Editing Mistinguett (section)

== Entertainer ==
[[File:Mistinguett Moulin Rouge.jpg|thumb|Mistinguett at the [[Moulin Rouge]]]]

After taking classes in theatre and singing, she began her career as an entertainer in 1885. One day on the train to Paris for a violin lesson, she met Saint-Marcel, who directed the revue at the [[Casino de Paris]]. He engaged her first as a stage-hand, and here she began to pursue her goal to become an entertainer, experimenting with various stage-names, being successively Miss Helyett, Miss Tinguette, Mistinguette and, finally, Mistinguett.<ref>Regine Reyne (2008) ''The Eye Behind the Scenes; My Years in the Music-Halls of Paris'', Editions Harmattan, Paris {{ISBN|978-2-296-06435-5}}</ref> In the 1880s Mistinguett visited her neighbour [[Anna Thibaud]] to ask for advice. Thibaud told her, "To succeed in the theatre ... you must be pretty. You must excite men." Mistinguett asked if she meant that she had to excite the crowds. Thibaud repeated, "No, the men!"<ref>{{citation|page=25 |last=Berlanstein|first=Lenard R.|title=Daughters of Eve: A Cultural History of French Theater Women from the Old Regime to the Fin de Siècle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4bV6oApNIhAC&pg=PA25|access-date=9 November 2017|date=30 June 2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02081-8}}</ref>

Bourgeois made her debut as Mistinguett at the [[Casino de Paris]] in 1895 and went on to appear in venues such as the [[Folies Bergère]], [[Moulin Rouge]] and [[Eldorado]]. Her risqué routines captivated Paris, and she went on to become the most popular French entertainer of her time and the highest-paid female entertainer in the world, known for her flamboyance and a zest for the theatrical.<ref name="Music"/> In 1919, her legs were insured for 500,000 [[French franc|Franc]]s.

Though Mistinguett never married, she had a son, Leopoldo João de Lima e Silva, born in 1901, from a liaison she had with a Brazilian diplomat, Leopoldo José de Lima e Silva (1872–1931).<ref>[http://pagfam.geneall.net/2762/pessoas.php?id=1082503 Jeanne Bourgeois (Mistinguett), genealogy]</ref> She also had a long relationship with [[Maurice Chevalier]], 15 years her junior. It is claimed that she and Chevalier informed the police in 1940 that singer-songwriter [[Charles Trenet]] was gay and consorting with youths.<ref>''Maurice Chevalier: The Authorized Biography'', by David Bret, 2002, pg 113 {{ISBN|1-86105-499-8}}</ref>

She first recorded her signature song, "[[Mon Homme]]", in 1916. It was popularised under its English title "My Man" by [[Fanny Brice]] and has become a standard in the [[Wiktionary:repertoire|repertoire]] of numerous pop and [[jazz]] singers.

During a tour of the United States, Mistinguett was asked by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine to explain her popularity. Her answer was, "It is a kind of magnetism. I say 'Come closer' and draw them to me."