Editing Django Reinhardt (section)

=== Marriage and injury ===
At the age of 17, Reinhardt married Florine "Bella" Mayer, a girl from the same Romani settlement, according to Romani custom (although not an official marriage under French law).<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|9}} The following year he recorded for the first time.<ref name=Fogg>Fogg, Rod. ''Django Reinhardt: Know the Man, Play the Music'', Hal Leonard Corp. (2005)</ref>{{rp|9}} On these recordings, made in 1928, Reinhardt plays the "banjo" (actually the banjo-guitar) accompanying the accordionists Maurice Alexander, Jean Vaissade and Victor Marceau, and the singer Maurice Chaumel. His name was now drawing international attention, such as from British bandleader [[Jack Hylton]], who came to France just to hear him play.<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|10}} Hylton offered him a job on the spot, and Reinhardt accepted.<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|10}}

Before he had a chance to start with the band, Reinhardt nearly died. On the night of 2 November 1928, Reinhardt was going to bed in the wagon that he and his wife shared in the caravan. He knocked over a candle, which ignited the extremely flammable [[celluloid]] that his wife used to make artificial flowers. The wagon was quickly  engulfed in flames. The couple escaped, but Reinhardt suffered extensive burns over half his body.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flatpick.com/category_s/2218.htm |title=Gypsy Jazz and Django Reinhardt |website=Flatpick.com |date=2 November 1928 |access-date=30 May 2017}}</ref> During his 18-month hospitalization, doctors recommended amputation of his badly damaged right leg. Reinhardt refused the surgery and was eventually able to walk with the aid of a cane.<ref name=Fogg />{{rp|10}}

More crucial to his music, the fourth and fifth fingers (ring and little fingers) of Reinhardt's left hand were badly burned. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again.<ref name=Delaunay />{{rp|43–44}}  <ref name=Fogg />{{rp|10}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Pierre|last=Marty|title= Django ressuscité: contribution à l'étude d'une auto-rééducation fonctionnelle en 1925 |publisher= Copédit |year=2005|isbn= 2-906030-91-0 }}</ref> During many months of recuperation, Reinhardt retaught himself to play using primarily the index and middle fingers of his left hand, using the two injured fingers only for chord work.<ref name=Delaunay />{{rp|31–35}} He made use of a new six-string [[Steel-string acoustic guitar|steel-strung acoustic guitar]] that was bought for him by his brother, [[Joseph Reinhardt]], who was also an accomplished guitarist.

Within a year of the fire, in 1929, Bella Mayer gave birth to their son, [[Lousson Reinhardt|Henri "Lousson" Reinhardt]]. Soon thereafter, the couple split up. The son eventually took the surname of his mother's new husband. As Lousson Baumgartner, the son himself became an accomplished musician who went on to record with his biological father.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.hotclub.co.uk/gypsyworld/index.php?title=Lousson_Reinhardt|title=Lousson Reinhardt|encyclopedia=Gypsy Jazz Encyclopedia|access-date=7 April 2010|archive-date=2 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110702085441/http://www.hotclub.co.uk/gypsyworld/index.php?title=Lousson_Reinhardt|url-status=dead}}</ref>