Michel Subiela (REALISATEURS DE TELEVISION)
11 Rue de Boulainvilliers, 75016 Paris, France

The godfather of fantastical drama on French television, Michel Subiela created the series Tribunal de l’impossible, which was broadcast on the first channel of ORTF from 1967 to 1974. An anthology of fantastic (occult etc) news stories that had hit the headlines, it was composed of 14 TV films, 5 of which Subiela directed himself. The series introduced the fantasy genre to the small screen, including a debate between specialists about the veracity of the facts. Subiela started his career in television as a writer, adapting classic works for the small screen including several for the program Le Théâtre de la jeunesse. During the 1970s he worked as a director on films and series, his final assignment being an episode of Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret in 1988.

Les Français (CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES) c/o Jean Perrot
90 Rue Raynouard, 75016 Paris, France

Dynamic three-piece Les Français released just a handful of singles between 1964-68 before going their separate ways. The classic lineup was Jacky Rault (drums), Jacky Hythier (guitar) and Mat Camison (organ), with the later addition of guitarist Ted Tunnicliffe of the Krewkats. The group backed many of the leading French pop musicians of the time, primarily France Gall at the start of her career. Mat Camison would become a leading session musician in Paris, working with such recording artists as Nino Ferrer, Richard Anthony, Serge Lama, Claude François, Dalida, and Sheila.

Maurice Vanderschueren (Vander) – Piano/ Orgue
20 Rue de Boulainvilliers, 75016 Paris, France

Maurice Vanderschueren (known as Maurice Vander) was a French jazz pianist who composed music for Claude Nougaro. He was a friend and arranger for the popular singer-songwriter for years. Vanderschueren’s father was an accordionist and young Maurice trained as a classical pianist before falling in love with jazz on the radio. At the beginning of the 1950s in the clubs of Paris he accompanied and often recorded with well-known musicians such as Django Reinhardt, Don Byas, Bobby Jaspar, Jimmy Raney, Stéphane Grappelli, Kenny Clarke and Biréli Lagrène. In 1962 he won the annual Django-Reinhardt Prize, and fronted several of his own recordings (Jazz at the Blue Note with Kenny Clarke and Pierre Michelot, 1961). He participated in Parisian recordings of Chet Baker and Stan Getz, and appeared on the radio with Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach (in 1967). Maurice Vanderschueren met Claude Nougaro in the early 1960s, he was his pianist, co-composer and arranger for four decades. Nougaro nicknamed him “the rooster” and paid tribute to him in his song Le coq et la pendule. He has worked on several film scores, notably orchestrating Francis Lai’s score for Un homme et une femme (1966).

Marthe Mercadier (COMÉDIENNES)
20 Rue de Boulainvilliers, 75016 Paris, France

The life of actress Marthe Mercadier is as remarkable off-screen as during her glittering and long career. At the age of 5 she danced with Josephine Baker, at 6 she went selectively mute, at 15 she was paralyzed for eighteen months following a fall from a human pyramid. During WW2 she worked with the French Resistance before launching her career as the war ended, making her debut on the stage of the Théâtre Saint-Georges in Paris. For the next 70 years she led a wonderfully varied creative journey across cinema, cabaret, television and especially theatre. From 1965 to 1970 she played Fanny, one of the lead roles in the hit series Les Saintes chéries.

Berthe Bailly (PRODUCTEURS ET PRESENTATEURS DE L’O.R.T.F.)
17 Rue de Boulainvilliers, 75016 Paris, France

Berthe Bailly hosted the radio programme Nos disques sont les vôtres, playing listeners’ record requests on France Musique, the national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on classical music and jazz.

Andre Francis (PRODUCTEURS ET PRESENTATEURS DE L’O.R.T.F.)
17 Rue de Boulainvilliers, 75016 Paris, France

André Francis was a French radio and television host, author, producer and festival organiser, who was affectionately known as “Monsieur Jazz”. The success of Jazz in France, and the new opportunities he created for professionals and amateurs alike can be attributed to André Francis’ devotion and dedication to the genre. Francis fell in love with jazz in the post war nightclubs of Paris, and the American musicians who came to the city to escape racism and discrimination back home but also to express their musical freedoms. He made his debut on the radio in 1947, and would go on to be involved in the programmes Jazz Variétés (which he produced with Charles Delaunay and Bobby Forest), Jazz Sur Scène, and Jazz Vivant. In 1964, André Francis was appointed head of the “bureau du jazz” at Radio France. He was also involved in Jazz festivals as a columnist, host, and organiser throughout his career. He presented the Antibes Juan-les-Pins jazz festival for many years, a position he held until 1999. Just a stone’s throw away, he presented the first jazz concert broadcast live from Studio 104 at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique in 1968. In 1986, he became the first president of the National Jazz Orchestra.

Jean Deschamps (COMÉDIENS)
9 Ham. de Boulainvilliers, 75016 Paris, France

A true Renaissance man, Jean Deschamps studied for a philosophy degree in Toulouse, took painting and architecture courses at the École des Beaux-Arts (Paris), and attended drama classes at the Conservatoire. Truly an actor of the stage, Deschamps made his debut in the lead role of Herman Closson’s Borgia at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées (Paris) in 1947. In 1952 he joined the ranks of the Théâtre National Populaire and four years later joined the Comédie-Française, making his debut in the role of Titus in Bérénice alongside Annie Ducaux. A year later, in 1957, he directed La Chanson de Roland at the Grand Théâtre de la Cité in the great walled city of Carcassonne. He founded the Théâtre du Midi, the national drama centre of Languedoc-Roussillon, and would direct in Carcassonne for another 20 years; the Théâtre Jean-Deschamps here is named after him.

Armand Bernard (CHEFS D’ORCHESTRES)
14 Rue de l’Assomption, 75016 Paris, France

Not to be confused with the singer and actor of the same name, Armand Bernard was a Parisian conductor, composer, arranger and organist. He created musical scores for many of the first French talking films, including René Clair’s Sous les toits de Paris (with André Gailhard,1930) and Le Million (with Georges van Parys and Philippe Parès, 1931).

Christian-Jaque (REALISATEURS DE CINEMA)
14 Rue de l’Assomption, 75016 Paris, France

Parisian director Christian-Jaque began his career as a film set designer in 1927, although he had trained as an architect at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and worked as a journalist for the magazine Cinégraph before this. His filmography, of exceptional longevity, is impressive: from 1932 (Le Bidon d’or) to 1977 (La Vie parisienne), he made 59 feature films for the cinema, and from 1968 to 1985, he worked on around sixty television films. Some of his stand out films include Un Revenant, which was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, and the popular swashbuckling film Fanfan la Tulipe, which won him the Best Director award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. Christian-Jaque was married to the actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including Lucrèce Borgia (1953), Madame du Barry (1954), and Nana (1955). His real name was Christian Albert François Maudet, but when he’d previously designed movie posters for First National Pictures in the 1920s, he had collaborated with Jacques Chabraison. They had signed their work with their first names together: Christian-Ja(c)que(s). It was a pseudonym that he kept for the rest of his career.

Paul Guers (COMEDIENS)
9 Av. Anne-Eugénie Milleret de Brou, 75016 Paris, France

Actor Paul Guers studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique (class of 1953). He was a resident of the Comédie-Française from 1953 to 1956, and would continue to regularly appear on the stage until 1986. In the cinema he played the male lead in La Fille aux yeux d’or, alongside Marie Laforêt. The 1961 film was inspired by Honoré de Balzac’s 1835 short novel The Girl with the Golden Eyes. Balzac’s former home at 47, rue Raynouard is only just a short walk away. As Guers worked steadily during the 1970s and 80s his film work grew more sporadic and he would increasingly appear on TV, including the crime series The Octopus (1984-87). In 2016, he was found dead alongside his wife, the writer Marie-Josèphe Guers, at their home in Montsoreau. Paul Guers had been receiving cancer treatment at the time.

Maurice Horgues – CHANSONNIERS
15 Av. du Recteur Poincaré, 75016 Paris, France

Described as the Enfant Terrible of chansonniers, Maurice Horgues was at home on the stage of Théâtre de Dix Heures, Caveau de la République, Deux Ânes and the Théâtre du Coucou, the great dens of laughter. Unlike some of his fellow chansonniers he reached beyond their spiritual home of Montmartre, appearing on the radio on Ce soir on égratigne from 1964-88, and then the Sunday morning L’Oreille en coin. He hosted the Sunday morning slot alongside Anne-Marie Carrière, Jean Amadou, and Jacques Mailhot. It was a melting pot of gags, stories, hoaxes, tales, parodies and imitations, poetry, songs, classical music, philosophical reflections, improvisations and cleverly edited recordings. He wrote several plays and more than 600 songs and monologues including the famous Mec à son volant.