette, but would spend very little time with. 

All of her writing was woven with the themes and stories of her life and her book Cheri was no exception. After her marriage with Henri was going downhill she picked up with her stepson Bertrand. The older woman and the much younger man relationship would head straight to her pages. In 1925 she met  Maurice Goudeket and they would have the most stable relationship of her life. 

Colette had lived in many places in Paris but her favorite was her home in the Palais Royal. In an article she mentioned how much she missed her former home, a few days later the current owner contacted her and asked if she would like it back. 

Colette would look out her window everyday as she wrote into the garden of the Palais Royal, hearing the gardeners rakes scraping up the leaves and the birds singing. She and Maurice would live out the rest of her life here, being treated to the wonderful meals from Raymond Oliver chef and owner of Le Grand Véfour and popping bottles of Pommery champagne. 

Colette would die on August 3 1954 in her beloved home in the Palais Royale. Denied a Catholic funeral due to her multiple divorces she would be the first female writer to be given a state funeral. More than 10,000 people paid their respects and a funeral was held in the courtyard and garden of the Palais Royal. She is buried in Père-Lachaise today with her daughter. 

Listen to her whole story with many more twists and turns on the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 10 - Hadley Richardson Hemingway

Long before she was a Hemingway, Hadley Richardson was a smart, quiet and talented young lady. The youngest of five children, her mother had been a singer and musician and would pass the gift onto Hadley as a pianist. Due to financial difficulties her father killed himself when she was just twelve years old leaving her with her very overprotective mother.  

Hadley enrolled in Bryn Mawr where she was finally able to spread her wings a bit, but it would be short-lived. Her sister Dorthea was married and had a child and another on the way. One day while sitting on her porch the nearby field was on fire. Dorthea wearing a long dress ran to the field to put it out, the flames touched her dress and stockings and she was quickly engulfed in flames. She would sadly die a few days later, causing Hadley’s mother to panic and force her home from Bryn Mawr. 

Hadley’s mother Florence, criticized her most of her life and she fought against the inferiority complex her mother instilled in her. After returning from school, it was even worse. Her mother got sick and Hadley spent all her time taking care of her until August 1920 when she would pass. 

In October 1920, Hadley was finally free to live her life and went to Chicago to visit her friend Kate Smith for three weeks. One night at a party she would meet the young Ernest Hemingway. Instantly attracted to each other they would see each other often before her return to St Louis. After that they would send letters to each other every day, sometimes 2 to 3 a day. Hadley felt her life had finally begun when she met Hem. 

Less than a year after they met, they would get married in Bay Township Michigan on September 3, 1921. Spending a few short months in a small apartment at 1239 North Dearborn in Chicago before leaving for Paris on December 8, 1921. 

Much has been written of Hadley’s time in Paris, most of it painting her as the weak woman who went along and was pushed aside. That is far from the truth. Hadley was an amazing, smart, talented and patient woman. Supportive of Hemingway and his writing and travels, but she also had her gift as a wonderful pianist. While Pauline Pfeiffer befriended her, locked in her claws and took advantage of Hadley’s sweet disposition, it was Hadley in the end that would put the screws to Pauline. 

Hadley would go on to marry again to a wonderful man, Paul Mowrer and live out her life happy and content. Ernest and Hadley would stay in touch and share a close relationship until he died. Writing “Hadley was the only woman in his life that didn’t give me trouble”, I believe she was his one true love but he figured it out much too late.  

Listen to the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway out today all about the amazing Hadley RIchardson Hemingway.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 9 - Rose Valland

If there is one woman that deserves a monument, parade and her face on a euro it is Rose Valland. She isn’t a name that is widely known and if I can do just one little thing in this life it is for others to know her story.  Rose Valland was born in 1898 in the Auvergne region, an only child that showed promise from a very early age. Her mother would apply for special grants that allowed her daughter to enroll in university, something that was hard for women to do at that time.  Rose would excel in school  from the Fine Arts school in Lyon to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where she would also teach, the University of Paris for Medieval archaeology and then the Ecole du Louvre. 

In 1932 she would take on a job that would alter the lives of thousands of people. As a volunteer to the curator of the Jeu de Paume she would write and curate exhibitions to be sent internationally. In 1940 Jacques Jaujard, the director of the Musée Nationaux asked Rose to stay at the Jeu de Paume. It was 1940, the Nazis had arrived and occupied France. Gorhing was looting the homes, galleries and museums of Paris and needed a place to store the stolen goods. The Jeu de Paume, the freestanding building in the Jardin des Tuileries, became their personal depot. Transformed into their personal gallery, the paintings stolen from the Jewish gallery owners and homes lined the walls before being shipped off to Germany. 

View fullsize

Rose Valland was quiet &  meek, who wore her hair in a bun and glasses and disappeared into the woodwork. She was a brilliant woman, with a photographic memory and also spoke German. All these things combined made her one of the greatest assets France and the lovers of art ever had. Each and every night, Rose would return to her small apartment near the Jardin des Plantes and would write down every single detail of the day. 

In her many legers she noted the painting and its owner, the German code given to each one, crate and destination and even the date and train they were shipped out on. Through her notes the allies knew which trains and routes to secure. She did this every day for the entire length of the war. They had no idea this quiet amazing woman was doing, if they knew she would have been killed. 

Following the war her notes were used to recover thousands of looted art and personal possessions taken from Jewish homes. She would be sent to Italy and Germany to aid the Monuments Men in the recovery. The French government made her a Fine Arts Officer and was given awards by Italy, Germany and the US. 

Because of Rose Valland more than 60,000 works of art were returned to Jewish families, museums and galleries. Sadly just as many if not more are still missing and many sit in museums across France waiting to be returned to their rightful owners. 

The love and respect I have for this woman and what she did is immense. She put her life on the line every single day to protect the treasures of France and the world. If it wasn’t for her heroic act hundreds of thousands of pieces of art and the property of thousands of families would have been lost to the Nazi greed forever.  

In her later years she wrote Le Front de l’Art about her time during the war and today her entire inventory and notes can be found online. Restitution workers all over Europe and America still use her notes daily in their attempt to reunite the many pieces recovered. 

Buy on Amazon

And you can check out all her hardwork in the Rose Valland database and the entire list of MNR works still in the French state or missing.

Listen to even more about this amazing woman on this week's episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway 

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 8 - Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel would start out a poor orphan and would become one of the richest women in the world. Her life and the narrative she tried to rewrite many times is well known, well most of it. Starting out chasing a dream of fame she wanted to be on the stage. It was the stage that would give her the now famous name Coco when she would sing Who Has Seen Coco every night between headliners in a small club. 

Sent to a convent at 12 by her father and left behind she would learn to sew and when she was 18 left and began working as a seamstress. She would meet Etienne Balsan and move to his chateau in Compiegne introducing her to the world of high society. She didn’t fit in and began to design her own clothes and hats. While her clothing shocked the women in the corsets and dressed as a wedding cake as Chanel called them they did love her hats. 

While she was living with Balsan she met his friend Edward Boy Capel, the two fell in love and the affair lasted 9 years, even after he married another woman. Capel was supportive of her and paid for her first store at 21 Rue Cambon, followed by stores in Deauville and Biarritz. She began to make so much money with her new more casual style of clothes and hats that she was able to pay him back everything he loaned her 18 months later. In 1919 after spending a few days in Paris with Chanel, Capel left to go to London. On his way he was in a horrible accident and died. Chanel was heartbroken. 

In the 1920’s she would continue to amass her fortune. Working with perfumier Ernest Beaux Gaven, he brought her nine samples of the perfume he was creating for her. She chose her favorite number, no. 5. For the bottle she wanted it invisible and shaped after one of Boy’s old toiletry bottles, for the cap she would later change the design to the shape of the Place Vendome. In 1924, after the urging of her friend Theophile Bader, the founder of the Galeries Lafayette she met with the Wertheimer Brothers, Pierre and Paul. Without any guidance or a lawyer she signed away her perfume and only kept a 10%  ownership. 

Her love life after Boy was one horrible decision after another. In 1922 she met the Duke of Westminster Hugh Richard Grosenor or Bender. He was a huge anti-semite that gave her jewels and even a home in London. Their relationship lasted ten years. Then there was Paul Irbe, another anti-semite who started an ultra right wing newsletter against Jews and foreigners in France. Coco paid for the publishing of it.  It was the late 1930’s and Hitler was marching through Europe. One day her employees went on strike because of low pay, Chanel was outraged and when the war started a few years later she closed her atelier putting 3000 employees out of work. Many of the other designers in Paris kept their going as long as they could. 

Chanel had an apartment above her store at 31 Rue Cambon but preferred to stay at the Ritz just across the street. In 1940 the German’s also loved the idea of staying in the poshest hotel in Paris. Living on the Vendome side in a lavish room while all the other rich guests were kicked out should have tipped many people off. She began a relationship with Baron Dinklage a Nazi spy. The two would spend each evening together over dinner and he even took her to work with him meeting Gorhing and other high ranking Nazi leaders. 

Coco’s true colors began to be seen and since 2011 and again in 2014 when government officials released sealed documents we really can see what she really was. Those employees she had locked the doors on, well the Jewish ones she turned into the Germans. She and Dinklage would spend afternoons “shopping” in the home of Jewish families sent off to die, the richest woman in the world at that time was in need of nothing. She even spied for the Nazi’s using one of her oldest and cloests friends Vera Bate who was also friends with Churchill and the Duke of Winsdor. Telling Vera they were going to Spain to look at a location for a shop she was actually on a German errand. When they were arrested and Chanel told her what their real mission was she wanted nothing to do with her. Chanel was released but Vera was detained. She denounced Chanel and told them she was a Nazi spy. The two would never speak again. 

As the war was nearing an end and in fear for her life she placed a sign on her store offering free bottles of Chanel No. 5 to all the GI’s. It was a grand publicity move and bought her some time and the American soldiers protected her. 

She and Spatz would disappear to Switzerland where she would be arrested but released. Many collaborators were put on trial, jailed and even killed. Coco would escape all of that but the French weren’t soon to forget.  In 1954 after 15 years away she presented her first collection. The foreign press loved it, the French had nothing nice to say about it or her. 

On January 10, 1971 at 87 years old after degrades of morphine use she would die in the Ritz. The president's wife Madame Pompidou wanted to hold a large tribute to her a year after her death. When they figured out all her hateful acts during the war, it was cancelled. 

Coco Chanel, the woman so many people love and admire was not at all what many think she was. While she was an amazing business woman who created a style that is still worn today and the creator of the little black dress, but the woman herself was a hateful horrible person.  Can we separate the company from who the woman was?

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 7 - Victorine Meurent

Victorine Meurent was born in Paris on February 18. 1844 and from an early age she was drawn to art. In 1862 Edouard Manet walked into Thomas Couture’s studio and met a young girl. Couture would teach Manet & Henri Fantin-Latour and feature many young models. On this one day, Victorine-Louis Meurent was in Couture’s studio when Manet arrived.

She was just 16, with red hair and nicknamed La Crevette and would go on to become the muse for some of the biggest artists at that time. He would paint her for the first time in The Street Singer, with her piercing eyes that we would come to know so well in two of his most famous and controversial paintings.  Victorine would sit for him 8 or 9 times, we will come back to that in a minute. 

 Many may know her name because of one fantastic painting, Olympia. The painting that rocked the Salon of 1863 with its suggestive subject of the courtesan laying naked on her bed while her servant brings her flowers from one of her admirers. Given the name Olympia, a name associated with prostitutes and the many small elements that hint at her wealth, many of which transferred over to the model herself. Victorine was nothing close to the woman in the painting, Born to a well established artistic family she would become an artist herself and present her work at the Salon in 1870. 

However it is her Manet paintings that we know so well. Now the other most famous painting may or may not even be her. In 1862 when Manet painted Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, another painting that would shock the art world he may have used her as the model, but it is more likely that he used his lover Suzanne Leenhoff. However at the end he would use the face of Victorine to conceal the woman he was in a secret relationship with.

 She would sit for him a last time in 1873  for The Railway before they parted ways. Through her own art classes she preferred the academic style and Manet never liked being defined by any style. 

 She would sit for Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas while she chased her own painting dreams. Sadly only two of her paintings remain at the museum in Colombes. Other than Berthe Morisot and Suzanne Valadon, Victorine is a beautiful face we know so well from the brush of Manet and I never miss a chance to stand in front of her and admire such a stunning piece of art and a more amazing woman.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 6 - Dalida

Iolanda “Dalida”  Gigliotti was born in Egypt to Italian parents in 1933.  The young beauty would be named Miss Egypt in 1954 and a few months after she headed to Paris. Dalida, one of the biggest international stars at a young age, was in awe of Rita Hayworth when she saw her in her iconic role Gilda. With the help of radio host Lucien Morisse her songs began to play on the radio and in a few short years she had her first big hit, Bambino. Before long she was performing on the Olympia stage with Charles Anzavour. Recording songs in French, German, Italian, Spanish she would tour the world for decades.

The major star of the stage, known for her amazing outfits was barely known in the United States, turning down major contracts. Her tragic love life on the other hand left her broken and depressed with one partner after another killing themselves. Sadly her own life would end in her Montmartre home when she couldn’t take it anymore. On May 3, 1987 she would overdose on pills washed down with whisky.  

Today she is remembered with a bust in the Place Dalida at the base of the winding road in the shadow of Sacre Coeur. Created in 1997 on the ten year anniversary of her death by Alain Aslan, it is customary to give her a little rub for good luck. Aslan also created the life size statue for her grave in the Montmartre cemetery, with a gold sun as a halo behind her, also evoking an Egyptian tomb of a queen.  To visit her home, follow the small Rue d’Orchcampt  and just as the road bends look up to the white house with its wonderful windows. 

I first became fascinated by Dalida after seeing an exhibition at the Palais Galliera of her years of costumes. From the young girl and her sweet dresses to the international star in all her glitz and glamour.

 Learn more about Dalida in the fantastic podcast that I teamed up with my friend @missparisphotos on, @laviecreative and the new Paris History avec a Hemingway. Each week focusing on fantastic female artists that left their mark on Paris. And when you stroll the streets of Montmartre and you come across Dalida, give her a little rub for luck.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 5 - Marie Antoinette the Final Moments and the Daughter that Lived On

In the last episode in our series of Marie Antoinette we are in the final moments of her life. Convicted and sentenced to death they didn’t give her much time. In the early hours of the morning she wrote a long letter to her sister in law Madame Elisabeth asking her to look after her children. The letter would never be delivered. 

At 8am on October 16, 1793 a priest arrived at her cell followed by the executioner, Samson. She was dressed in a simple white dress from her dressmaker Rose Bertin and her best black satin shoes. Samson cut her hair short, tied her hands behind her with a rope and led her up the stairs to a cart in the courtyard of the court house. Her husband Louis XVI was taken in a carriage, but Marie Antoinette sat in an open cart, seated next to the priest. 

The streets were lined ten people deep on the entire route as they slowly meandered through the streets. In the window of the Café de la Régence on the corner of Rue Saint-Honoré artist Jacques-Louis David sketched the last known image of the queen as she went by inching closer to the guillotine. 

Arriving at the Place de la Revolution, she walked up the scaffolding and stepped on the executioner's foot. Her last words were “I am sorry sir, I did not mean to put it there”. At 12:15pm on October 16, 1793 the blade fell and her life was over. Her body and her head were placed in a coffin and tossed into the Madeleine cemetery. 

The Dauphin of France, Louis XVI would die in jail as her daughter Marie-Thérèse Charlotte was in the cell below him. She would remain in jail until December 19, 1795 when she was sent to Austria in exchange for French prisoners. Dressed in black and mourning the death of her family she kept to herself living in the former home of her mother. Axel von Fersen would pay her a visit and she slowly began to smile again. Spending the days with her younger cousins she regained a bit of happiness. 

The Vienna court wanted to marry her off to the Emperor's brother but she had her own ideas. She wanted to marry her cousin Louis-Antoine d'Artois, the Duke of Angouleme and son of her uncle Charles X. Russian Emperor Paul I stepped in and convinced the Vienna court to let her marry who she wished. 

Her uncle Louis XVIII was now in exile and Madame Royale as she was known followed him around Europe while her husband was away. In 1814 during the Restoration she was finally allowed to return to France. As soon as she arrived she asked to be taken to her parents graves. A kindly neighbor watched over their spot they tossed her parents in and when Louis XVIII arrived he let them know where they were. The next year Louis XVIII ordered the construction of the Chapelle Expiatoire to be built on the site. Marie-Thérèse would visit every day and would personally pay for two statues of her parents. 

Marie-Thérèse traveled all over France as Madame Royale even when her uncle Louis XVIII fled to Belgium. Trying to rally the people as Napoleon made his way back to France, she would even give the women of the villages the ribbons and feathers off her own dress. Napoleon hadn’t been up against many people, especially a woman like her before and said she was the only “man” in the Bourbon family. She eventually fled France and headed to England. After Waterloo, Louis XVIII returned to France with Marie-Thérèse at his side, stepping into the role of queen following the death of his wife. The people loved her, although she was always reminded of what they did to her parents.  In 1816 her brother in law married the Duchess de Berry, a young, fun and sexy reminder of the future, while Marie-Thérèse was a reminder of the past. 

In 1823, Louis XVIII died and her other uncle Charles X took the throne, she was now the Dauphine of France. On August 2, 1830 when he abdicated she was for 3 minutes the queen of France. Louis-Philippe d’Orleans took the throne and ousted her once again.  Leaving for Italy with Charles X and her husband they settled into a quiet life. As for the Duchess de Berry, now a widow she traveled to France to try to gather some favor for Charles X.  Fleeing arrest she hid in a fireplace and was discovered when her dress caught on fire and her screams could be heard. She was also pregnant and unwed and ousted from the Bourbon family. Her children were sent to live with Marie-Thérèse who spent her time educating them on the principles of the ancient regime. 

She and her husband had a wonderful marriage but never any children of their own. He would die in 1844 at the age of 64. On October 16, 1851 on the 58th anniversary of her mother's death after attending mass she returned to her bed and died three days later. According to her wishes she was buried with her husband and her uncle in the small monastery of Nova Gorica laying on a slab of French stone. 

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 4- Marie Antoinette From the Palace to the Guillotine

Out today for your listening pleasure on La Vie Creative Podcast, Paris History Avec A Hemingway, part trois in our series on Marie Antoinette.  When we left off in part deux, Marie was embroiled in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which led to her downfall although she had nothing to do with it. Part trois began in Spring 1789, when the Estate General opened with an attack on the queen, it was going to go downhill from here.  

On June 4th upon the death of their son, they were not able to be with him when he died or attend his funeral at the Basilique Saint Denis due to the optics of spending more of the state's money. 

On October 1 and 3, two large parties were held for the king's guards and the Flanders Regiments. While the people of Paris were starving and unable to get bread, a lavish dinner at Versailles was the final straw. Before dawn on October 5, a large group met in front of the Hotel de Ville. Breaking in and stealing more than 600 weapons a group largely made up of women took off from Paris. In the pouring rain for over 5 hours they walked in the mud arriving at Versailles. Demanding to be let into the National Assembly their spokesperson Stanislas Maillard read their demands of wheat, floor and to stop blocking the route into Paris. They agreed and took it to Louis XVI to sign. The king agreed and we could be done with this story, but we know it ends differently. 

Overnight the crowd gathered outside grew restless, the guards pushed back. The crowd rushed the palace, killing the queens guards and calling out her name. The royal family would agree to go with the crowd back to Paris. Moved to the Palais des Tuileries where they can be watched closely. Things went along for two years until June 20, 1791 when they decided to escape. The Flight to Varennes, the escape to freedom would begin with one delay after another and end with their return to Paris. After being recognized from a coin with the image of Louis XVI in the small town of Viels-Maisons. On June 22 they would return to the Tuileries, this time closely watched. 

On August 10, 1792 the Tuileries were stormed, the Swiss guards were killed and the royal family sent running for their life through the garden. Arriving at the National Assembly, the king was given wine and treated like a king. Marie and her children were put into a small locked room. That night as they ran, the monarchy slipped through their fingers. The next day they were sent to the Temple prison and in a few short months the king would be killed. 

On January 21, 1793 with the sounds of canons in the distance Marie Antoinette, her sister in law and their two children knew their dad was dead. 

In the summer her children would be taken from her, Marie would be taken to the “antechamber of death” the  Conciergerie in August. After a failed attempt to break her out, she was moved to a tighter cell. In October in a sham of a trial, she was convicted and sentenced to death. The next morning she was taken on a cart through the city of Paris and to her death in the Place de la Revolution, today's Place de la Concorde. 

Coming up next week, part 4, the only surviving member of the royal family.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 3-Marie Antoinette, Marriage Bed to the Necklace Affair

Episode 3- Marie Antoinette Part Deux. 

The marriage bed to a necklace that brought down a queen 

When we left off in last week's podcast episode, part une of Marie Antoinette she had just married Louis XVI and became the Dauphine of France. Just 14 years old, embarking on a life and the future queen of France with a tragic end we know so well. 

On the night of May 16, following a long day of ceremony and parties the young couple took to their bed. The bed was blessed by the Archbishop while members of the court watched, closing the curtain the two were left somewhat alone. However, nothing would happen, nothing would happen for seven years. 

The issues in the bedroom was the talk of France and even past its borders. How can the now king rule from the throne if he couldn’t even give the country an heir. Marie Antoinette’s mother was also quite concerned and let her know what her important role was. During this time to avoid the constant rejection of her husband she turned to friends, parties, all night gambling. The rumors began to turn to her and how she spent her time. 

Finally after seven long years the marriage was consummated and the next year their first child was born. Marie-Therese Charlotte, born in 1851. Not the male heir apparent, but a beautiful baby girl. Spending the days with her mother at the Petit Trianon and the Hamlet, living a quiet life away from the watchful eyes. 

Three more children would bless the couple, Louis Joseph in 1781, the Dauphin who would die before he turned 8, Louis Charles born in 1785, a life that would have a tragic end and Marie Sophie in 1786 that would die in 1787. 

The talk of the spending of the court while the coffers were empty was picking up momentum in France. Marie Antoinette’s shopping for dresses, shoes and jewelry didn’t play out well when people were starving. She became the perfect unknowing victim of a plot that would be her downfall. 

Jeanne de la Motte would use this to her advantage. In 1772 King Louis XV wanted to have a necklace made for his mistress Madame du Barry and asked jewelers Boehmer & Bassange to create a lavish gift. Taking years to gather the more than 600 diamonds needed, Louis XV would die before it was finished. Left with a very expensive necklace on their hands without being paid they reached out to Louis XVI thinking he would want to buy it for his queen. With a very high price tag, the queen refused telling her husband “we have more need of 24 ships”. However, it could also be that she never liked Du Barry and didn’t want to have anything intended for her. 

Jeanne de la Motte was a young woman who was the illegitimate descendant of Henri II. Her father had lost his money and she wanted to take back what she thought they deserved. Mistress of the Cardinal Rohan (remember him from Part One), who had a falling out with the Queen and her mother was desperate to get back into her good graces. Jeanne told him she was friends with the Queen and that if he wrote her a letter she would get it to her. Jeanne had another agenda. She answered the letters herself, posing as the Queen and when he begged to have a private meeting with the Queen she hired a prostitute at the Palais Royal to impersonate the Queen and met him in the Grove of Venus at Versailles. 

Once word had spread throughout Paris, the jewelers reached out to Jeanne in hopes to appeal to Marie Antoinette and to buy the necklace.  Jeanne told Rohan that the Queen wanted the necklace but needed someone to get it for her. Jeanne forged a letter and a purchase order for the necklace and he took it to Boehmer. Handing over the necklace to Rohan, he then took it to meet Jeanne and what he thought was one of the Queen’s valets. It was Jeanne’s husband who promptly took the necklace, broke it apart and sent the jewels around Europe to be sold. 

Months went by and when Boehmer still hadn’t been paid he went to the court with the order signed by the Queen. She had never seen it before. Rohan was arrested in the Hall of Mirrors, would go on trial and be found innocent. Jeanne de la Motte would also be arrested, sentenced to prison but would break out one day dressed as a boy and flee to London. 

For the Queen who was innocent in the plot, it was too late. It only fed into the rumors of her excess. People even thought she orchestrated the entire thing to get back at Rohan. The Affair of the Diamond Necklace led to her final fall that was to come in just a few years. 

Today that necklace would be worth over $15 million dollars and held 2800 carats and 685 diamonds. When I saw a replica at the exhibit at the Conciergerie I gasped, but then again I love an over the statement piece. 

Be sure to listen to the episode for even more 

Coming up next Monday, Part Troi, Marie Antoinette. The Final Years  

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 2- Marie Antoinette, from Vienna to Dauphine

Episode 2- Marie Antoinette, From Vienna to Dauphine 

Born in Vienna in 1755, she was the 15th of 16 children to Empress Marie-Theresa and Francis I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  Spending her days at Schönbrunn Palace running and playing with her brothers and sisters until at the age of 11 it was decided she would marry the next king of France, the Dauphin Louis-Auguste. 

Her mother was very strong and tried to instill the virtues her daughter would need to be as a queen. Marie Antoinette wasn’t that willing of a participant and had a short attention span for anything she didn’t like, a problem that would haunt her until her last days. 

After the death of Francis I, Marie-Theresa was able to do what she wanted. With hopes of finally uniting France and Austria and ending years of conflict, she offered her daughter's hand to Louis XV. It would take three years and some convincing of Louis XV but after dispatching his own people to be sure she was ready, at the age of 14, Marie-Antoinette was on her way to France. 

On May 7, she arrived at the banks of the Rhine for the “surrender of the wife”. Stepping into a lavish tent she walked in one side representing Austria, stripped all her belongings and clothes and redressed in  the finest French clothes and emerged as the Dauphine. 

Marie Antoinette wanted to stop for mass in Strasbourg. With the Bishop away, a clergy member greeted her, his name was Louis-Prince de Rohan. Rohan will come back into her life later in a key moment that contributed to her downfall. She would finally meet her husband on May 14, just two days before their lavish wedding at Versailles. 

Listen to even more on our newest episode of La Vie Creative, Paris History Avec A Hemingway.

I’ve also added some of my favorite Marie Antoinette books in the Boutique.

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.

Episode 1- Suzanne Valadon

Our first episode focuses on the fascinating life of muse and artist Suzanne Valadon

Danse à la ville & Danse à la campagne by Renoir

Suzanne Valadon at a very young age would work as a model for some of the biggest French painters of the 19th C. Meeting them on the streets of Montmartre she would sit for Henner, Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec. Although her most famous collaboration may have been with Renoir. In Danse a la Ville and Danse a Bougival both painted in 1883 Renoir used her as his model depicting very different scenes. Valadon in La Ville is elegant and controlled, but in Bougival she is distant, her partner looks to be trying to get her attention. Renoir loved working with her as did Toulouse-Lautrec.

While she posed she soaked up the techniques of each of these masters, storing them away in her mind until she picked up her own paintbrush just as she turned 30 years old. Degas came into her life and admired her paintings and her style, encouraging her to continue and bought her paintings to hang in his home. 

Young girl in front of a window by Suzanne Valadon 1930

Suzanne’s relationships are many and have overshadowed her talent for years. Marriages and a son that never knew who his father was and had a host of his own issues. Suzanne attempted suicide, alienated her biggest supporter Degas but still managed to cut out a life for herself.

Musée de Montmartre

Today you can still see Suzanne in Paris hanging on the walls of the Orsay and the Pompidou.  Renoir’s Danse à la campagne et Danse à la Ville, two in the series of the three are in the Orsay. All three were modeled by Suzanne but the jealous rage of his lover Aline Charigot and her scraping at the painting forced Renoir to change the model for la Ville to Charigot. 

Suzanne’s very own paintings and drawings can be found in the Pompidou. However if you want to get a personal view of her life, head to the Musée de Montmartre. Her former studio and apartment is part of the museum. Walk into her studio where her former easels, chairs and art fill the space with its huge windows. 

To learn more about Suzanne, check out Catherine Hewitt’s fantastic book about Suzanne Valadon. Renoirs Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon.

Buy on Amazon

Listen to our first episode here, so excited to share it with you

Support my writing and stories of Paris by joining my Patreon page and get lots of extra goodies including discounts on my tours in Paris, trip planning and custom history just for you. Patreon link in bio.