Barkevouhi Bedrossian (poètess)
54 Bd de Belleville, 75020 Paris, France

Armenian Barkêve Orfa Bedrossian (1908-1980), was a talented poet and illustrator who was married to the writer Armand J. Bedrossian. Amongst her publications is the beautiful 1964 book Armenouche (Symphonie Poétique), that combines both her literary and pictorial talents, and was published while she lived here. She is buried in Plomari, Lesbos, Greece. Written on her gravestone is the poem….
“My soul is a corner of art and love. My gaze emits flame and my skull is a tower of spirit and mystery. My ebony curls billow the smoke. My blood is the fire of the ideal, flame and light will come out of my grave.”

Magda Liermann (ARTISTES LYRIQUES)
16 Rue du Pressoir, 75020 Paris, France

Soprano Magda Liermann was an opera singer who performed alongside Montserrat Caballé in Jules Massenet’s Manon in 1968. Playing the role of Poussette at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, she found herself on stage with her 20th arrondissement neighbour Alain Vanzo. In the 1970s she appeared on the radio with the orchestre lyrique de l’ORTF in Offenbach’s Pierrette Et Jacquot. With her husband, Yvon Le Marc’hadour, she contributed a number of French songs to an LP by the French Broadcasting System In North America in 1963.

Janie Cap (CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
5 Rue Etienne Dolet, 75020 Paris, France

A triple threat in show business circles, Janie Cap was a dancer, actress and singer. Trained classically she danced on the stage of the Théatre du Châtelet. As an actress she travelled across France on tour with Sacha Guitry. Her singing career was short but sweet with just a couple of 7” EPs released on small independent labels. She is well remembered by a generation of young dancers for her excellent classical dance school in Paris.

Marie-Christine Charmolu (DANSEUSES)
11 Rue Victor Letalle, 75020 Paris, France

Dancer Christa Charmolu entered the Paris Opera dance school in 1962 and joined the corps de Ballet in 1965 where she was promoted to Coryphée then Sujet. In the classical ballet company in the Opera House in Paris, there are five ranks of dancers (from highest to lowest): Danseur Étoile, premier danseur, sujet, coryphée, and quadrille. She danced as a soloist in many roles including Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Swan Lake, Agon and Palais Cristal by George Balanchine, Mirages and Suite en Blanc by Serge Lifar. In 1991, she became a Professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris until 2015 when she joined the teaching team at the Paris Stanlowa Ballet School.

Robert Castel (CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
14 Rue des Panoyaux, 75020 Paris, France

Born in Algeria, Robert Castel was the son of Lili Labassi, a singer-songwriter of Chaabi music. He started his career as a musician, accompanying his father in Franco-Arabic songs. He learnt his acting craft in the troupe of the Centre régional d’art dramatique in Algiers. At the age of 24 he began his film career in the film Les Amants de demain (1959), directed by Marcel Blistène. A popular humorist, he starred in over 50 films in a career that finally ended in 2017, in the documentary Les Magnifiques. He was married to Pied-Noir actress Lucette Sahuquet. Together they released a number of EPs throughout the 1960s and 70s.

Jo Privat (Accordeon)
90 Bd de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris, France

Accordionist and composer Jo Privat was born and bred in Ménilmontant. He was, for fifty years (1936-1986), one of the stalwarts of the Balajo club, the temple of the musette. Here he surrounded himself with the most prominent gypsy guitarists. He met, among others, Django Reinhardt and the Ferret brothers, as well as Didier Roussin, whom he nicknamed “Bufalo”, and Patrick Saussois, given the nickname “La Sauce”. Privat composed about five hundred works, influenced by bagpipes, Gypsy culture and American jazz.

Lucienne Noblet (COMÉDIENNES)
32 Bd de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris, France

An actress often cast in supporting roles, or as one critic wrote, in thankless roles, Lucienne Noblet was a bright and accomplished actress on the provincial stage. She did perform on the Paris stage, in Alfred Savoir’s La Voie lactée (Théâtre des Mathurins, 1933), and at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Peer Gynt (1935). It seems the 1930s was the decade when her star shone the brightest, with regular appearances on Radio Paris reading the works of François Coppée, George Sand, and Alfred de Musset. She was noted for her friendly, clear, crisp voice, with its pleasant nuanced timbre. Like many touring thespians of the times (and nowadays too) she played a variety of theatrical styles and genres. These ranged from the military vaudeville Le Tampon du Capiston to the Parisian detective drama Boîte de nuit.

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

The Père-Lachaise cemetery is the most visited cemetery in the world. Many famous show business stars are buried here. These include a diverse range of singing talents including Franck Alamo (1941-2012, division 25), Gilbert Bécaud (1927-2001, division 45), Marie Dubas (1894-1972, division 36), Marie Laforêt (1939 – 2019, division 49), Francis Lemarque (1917-2002, division 44, ligne 2), Yves Montand (1921-1991, division 44), Jim Morrison (1943-1971, division 6), Marcel Mouloudji (1922-1994, division 42), Georges Moustaki (1934-2013, division 95), Patachou (1918-2015, division 2), Édith Piaf (1915-1963, division 97), and Henri Salvador (1917-2008, division 97).

Jean Garron (Batterie)
39 Rue du Repos 20e, 75020 Paris, France
And
8 Bd de Ménilmontant, 75020 Paris, France

In the 1960s Jean Garron was a drummer and percussionist with André Bénichou, the Algerian-born, French classical and jazz guitarist. He appeared on Bénichou’s 1965 release Guitare-Bach Volume 2, and later on Guitare-Bach Volume 3, and his Musiques De Films. Towards the end of the decade he played on Francesca Solleville’s eponymous 1968 long player. In the 1970s he was a member of Lucien Lavoute’s orchestra, and worked with Denis Wetterwald, and the Algerian panpipe player Georges Schmitt.

Catherine Anglade (COMEDIENNES)
202 Boulevard de Charonne, 75020 Paris, France

Actress, director and producer Catherine Anglade studied first at the Cours Leduc in Paris, and then at the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art. Although she started her career as an actress she was best known for her work as a television producer. She was the woman behind 3 major successes, Sérieux s’abstenir (1965-1973), L’invité du dimanche (1969-1971), and C’est pas sérieux (1975-1980). She made her acting debut in 1961, on stage in Becket at the Théâtre Montparnasse, and on TV in L’éventail de Lady Windermere. Anglade was married to the journalist and writer Philippe Ragueneau. Their cat, Moune, was the star of several popular books written by Ragueneau. After her death in 1994 Anglade communicated with her husband from beyond the grave, Ragueneau wrote a book about the experience, L’autre côté de la vie, dialogues avec l’invisible.