Professor David Peimer
Édith Piaf (the ‘Little Sparrow’): Remarkable Life, Remarkable Singer

Professor David Peimer - Édith Piaf, the ‘Little Sparrow’ Remarkable Life, Remarkable Singer

- Well, so we’re going to dive straight into, for me, one of the most remarkable characters of the last century. Extraordinary life, extraordinary voice, extraordinary singer, writing some of her songs as well, and what she went through. The amount of adversity and sheer suffering, I guess, is quite incredible. And then to have risen to the heights that she did get to. We all know the name Piaf, of course, and we all know a little bit about her, and in researching for today, fascinating new things discovering about her, and which I’m sure others might know as well. So, what I’m going to do is first just talk a little bit about her life to give us a context, her life and… some of them the main events of her life, and then going to have fun and listen to… a whole lot of recordings of her singing, ending up with the brilliant film made about 12 years ago, 10, 12 years ago, on… on her life, with that remarkable actress, French actress, Marion Cotillard. So, and please forgive my pronunciations of the French, I have to say upfront, ‘cause they’re going to be bad. My German is much better, and other languages. Okay, so Piaf, these are her life, as you can see, she lives, you know, what, 47, 48 years. Dies young and packs, an unbelievable amount into the story of one life. Picture on the left of her as a youngster, and on the right, one of the classic pictures that we all know, iconic. So, let’s just have a look at the story of this person for a moment. Just a couple of highlights of the story before I go into a bit more detail. She grows up primary, she’s abandoned by her mother very shortly after birth. She grows up in a brothel run by her grandmother.

For four years, she’s blinded by keratitis… in infancy, four years, partial blindness, or three quarters, we’re not sure. She joins her acrobat father who’s shattered from the first World War, comes back, and he’s a sort of travelling entertainer, circus performer, acrobat, streets and circus, she joins him on the road. Then in her teens, she joins up with a, with another friend of hers who might have been a half sister, we don’t know, and just basically singing for her supper in the streets, earning a few pennies with literally a hat on the pavement. Then, you know, the story of her, how show makes it, becomes known as the sparrow, Piaf, “the little sparrow.” And then, later, many lovers, in and out of love, marriages left, right and centre. Travels the world, to New York, to South America, everywhere. Then she has three terrible car crashes with serious injuries. Becomes addicted to morphine to try and help kill the pain. And the story goes on and on, and eventually gets liver cancer and dies the age of 47, 48. So it’s, these are just a couple of the highlights. I’m getting into much more detail as we go on. It’s a story of such remarkable loss and adversity and abandonment, ultimately, and what she does to overcome. And, for me, how it’s captured in her voice and her singing. And she wrote some of the, quite a few of the songs she sang as well. Her voice was, for me, such power, captures such an emotion and range of emotions. Vulnerability and defiance, and desire for love and fear, determination and anxiety. So many dualities or complex paradoxes are in her emotional veins.

For me, she’s almost like a zeitgeist of the 20th, going into the 21st century. I see survivor, and I see survivor in the broad sense, not only in the sense, which is more specific to Holocaust, obviously, but survivor as a 20th century phenomenon, and what that really means. “Trauma” as a 20th century word, I guess, and what that means. Adversity is obvious, and just get through the day with minimal regrets. Arthur Miller once said that when he died, he hoped he would die with the right regrets. And I’ve always thought that it’s such an insightful phrase of Arthur Miller. It’s, but we know the great song of… of Piaf, which I’m going to play, “No Regrets.” And hers is, “I will have no regrets regardless, "absolutely none. "I do not care. "I’ve been through enough.” With a kind of a toughness, but underlying it, of course, such enormous pain. So it’s that combination of the pain and the tough that, you know, I think is so human and anciently archetypal. It’s fascinating, I see, because she, what happened very early on, it’s also a story of abandonment. You know, I don’t want to be too psychological here, but abandoned by her mother at such a young age, abandoned by the society, picked up by the father to be an acrobat. Four years of blindness as an infant. Singing on the streets to earn her supper. All these things is, there’s such abandonment by society, by immediate parents, by family, every step of the way. The greatest fear, I think, well, her greatest fear, was to be alone.

And I’m going to show a clip at the end from the movie, which captures that sentiment. When I listen to the song, it’s like, I hear the pain in the song, but hovered with a certain toughness, as if it’s a knife twisting in the heart, but she’s able to pull the knife out and carry on regardless. Her performances seem, to me, like a musical catalogue of the many tragedies of her street and post street life. The abandoned birth, the dead lovers, the many lovers, the car smashes, her body twisted and crippled, morphine addiction, so many of these things. Her songs capture this of her life. You know, many try, many singers, I think, and others, try to put on an image, a persona when they’re on stage and acted out as if it’s them, but I think her, it’s coming from real lived experience, and she sings from that, and that makes, for me, such a uniqueness. It’s not a performed persona. There’s something coming from her. It’s almost like she’s a woman who’s gone through 10 rounds in a boxing ring and knocked out, but only in the end, knocked out by technicality we might call death with wit. To me, she stands, ready to take it all on. Okay, come on, gimme more, gimme more, the problems, the hassle, adversity, the losses, the grief. In the end, we will see, I want to show the image from the film, again, where she’s almost like the walking, wounded, bruised, battered, yes, but in a kind of inner sense, triumphantly determined and unbarred. James Dean once said, for him, this is at the age of 21, James Dean, the remarkable insight, “All my acting is on the razor’s edge "between defiance and vulnerability "and the audience will never know when moment of defiance "or moment of vulnerability will come out.”

And we watched James Dean, at times, Brando and others who took this from Dean, we see that, and that duality would make such a riveting actor in such a young guide of James Dean. And I see the same in her defiance and vulnerability. And we never know which is going to come out, which makes for me her riveting presence on stage. Okay, so Piaf was born in 1915, dies in the early '60s. She was named Édith, after the first World War British nurse, Edith Cavell. And her father wanted the name because Edith Cavell, for those who might not know, was a very famous British nurse in the first World War and she was executed by the Germans two months before Édith’s birth. Why? Because she was executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. And the father called her Édith as a result, and so on, and the name Piaf, meaning, slang for “little sparrow,” as everyone knows, I’m sure, came later from one of the guys who found her and helped make her career. As I said, the father was an acrobat, a circus performer, entertainer, travelled all over France, restless travelling player. He was in the first World War, came back from the war, shattered, destroyed, I suppose we’d call it shell shock syndrome or post-traumatic stress, whatever, but shattered and restless, couldn’t settle in any way. Her mother…. Oh, and her father, her father’s mother ran a brothel in Normandy where she was, where young Édith was sent to later. Her mother was a circus performer and cafe singer of Italian origin, she was born in Italy. So fascinating combination in her.

But unsure whether the father had some Moroccan, you know, ancestry or not. Then three years after she was picked up by her father to go travelling in her mid, late teens, she went out to, literally on her own, with a friend and they would sing in the streets with a hat, making money, singing whatever, you know, streets completely, living, sleeping streets. 1935, she was discovered by the Parisian cabaret club owner, Louis Leplée, who nicknamed her “Piaf.” He gave her the name, 'cause she was four foot seven inches tall. “Little sparrow,” yet that voice that came and helped launch a career. Parents divorced 1929. Very importantly, Piaf’s mother abandoned her just after birth, totally. And she lived with her grandmother. And the grandmother was the one who, as I said, brought her up in the brothel. And it’s interesting because she speaks about it, that the prostitutes in the brothel helped to look after her, helped to bring her up. There were two floors, seven rooms, and there were about 10 very poverty stricken, or very poor, girls who obviously had to do prostitution to earn money. And she spoke about it almost like a family, 'cause they would look after this little waif. From the age of three to seven she was virtually blind because of this keratitis, and the grandmother’s prostitutes pooled money to help her and try and help her recover, whatever, which she did. 1929, at the age of 14, the father came to take her, acrobatic street performer, all these performances out of France, and that’s when she begins to sing in public. She, as she went out, you know, as I said before.

Then in 1932, she meets and falls in love with a guy called Louis Dupont and they move into a tiny little room where they live. Louis was never happy with her roaming the streets to make money and sing, and persuaded her to take a job. So she got a job making funeral wreathes in a factory. Just to add to… this remarkable story of, of a short, remarkable life. Anyway, she becomes pregnant, and in 1933, at the age of 17, she gave birth to her daughter, Marcelle. And little Marcelle tragically died of meningitis at the age of two. She returned to street singing and carried on. Then, in 1935, is the big moment where she’s discovered singing in the Pigalle area in Paris by the nightclub owner Louis Leplée, whose club was just off the Champs-Élysées, and it was frequented by upper and lower classes of the French, the Parisians. By being four foot, eight inches, it’s what part of what gave the idea, he got the idea to give her the name “The Little Sparrow.” Leplée taught her the basics of stage presence, told her to wear a black dress, which became her trademark, as we know, and I think the biggest thing that he gave her, was to say, sing about your own life. Sing about the streets, your life on the streets, people you’ve known, loves and sorrows, joys and sadness, grief, tragedy, happiness. Sing your life that you know, and write songs. Find people to make, write songs for you, about that life, 'cause that is your life.

And I think that advice probably is, was so important in the making of her career. It came from him. And Leplée, interestingly, he had a great publicity campaign. He knew how to do PR. And he got celebrities, Maurice Chevalier and others who’d come to watch her, start to build up the name, the reputation of Piaf. The band leader, one evening, was a guy, as we all know, Django Reinhardt, and his pianist was a Jewish refugee, became a refugee, called Norbert Glanzberg. And I’m going to talk a little bit about Norbert Glanzberg later when I talk about Piaf before and during the war and when they became lovers and what he did for her and what she did to save his life. And that led to the first records, et cetera. 1936, Leplée is murdered and Piaf was arrested by the French police, accused of being an accessory. She wasn’t there or anywhere near, she was acquitted. Leplée had been killed by the Parisian Mafia who had previous ties with Piaf. But we have to remember the bigger picture. Of course the mafia are going to frequent brothels and places like this with upper class, the middle classes, the working classes are going. You know, it’s cabaret, it’s singing, it’s the '30s in Paris, and of course they’re going to meet, you know, prostitutes and not and all sorts of others, part of the whole world, so she was arrested, but she was found, there was no evidence to prove anything, and released. Then, to rehabilitate her image, she hired a guy called Raymond Asso with whom she’d become romantically involved and he changed her name to Édith Piaf, not just Piaf. And he stopped her from seeing what he called the undesirables, the mafia and many of the others linked.

And commissioned, he was the one now, to commission songs and composers to write songs that would reflect Piaf’s previous life on the streets. 1947, 1940, sorry, she co-starred in Jean Cocteau’s play, one of the great French playwrights, most influential, emerging after the Surrealist Movement of Briton and others. And so she acted in one of his plays and became very friendly with Jean Cocteau. A very important literary character in French history, literary history. The German occupation in Paris didn’t stop her career. She kept writing lyrics and making songs, and others writing. 1944, she has a big love affair with Yves Montand. After the war, I’m going to come back to the war period in a moment, after the war, she toured Europe, the United States, South America. She helped launch the career of Charles Aznavour, and many others. First, she met with very little success in America. They were disappointed by what seemed to be quite, just a simple, quite ordinary presentation of performance. Just standing there with a black dress, one light on her, singing. There was no, you know, colour spectacle or anything. But, 1947, there was a glowing review in the “New York Herald Tribune” which changed everything. Popularity grew. She went onto “The Ed Sullivan Show” eight times. She performed twice at Carnegie Hall. She wrote and performed, probably her signature song, forgive my translation, my pronunciation, “La Vie en Rose,” you help me, “Life is Pink.” Now, during the German occupation in the '40s, it’s complicated here, like with many, as Trudy was talking the other day, resistors, collaborators, there’s such grey blurred lines.

She performed in various nightclubs and brothels, which are flourishing under the German occupation. 'Cause, of course, German soldiers went to brothels as much as anybody else. The German officers, she was accused of collaborating with the Germans, and the collaborating French as well. She was invited to take part of a concert tour to Berlin and elsewhere. She was deemed, after the war, to maybe have been a traitor, collaborators, and she was called before a purge panel, as it was called, to testify. And there were talk, there was talk about banning her from radio, TV, anything… in France. But there was a secretary of a woman she had known in the war, and his name was Andrée Bigard, and he was a member of the French Resistance, and a very important member. And he spoke in her favour after the liberation and gave the reasons why. She performed in many, in quite a few prisoner of war camps in Germany and was instrumental in helping at least 120, possibly 300 prisoners, escape. How? She went to the Nazi camp commander and she asks that the prison inmates, and this is a kind of a line between concentration camp and prisoner of war camp, 'cause it was serious slave labour of French and others with some Jews there as well. And she asked him, “Look, let the inmates be photographed with me, at least, ”'cause they idolised me.“ And this Nazi commandant agreed. And those photos were then taken back by Andrée Bigard, and they were used to create false papers and documents and surreptitiously sent back to the prisoners so that they could make, they were made into false papers so they could get out as free French workers in Germany and could work in France, and they were let out.

So she saved at least 120, maybe 300, maybe more. She was also working, she also lived in lodgings, which were owned by a Madame Billy. And it was a, who was also a brothel owner, she knew, obviously knew all the brothel owners and people in Paris, and this madame… hid quite a few Jews and resistance leaders using the brothel and in her house, and this madame’s secretary was this guy, Andrée Bigard, who made all these connections, and he pretended to be replying to fan mail to Piaf, for Piaf, but in reality, he was writing clandestine documents for the resistance, notes being sent out all over France, back to England and elsewhere. So, I’ll give you some examples and we’re going to come onto the way she saved Norbert Glanzberg, the very interesting Jewish composer from Galatia, and saved his life and others as, as we go through. It’s such a grey area, 'cause at the same time she was popular and really liked by the Nazi, you know, occupying elite and officers in Paris and elsewhere. But I think she’s not the only one. Quite a few played, obviously, this double game, because, well, I guess it’s fairly obvious how and why they would do it. Okay, her personal life. She is abandoned, she has many lovers, the age of 17, mentioned her daughter. Then the love of her life was the boxer Marcel Cerdan who was called the "Moroccan Boxing Bomber.” And he died in a car crash, in a plane crash, 1949, flying from Paris to New York to meet her. And she had said, “Please don’t take the boat, "it takes too long. "Take an aeroplane, come and see me, "I’m missing you desperately, come to New York. "I love you, love you, love you.” He was the love of her life, I think, and many people think. And he decided, okay, he’ll agree to what she wants, get on a plane instead of taking the boat, 'cause he was scared of flying, and the plane crashed, all 48 people, including he, died.

She performed that same night after hearing and collapsed on stage a couple of times. 1951, she was seriously injured in a car crash with Charles Aznavour. She broke her arm, she broke ribs. That’s what began the morphine addiction for pain. She had another two near fatal car crashes, which all exacerbated the pain. Then, she married Jacques Pills, her first husband, in 1952. Now who’s the matron of honour at the wedding? Is none other than Marlene Dietrich. She divorces him in '57. 1962, she married a guy, Théo Sarapo, a former hairdresser of French, is living in France but of Greek descent. He was 20 years younger than her. She died at 47 years old in 1963. Her last words were, “Every damn thing you do in this life you have to pay for.” She was denied a funeral mass by the Catholic Cardinal because she’d remarried after divorce. If you think about it, after the war, the Holocaust, everything that, not only France but the world, has been through and the Jews have been through, what is this cardinal have to do? Refuses her a mass at the funeral. It still astonishes me today, simply 'cause she’d remarried after divorce. Anyway, she has a funeral, there are a hundred thousand fans who lie on the Parisian streets. Finally, in 2013, 50 years after her death, the Roman Catholic Church, very sweetly, recanted and gave her a little memorial mass. Being films, obviously about Piaf and documentaries, there’s so many. And I’m going to show a little bit from that one great film, which I think is a great. Okay, if we can go onto the next slide, please. So that’s just a bit about her life, and getting, get onto the films, the singing, in a moment. Here, this is a picture of her singing in 1946. There, obviously, she’s there in the middle.

Tiny little waif, the sparrow. We can go onto the next slide, please. Now this is Norbert Glanzberg, and that’s his life, he lived a long time. Extraordinary, fascinating life of this French, of this Jewish composer who composed one of the great songs for her, and many others, and also, you know, “Padam, Padam…” one of the great songs that she sang and become part of French and Parisian and Global folklore. Sorry, if you just bring it up, thank you. So these are pictures of him younger and then, obviously, elderly. And I’m going to come back to talking about Norbert Glanzberg quite a bit 'cause I think he’s underrated, under-researched human being who had a fascinating, extraordinary life, actually, and how he survived the war. Actually, no, I’m going to talk a little bit about him now. He was originally born in Austria, Hungary and wrote some of the famous songs for Piaf and others. In the '20s, he lives in Germany, and he scores films for the director’s Billy Wilder, Max Ophüls, and others. 1933, being Jewish… in Austria, in Germany, obviously he flees and he goes to Paris. He performed in nightclubs, and one of the band leaders he performed with was Django Reinhardt. And that’s where he met Piaf, 'cause Django Reinhardt’s band was performing in the same cabaret venue that I mentioned, where she became famous, and that’s when he met Piaf. His original name was Nathan, changed in Norbert when he arrived in Germany trying to more, I suppose, Germanize it a bit. 1911, family went to Würzburg. I don’t know, I’ve been, I’ve given papers and done artistic work at Würzburg and Würzburg University. It’s a fascinating, it was destroyed during the war, bombed to smithereens and then rebuilt exactly as it was before. And they’ve got, you know, all, all, all extraordinary mementos of all of this. Anyway, 21 years old, he wrote his first film score for Billy Wilder. Also wrote scores for opera. 1933, Goebbels, Joseph Goebbels, himself, referred to Glanzberg as a degenerate Jewish artist who must be gotten rid of. That’s 1933, had just come to power, the Nazis. Glanzberg, of course, that’s when he went into exile in Paris and started working with Reinhardt and Piaf and others.

During the War, Glanzberg, in 1939, he was enlisted into the Polish army, then he was stationed in England. After he was discharged, he returned to France in the free zone area in the south of France, which, of course, hadn’t been occupied yet by Germany. And they met the impresario, Felix Marouani, who hired him to tour with Piaf as her pianist. And they began to tour Lyon, in the free zone, in 1939, Jewish pianist playing for Piaf singing, touring, and Piaf is so hugely known. 1939, his songwriting income was suddenly blocked, by who? By the French Professional Songwriters and Composers Association who organised funds to its members. It’s a French organisation that stops it. The organisation self-censored music, any one comp, any music comp, they’re self-censored. They hadn’t yet been told by the Germans even. Any music composed by the Jews, stop. We must comply with the Nuremberg laws. And it was obviously aimed at undermining income of Jews, and Piaf becomes his lifeline, emotionally, financially, and literally his life. He writes “Padam, padam…” and many others. One of the very interesting theatre directors, Jean-Luc Tardieu, in Paris, wrote this about Glanzberg’s music. “The 'pampam,’” that song, “is the heartbeat of the Polish Jewish man from Galicia, "the beat of a heart forced to flee, "lead a clandestine life. "The arrests, the humiliation, forced and not anonymity. "False identities, false papers, "never being able to sleep at night. "To sing his songs is to hear a voice sing out "of the tumultus winds of history. "The voice of a man who’s surrounded, "who, surrounded by the sounds of boots "and jack boots and marching and bullets, "he was able to hear the beating of a sentimental heart, "pulsing for the beautiful faces of the woman he had met "and the life that he had lost.”

That’s written, interestingly, by a very important French theatre director at the time, after the war, sorry. So, he and Piaf continued touring throughout unoccupied France. But, of course, they both feared the French police, or informers, not just the Germans, ‘cause the Germans weren’t really there yet, would inform on them because they’d begun, the French police had begun rounding up Jews. Between 1939 and 1942, they toured. It’s extraordinary, a Jewish piano, you know, and big name, and they became lovers. And she always, she had such respect and admiration for Glanzberg. He had a classical background and he taught her about classical music, high standards for singing, for music, all sorts of other things he taught her while they were touring and partially on the run. Well, he was. And she spoke about how her singing improved. 1943, the free zone is invaded by the Germans. He was arrested. Jewish, obviously thrown into jail. And with Piaf’s help and connections with the Resistance, managed to organise his escape just before he was about to be deported to a concentration camp. He gets to Marseille, the Germans were doing daily searches for Jews. Piaf arranges him for go to and hide in a nearby farm. The farm became too dangerous. Piaf arranged to go to a Countess Pastré to hide him at her chateau outside Marseille. Not only did she pay, finance everything, but organises the whole thing. And later it was discovered, this Countess Pastré, I was truly talking, fascinatingly, the other day about resistors who we hardly know of and helpers. Now she was a music lover and a countess, but she had good relations with the German and French police authorities. And she would invite him to her chateau for concerts. And what she also did, she sheltered at least 40 Jewish, other Jewish composers that we know of, and musicians from the French police, primarily, including Clara Haskil.

But he’s starting to be hunted more and more because of his connection with Piaf. So he flees to Nice, and again, Piaf organises, helps, everything. He survived the war. Although, as we all know, between '42 and '44, over 75,000 Jews in France were deported. After the war, he went back to classical music and other, and he composed a series of music pieces based on poems which were written by concentration camp survivors. And he composed a lovely piece, beautiful piece, based on what, for me, is one of the great poems of all time, Paul Celan’s “Death Fugue.” In 1985, he wrote a concerto for two pianos inspired by the novels of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Okay, I just want to share this a little bit because it’s a very unknown area, I think, of this guy and his relationship to Piaf and history of the times. Okay, if we can go onto the next slide, please. This is the great iconic picture. She’s at her height of her fame, Piaf, 1950. The next slide, please. 1962, very shortly before she dies, completely different Piaf. Half crippled, arthritis, pain from those car crashes, everything, morphine addiction. And the picture on the right is the her last marriage to her last husband who’s 20 years younger. We get a picture of, I want to get a picture of her whole life. It’s the life of the streets, the life of suffering, adversity, loss, physical, all the rest of it as we go through, which is what she’s singing about. Okay, if we can go on to the next slide, please. Some of the iconic pictures of Piaf at different times of her life. If we can go on onto the next one, please. Right, I want to just go through the lyrics together, 'cause I’m going to play this song in 30 seconds.

The great one we all know and I love, it’s one of my two, three all-time favourites. “No, absolutely nothing, no, I regret nothing. "Not the good things that have happened, "not the bad, it’s all the same to me. "No, absolutely nothing, no, I regret nothing. "It’s paid, swept away, forgotten, "I don’t care about the past.” To the next slide, please. “I set fire to my memories, my troubles, my pleasures. "I don’t need them anymore. "I’ve swept away past loves with fair trembling, "swept away forever, I’m starting over.” Next slide, please. “No, absolutely nothing. "I regret nothing.” Next slide, please. “Not the good things that have happened, not the bad, "it’s all the same to me. "No, absolutely nothing, I regret nothing "because my life, because my joy, "today, it begins with you.” The classic signature song for me. I wanted to do this so we can listen to it in French knowing the words. This, for me, is one of the most fascinating performances that I’ve seen that we’re going to show next. If we could show, please, of her singing the song.

CLIP PLAYS

• Thanks, Lauren. For me, it’s this incredible connection of defiance, but underneath it, every, is dripping with pain and, and, and loss. Extraordinary combination. And just standing there and singing. Doesn’t need to embellish, doesn’t need spectacular lights or special effects. Just simple black dress, stands and sings. I think it’s such a lost thing in contemporary performers. Okay, thanks, if we can go on to the next slide is her singing “The Accordion Player.” The next film clip.

CLIP PLAYS

• Thanks, Lauren. I think I love this piece because it’s got that joyful, slightly more joyful, determined, tough cookie. You know, a little bit of the, she’s a picture of the marriage, little bit of love, other thing, bit of joyousness coming in as well, but joyousness and a toughness, you know, it keeps on going. It doesn’t sing like the sort of prettified singers of, many of today times and many others. Just an interesting bit of trivia is, she played at Carnegie Hall, and I’m going to show you the next one, twice, “The Ed Sullivan Show” she was on eight times, and the next one is on, she’s going to sing the song, “The Poor People of Paris” on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the next clip. And it just strikes me, she cracked the American market probably a decade or more before the Beatles. Okay, thanks, if we can show the next one, Ed Sullivan.

CLIP BEGINS

• The question I want to ask Édith Piaf, is during rehearsal, when we have comedians rehearsing here, she’s just over there in the corner of the stage all afternoon and she laughs and laughs, show 'em how you laugh, when you really get, then the minute she’s called on stage, she goes into this… She said, the reason she did this, she’s trying to imitate me, and I think this is not… Now what song are you going to sing first, Miss Piaf?

• My, my song, “The Poor of People of Paris”.

• “The Poor People of Paris.” Will you sing it to the poor people in New York, yeah?

• Okay.

• You tell 'em all about it though, huh?

• Okay. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, to the sad story of poor Jean. He was rich, sheikh , and had everything he wanted except love. And his life meant nothing because there was no love in him. So, listen to me, first of all in your life, fall in love. And now, here it is, “The Poor People of Paris.”

CLIP ENDS

• Thanks, Lauren. What I love, here, is she’s showing a bit of the, some of the joy, some of the lightness, even though it’s about lost love and the poor people of Paris. And there is some wits and mischievous and, you know, cheeky humour, sexy, and all of that in that way. But it feels so, dare I use the word in today’s times, authentic. Okay, can we start the next one, please, which is going to be, sorry, can we miss, can we go onto number 15, please, Lauren? This is “Padam, padam…,” the great song that was composed and written and the lyrics by Glanzberg, Norbert Glanzberg.

CLIP BEGINS

• I just can’t help sensing the, what I imagine in Glanzberg, and in her, this sense of defiance and fighting the humiliations of their lives, in a way, you know, coming from totally different perspectives, and the determination, you know, with a kind of fierce determination. In Albert Camus phrase, “In the depths of winter, "I discovered I had an invincible heart of summer.” Okay, so if we can go onto the last one. And the last one is from the, I think it’s a brilliant film. I think it’s 2007, of I remember, with Marion Cotillard. She won Oscar award, she won the BAFTA Award, the Golden Globe for her performance. And this is towards the end of the whole movie, almost the final scene, which is a remarkable scene for me, and it ends with her singing, “No Regrets,” But at the end of Piaf’s life, completely, as if in a flashback, she’s lying very sick on the bed, but as if in a flashback she’s singing it. But before that, and watch how she uses her eyes, the actress, she’s interviewed briefly by a journalist and then it goes into the song. Okay, thanks, Lauren.

CLIP ENDS

• Yeah, thanks Lauren, thanks very much. So, this is just showing, I guess, just a couple of the songs and couple of the highlight moments, I think, of her life. Obviously, I’ve left out some of the really also truly famous ones as well, there’s just too many. But I think that performance is stunning. It’s an extraordinary actress, extraordinary performance. There are so many emotions inside, there grief, sadness, loss, defiance, adversity, you know, unquenchable thirst for survival and triumph, survival, trauma, and yet fight and never stop, never give up. Okay, so thank you very much, everybody. And let’s do questions.

Q&A and Comments:

So, thank you, Marion. “After last week, after last week’s lecture, "I watched the play 'Andorra.” “Very powerful, thank you.” Thanks, Marion. Yeah, I think it’s a play, it’s underrated, by Max Frisch. It’s very powerful, and you can imagine it on stage and, you know, in our times, I think it just, it speaks to it, smelling out the Jews, which they literally do in the play.

Q: Marion, “About her lovers, Charles Aznavour "who wrote songs for her was once asked "if he was her lover.” “He said, "No, she’s not my type.’”

A: Yeah, I know that. But she had so many lovers, to be honest, that I can’t say… What I’ve read is that, you know, she was his lover. Who knows, a couple of nights, a few flings. What does it mean?

Q: Okay, Helen, “What kind of formal education?”

A: As far as I know, virtually nothing. Very, very little in those times. Got to remember, this is after the, after the first World War, going into the ‘20s. And, you know, I think she’s really been taught in the brothel, the grandmother and the prostitutes, and then she’s travelling as, for years with her father in, as a circus and street performer. Helen.

Okay. Myrna, “In the mid '70s, Charles Aznavour toured Detroit. "It was riveting with references and accolades to Piaf.” Ah, that’s great, thank you. Myrna, again.

Q: “What was her real Nice name?”

A: You know, I have it here, and I clean forgot to mention it today. I’m just going to go back into my notes and I will find it. Her original name, she had an Italian middle name. I can’t find it here. I will get it. I know the middle name is Italian, and then the surname was more French. Okay, I will get it, sorry, it just slipped my mind.

Okay, Arlene. “There’s a mountain in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta "named after Edith Cavell.” Ah, interesting. Rita, ah, great, thank you. Oh, that’s fantastic, thank you so much. This lockdown is amazing. People help each other, generosity of spirit. It’s amazing.

So Rita says, Myrna, her real, pardon me, birth name was Édith Giovanna Gassion. Gassion?

Marion, “Piaf and Cocteau died on the same day.” Yes. And his death was almost unnoticed. Apparently, when Cocteau heard about the news and he died a few hours later. He said, “Piaf has died, now I’m ready to go.”

Q: Hannah. “Did she ever meet up with a mother that deserted her?’

A: I haven’t been able to find any hard evidence, the anecdotal and other things brief, this and that, but I haven’t notify anything definitive.

Elliot. "What…” And I think this thing of abandonment is so strong. Many people feel abandoned in life, but it’s the family, the mother, the father’s, society, everything. You know, and it’s, I think it’s such a powerful theme for our times.

Q: Elliot. “What, if any, did Jacques Brel have a role in her career?”

A: I don’t know, great question. You know, it’d be fascinating to research it. No doubt.

Suzanne. “‘La Vie,’” I know, I didn’t, “doesn’t mean life is pink, "but refers to seeing life in pink.” Thanks, Suzanne. I was going to show it as well, but a little bit short of time and I thought that’s so well known that I chose some of the others.

Great, thanks for that. “Seeing life in pink.”

Clara, “My mother always played Piaf’s music. "In 1955 she took me to Baltimore Theatre "to hear her perform. "I was five.” Amazing, Clara. “I remember being carried onto the stage "and she was put in a chair in the middle of the stage "where she sang. "Every time I hear her sing, I think of my mother.” It’s a beautiful story, thank you.

Dennis. “Also on the plane that killed Marcel Cerdan "was the great French violinist.” Yes, Ginette Neveu. Thank you. “Johannesburg has a street named after Edith Cavell.” Yep, that’s right, thank you. Romaine.

“Information of great information about Glanzberg.” Yeah, for me, I mean there’s so many others, but this one just stood out, for the obvious reasons, of his personal history and the trauma of obviously the big, the big political, you know, catastrophic history going on in France and Europe at the time.

Sheila. “Just a question regarding time. "In 1939, France was not invaded. "So there was no neighbour zone at Vichy. "I don’t understand that the French musicians.” Sorry, it wasn’t 1939, it was slightly after. After the, in the late ‘40s, after the… the Germans had invaded and set up government in Vichy. And the French musicians, didn’t have to at that time yet implement the Nuremberg laws. They chose to.

Neville, hi, Neville. “How are you, hope you’re well. "Working on BBC TV production years ago, "I met Charles Aznavour and he was still then "and still one of my top music heroes. "I had the temerity to ask him "about his relationship with Piaf. "And in the French way, he tapped his nose and said,” I can’t pronounce this. “He implied, very close, but more so as musicians.” Okay, thank you, Neville.

Rita. Ah, that’s a connection to “La Vie en,” thank you. Beautiful song, obviously. Obviously, the most well-known of all of them.

Margaret. “I have a collection of old Piafs.” Fantastic. “They’re still my favourite. "Well, it’s one of my two or three favourites of all time "and remains so,” absolutely. Thanks, Margaret.

Judy. “Fascinating she does move her hands.” Yes. Well that’s what I love, is that, I’m reminded of Bob Dylan a bit and Leonard Cohen, you know, you just, the body just stands, it doesn’t need to do all sorts of extravagant things. And she, remember, she’s four foot seven, four foot eight, and occasionally her hands are her arms, like you saw in some of the, in the “Padam, padam…” and some of the others. But she can capture so much in quite a still physical presence, in the face, in the eyes, in the voice. You know, so much is coming through. And I love that simplicity of performance. And she doesn’t need almost an extra persona. Yeah, many other performers put on a persona, obviously, for when they sing.

Judy, “Till the end,” yes.

Romaine. “Everything about her life is, about a singing "is life-affirming and heartbreaking.” I think you’ve got it in two words. Lovely, Romaine. The paradox. Life-affirming and heartbreaking, yep. And you never know which is going to come when. You know, she walks that razor’s edge of life affirm, heartbreak, and that’s what makes it riveting… as a performer.

Nanette. “A brilliant natural voice. "When I listen, I feel emotional, which is unusual. "My grandmother was French,” ah, “and from childhood, Edith was her heroine. "While she was generally more into classical music.” That’s fascinating. You know, this, she became global. She made French music global, a part of French language global, in the English speaking world, of course, and maybe the Spanish speaking, other parts of the world. It’s fascinating how, something about this presence, you know, Elvis, for me, when I gave the talk on Elvis, totally in a different way. You know, totally global, but in a completely different way. She, this is such a natural voice here. I agree.

Judy said, “As you say, David, even great singers today "may have dancers, choreography, bells and whistles, "instead of just getting on with singing.” Yeah, and she just stands there with one, couple of lights and that’s it. Thank you, Judy.

Judith, “I heard Piaf sing when on holiday with my grandparents. "I’ll never forget the great impression "she made me as a teenager in London.” Great, Judith.

Naomi. Thanks for your, thank you very much. And it’s, I think it’s an amazing, it’s not a naturally sort of polished, beautiful voice. The opposite, you know, and that advice she was given early on, “Sing what you know, "come from the streets, sing it. "Be that, sing that, share that.”

Enid. “Heard her in spring '63.” Great. Marlene, thank you kindly for your words.

“The name,” oh, Marlene Dietrich. Your name is Marlene, not Marleen. “After my mother, who was a refugee from Germany.” That’s an amazing thing, thank you, Marlene. That’s incredible. This lockdown is amazing. The connections and the stories that keep coming up and intersecting, extraordinary.

Q: Hannah, “Did she ever have an agent?”

A: Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, I didn’t look at it too much today. I wanted to get into her singing and her life much more, so, to be honest, I’m going to have to research that more. I’m sure she did. Or, at least, people who would organise.

Mickey. “Back in Holland, growing up, "I only listened to to French… "to the French,” yes. “I have my mother’s record collection now in Toronto. "Piaf are favourites. "Such a tragic, tough life, so French, "all encompassing,” yep, “with the accordion.”

Q: Errol. “Were she and Marlene Dietrich lovers?”

A: Not as far as I know, I did look into that. I don’t think so.

Miriam, “Heartbreaking and fabulous. "My absolute favourite.” Thank you. Okay, thanks, Marion. I think people have loved Elvis and Piaf the most.

Q: “How did Édith Piaf learn music and,” Janet, “how did she sing at such an early age "in the brothel?”

A: Just natural. She started singing with her father. She started singing in the brothel, actually, then with her father, briefly, and then just started singing on the streets, travelling with her father. Literally get a few bucks, coins thrown, you know, in a hat, a little box in the streets. That’s how she started singing.

Henry. “Marion Cotillard came close to Piaf’s voice.” Yep. Nice, thanks, Joel, thank you.

Sherry. “I wonder whether the great American singer "Roy Orbison admired Piaf. "His stage president was similar, "Always wore black, did little on stage other than sing. "Shared something else with Piaf, ’"terrible loss and sadness in life and sought love.” Yeah. Maybe, actually, it’s a very interesting I idea. I think many were influenced by Piaf, actually. I’m sure Janis Joplin. I just think so many over the decades after her, you know, were hugely influenced. Got to remember, this is, I think more than, when she really started out, it’s more than 10 years before the Beatles, and you know, the whole explosion of the ‘60s, so I think the influence is big.

Monty. “Arthur Miller had a handicapped son. "His existence was hidden by him for four decades. "I wonder if this was the right regrets "at the end of his life.” Great question, Monty. Good point.

Q: Harry. “Her voice sounds harsh. "Did she have voice lessons?”

A: As far as I know, she might have had some by these cabaret owners. You know, the ones that I mentioned, the cabarets, the clubs, the cafes, the brothels and elsewhere. She might have had a bit, but I don’t think much.

Paula, thank you. “I love Piaf. "May now spend the rest of the day "by playing YouTube and Piaf "and find my cassettes.” Paula, have great fun. I never tyre and love Piaf and, well, many others.

Brenda, thank you for your kind comments.

Q: Robert, “Did Piaf collaborate with the Nazis?”

A: Well that’s what I was trying to mention, was that the, I think she walked a fine line between, she didn’t collaborate, but she certainly was popular, and the Nazis would go and listen to her and her singing and they gave her, you know, extra, I suppose extra few little privileges. I dunno if we would, I would go far say collaborate. I would say that she needed to make a living, she sang, she was a singer, as did the French. Did she use her contact? Yes. And she went with that French resistance leader to the camps and helped get a couple of hundred French prisoners, inmates, released from the concentration camp, not just prisoner of war camp, you know, by this Nazi commandant through having the photos taken with her, so they could take the photos afterwards and take her out of the picture and put those photos in documents to say they were still part of the free French and get them released. And it was a technique to help also some, in the earlier parts of occupation to get out of Gestapo jails.

Rita, thank you for your kind comments.

Q: Joan. “Is Edith considered an historical singing genius?”

A: I think so. In my opinion, yes.

Rita, “The voice, she uses her hands, an extension of a voice.” Yes. Everything comes as an extension of that voice, which is so, you know, is riding… For me, the voice rides the horse of emotion.

Dennis, thank you for your kind comment. Madeline, thank you.

Q: William. “What’s the name of the film?”

A: “Piaf.”

And Marion, thanks to your kind comment. Clara, thank you. Appreciate. Inna, thank you, very kind comments, everybody. Naomi.

Q: Hannah. “Did she really have no regrets?”

A: Well, do any of us really have no regrets? No, I’m sure she had regrets. That’s a great question. But it’s a, I think it’s an amazing song and it’s uplifting in spirits. You know, any times when we may feel down in life, or tough in life, hard, and just like, you know, get us, you know, get us galvanised and, you know, never give up again.

Stan, thanks very much, kind comment. Debbie, Drew, Mickey. Thanks.

“Cold morning in Toronto hearing Piaf.” Rochelle, thank you, kind comments. Nanette, Jonathan.

Piaf and Cocteau, yes, they are the same day, exactly.

Susan, hi, Susan, thanks so much for your kind comments. “Bring back to my memories as a student in France "in the '60s.” Oh, that’s fascinating. Love to have known, as a student in France how she was seen in the '60s, given that she died in '63, if I’m right. If I remember. That’s fascinating, Susan, thank you. Alison, thank you, kind comment.

Rosemary. “Thought she had an affair with Yves Montand,” yes. “One reason the marriage failed was because "the wife never supplied any cooking.” Yeah, and also the boxer, you know, that she had this huge love affair with, I think the love of her life. He was married and he had kids. Had many lovers.

Barbara, hi. “The meaning of the words cause the emotion,” yes. And I think when a singer is able to do that, when you can get the feeling without knowing what the words mean, that’s an achievement… on another level.

Anne. “I’ve climbed Mount Edith.” Oh, okay.

“Cavell. "I never knew her name inspired the naming of…” Yeah, her father chose that name because he had obviously been shattered in the first World war and he knew of Edith Cavell, the British nurse. Ellen. And that she was killed by the Germans for helping the French. Thank you.

Q: “How about a presentation of Charles Aznavour?”

A: Okay, thanks. Great idea. Irv.

“My wife attended her last performance in Paris "in the spring of '63.” A few months before she died, amazing. I wonder if you’d be interesting to hear if it was anything like Marion Cotillard’s performance that we, I just showed in the last clip.

Q: “What does 'padam’ mean? Well, it’s actually a word that is accepted by Scrabble in the English language for the game, and "padam” can mean a number of things. Extinguish, put out the fire, stop it, and a couple of other meanings as well. That’s the one that I found the most believable, I think. But it is accepted by Scrabble. Okay.

Selman. Thanks. Yeah, it’s a heartbreaking life. Everyone, thank you, kind comments.

Rochelle. “I’d love to hear Lady Gaga sing Piaf.” Interesting, that’s very interesting. Yep, I would.

Q: Norma. “Did she write any of her songs?”

A: Yes. She wrote, you know, “Life is Pink,” “La Vie en rose,” she wrote it and others. She wrote quite a few of her own.

Susan, thank you. Gabriela, thank you, kind comments, Betty, Stan,

Danielle. “She had a huge heart. "She was instrumental launching the career "of Yves Montand, Charles Aznavour.” Yes, she was hugely influential in helping these guys start their careers. Generosity of spirit. You know, I think let’s talk about love all the time is not abstract. I think it is. You know, that’s part of it, in a way.

Myrna. “Jill Barber, Canadian singer’s voice, reminds me of Piaf.” Interesting, I don’t know her, that’s fascinating. Edna, thank you.

Marion, “Her agent was Louis Barrier.” Thanks, Marian, really appreciate.

Joan, thank you, kind comment.

Linda. She was buried, yeah, the same cemetery, I think Jim Morrison. I think others are buried there as well.

“Going to give us a talk,” Marion, “about Jacques Brel.” Ah, that’s interesting. That’s a great idea. Thank you. Ara, kind comments. Thank you very much.

Mickey. “I was a student in Paris in the ‘60s after she died.” That’d be fascinating to hear of students in the '60s would’ve responded in Paris. Romain, Susan. Thank you, Gabriela. Okay.

Coming on here, just going down. Joan, so many kind comments, thank you. And Linda, thank you very much. Ira, thanks.

Q: Amy. “Was she able to overcome her vision problem?”

A: Well, she had terrible rheumatoid arthritis. She also the, in that last scene from the film, trying to show, 'cause she also had liver cancer, and trying to, and I think the actress is trying to capture something of that suffering, you know, 'cause it’s meant to be just before she dies. And the one time I showed “No Regrets,” is quite late in her life as well, not sure if she had cancer then or not.

Randy. She was not Jewish, no.

Q: “Can you ask why… "Can you explain why she took risks "from the Nazis to help the Jews?”

A: No. I mean, you know, as I think Trudy was saying so eloquently the other day, I think just some people have good hearts and just wanted to help.

And, okay, Norbert… Glanzberg was a lover and wrote the songs and others, but did she still, she didn’t have to help him, didn’t have to help the others. Hell of a lot didn’t, but she did. And, goodness of their heart, what can I say? Can theorise but, maybe just simple decency. Bit of a lost commodity these days. Randy.

Ronda. “In Toronto, a few years back, "there was a play featuring the wife, "the life of Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.” Fantastic. Thank you. Yeah, her voice is rich, definitely.

Herbert. That’s a great comment, thanks.

Q: “Can you talk Elvis again?”

A: Rosemary. I think you, I’m sure we we’ll talk to the group.

Irvs. “Her last performance in Paris, "she showed it just as I remembered it. "She shuffled out onto the stage.” Oh you saw it, Irv, well that’s fantastic. So, I’m sure, 'cause I know Marion Cotillard does a huge amount of research. She’s an extreme fanatical researcher as an actress and brilliant, in my opinion. And she got that shuffle and she got that walk, you know, I think it’s one of the, that is one of the most powerful moments for me in film, that last scene.

Michael. “Her liver cancer probably came from the drug addiction "and hepatitis C.” Great, thanks Michael.

Q: Ellen. “Is it a coincidence you’re wearing black?”

A: In honour of Piaf.

I love, this group is amazing. Don’t miss a, you don’t miss a thing. Thanks, everybody. I hope you have a great rest of the weekend and enjoy.