Jacques Cathy
(CHANSONNIERS)
1 bis Rue Bachelet, 75018 Paris, France

Cartoonist and singer Jacques Cathy (real name Louis Guionnet b.1906) was the third mayor of the Commune libre de Montmartre. He worked as a caricaturist for the weekly Le Rire paper and later joined the cabaret team La Vache Enragee, led by fellow chansonnier Roger Toziny. His line drawings are particularly expressive and stylish, worth obtaining, displaying and preserving if you get the chance. Founded in Paris Le Rire was an illustrated satirical journal that was published for almost sixty years, closing down in the 1950s, it had a brief return in the 1970s. After WW2 Cathy made several appearances in films, although in minor roles.

See an object related to Jacques Cathy HERE.

Gil Caraman
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
5 Rue Bachelet, 75018 Paris, France

Swiss singer Gil Caraman (1940-2016) released a number of singles for French label Riviera in the 1960s, the best known being Les Pianos Mécaniques. Co-written with Georges Delerue and Jean-Pierre Moulin it was the title song from the 1965 film of the same name, starring James Mason and Hardy Krüger.

Suzanne Gabriello
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
77 Rue Labat, 75018 Paris, France

French actress and singer Suzanne Gabriello (1932-1992) specialised in comic chanson and parodies taken from the classic songbooks of Georges Brassens, Enrico Macias, Jean Ferrat, Guy Mardel, and Nino Ferrer, to name a few. She was born into show business being the daughter of French actor and chansonnier André Gabriello. She had a turbulent five year relationship with the singer Jacques Brel, who she says wrote the song Ne me quitte pas for her.

Jean Deninx
(COMÉDIENS)
36 Rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France

After studying in Bordeaux and then at the Paris Conservatory Jean Deninx joined the oldest active theatre company in the world, the Comédie-Français. On the cinema screen he played minor roles in Le café du cadran (1947) and L’affaire est dans le sac (1932) but he is probably best known for the role he missed out on. In 1939 he was the talk of France, a relatively unknown actor cast to play Franz Schubert alongside German actress Lillian Harvey in the film Serenade, directed by Jean Boyer. It wasn’t meant to be, the role being occupied by Bernard Lancret when the film was finally released in 1940. By the 1960s Deninx was balancing both acting and directing careers. Productions of Shakespeare, Molière and Boris Vian fell under his guiding hand as a director.

Renée Garcia
(COMÉDIENNES)
25 Rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France

Despite a long career as a dramatic actress Renée Garcia is best remembered as the first director of the quarterly literary journal Le Cerf-volant. First published in 1951 by Henri Duflot and Garcia, it was set up to defend the French language, predominantly through the power of poetry but it also published short stories, reviews and letters. Garcia’s earlier career as an actress encompassed theatre and radio dramas. In 1930 she was seriously hurt during a performance at the Théâtre de l’Avenue, when a blank round from a pistol was fired in close proximity to her.

Liliane Carolles
(COMÉDIENNES)
32 Rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France

Liliane Carolles was a theatre and radio actress who could be seen on stage at the Théâtre Gramont in the 1950s. On the French radio she appeared in Marcelle Hagen’s Je reviendrai during the 1960s.

Paul Bonifas
(COMÉDIENS)
12 Rue Lamarck, 75018 Paris, France

Parisien Paul Bonifas was a theatre and cinema actor, best known to English-speaking audiences for his role in Stanley Donen’s 1963 film Charade. After being evacuated from Dunkirk during WW2 he joined the Free French and worked for Radio Londres broadcasting to occupied France. After the war he resumed his career in theatre and cinema. Films include Trapeze (1956), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), Fanny (1961), Charade (1963), Greed in the Sun (1964), The Train (1964), Is Paris Burning? (1966), and Triple Cross (1966).

Don Gonzalo Fernández
(Flute)
7 Rue Paul Albert, 75018 Paris, France

Cuban flautist Gonzalo Fernández moved to Paris in the 1960s via Vienna, where he attended the 7th World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship. At the time late night Paris was alive to the latin rhythms of the mambo, rumba, and cha cha chá. Fernández was much in demand, playing with Los Cangaceiros, Los Matecoco, Ben Bacrim and in the band of the charismatic singer Bob Azzam. He graduated to work with African artists in Paris including Le Grand Kalle, the king of Congolese music, and his group L’African Jazz. Fernández left Paris in 1974 to move to New York, where he immersed himself in the golden age of salsa.

Jean-Simon Prevost
(COMEDIENS)
36 Rue Maurice Utrillo, 75018 Paris, France

Born in Paris in 1930, French actor and director Jean-Simon Prévost began his career at the Comédie-Française as a trainee before moving to Le Centre dramatique de l’Est in Alsace. He had a long career in TV and cinema, spanning more than 50 years. In 1969, around the same time he lived here, he appeared in the film Sous le signe du taureau starring Jean Gabin and Suzanne Flon.