Editing Mistinguett

{{short description|French actress and singer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mistinguett
| image = Mistinguett by Nadar.jpg
| caption = Mistinguett by Paul Nadar (son of [[Nadar (photographer)|Nadar]])
| imagesize = 
| birth_name = Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1873|4|5}}
| birth_place = [[Enghien-les-Bains]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age |df=y|1956|1|5|1873|4|5}} 
| death_place = [[Bougival]], [[French Fourth Republic|France]]
}}

'''Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois''' (5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956), known professionally as '''Mistinguett''' ({{IPA|fr|mistɛ̃ɡɛt|lang}}), was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world.<ref name="Music">{{cite book
| first= Paul
| last= Du Noyer
| year= 2003
| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music
| edition= 1st
| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing 
| location= Fulham, London
| isbn= 1-904041-96-5
| page= 420}}</ref>

==Early life==

The daughter of Antoine Bourgeois, a 31-year-old day-labourer, and Jeannette Debrée, a 21-year-old seamstress, Jeanne Bourgeois was born at 5 [[Rue du Chemin-de-Fer]] (today [[Rue Gaston-Israël]]), in [[Enghien-les-Bains]], [[Val-d'Oise]], [[Île-de-France]], France. The family moved to [[Soisy-sous-Montmorency]] where she spent her childhood; her parents later worked as mattress-makers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.soisy-sous-montmorency.fr/heading/heading1442971.html |title=Town of Soisy sous Montmorency, "History of Soisy" |access-date=22 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191423/http://www.soisy-sous-montmorency.fr/heading/heading1442971.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Flanner, Janet 1965 page 6">Flanner, Janet, ''Paris Journal, Volume Two, 1956—1964'' (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1965), page 6</ref>

At an early age Bourgeois aspired to be an entertainer. She began as a [[flower seller]] in a restaurant in her hometown, singing popular ballads as she sold blossoms. 

== 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."

==Death==

Mistinguett died in [[Bougival]], France, at the age of 82, attended by her son, a doctor.<ref name="Flanner, Janet 1965 page 6"/> She is buried in the Cimetière [[Enghien-les-Bains]], Île-de-France, France.

[[Jean Cocteau]] said in an obituary <blockquote>Her voice, slightly off-key, was that of the Parisian [[Street hawker|street hawkers]]—the husky, trailing voice of the Paris people. She was of the animal race that owes nothing to [[intellectualism]]. She incarnated herself. She flattered a [[French nationalism|French patriotism]] that was not shameful. It is normal now that she should crumble, like the other [[caryatids]] of that great and marvelous epoch that was ours.<ref name="Flanner, Janet 1965 page 6" /></blockquote>

== Gallery ==

<gallery>
File:Mistinguett-Affiche.jpg|Mistinguett poster, 1911
File:Mistinguett in shop.jpg|Mistinguett in the United States in 1924
File:Poster Mistinguett Moulin Rouge.jpg|Poster ''Mistinguett Moulin Rouge'', by [[Charles Gesmar]], 1926
File:Mistinguett - Josephine Baker, 1927.jpg| Mistinguett and [[Josephine Baker]] in 1927
File:Mistinguett sur sa chrysler, Deauville.jpg|Mistinguett in her Chrysler, Deauville, France, 1929
</gallery>

==Filmography==

* ''Carosello del varietà'' (1955)
* ''[[Paris 1900 (film)|Paris 1900]]'' (1947)
* ''Rigolboche'' (1936) .... Lina Bourget
* ''[[Island of Love (1929 film)|Island of Love]]'' (1929)
* ''Mistinguett détective II'' (1917)
* ''Mistinguett détective'' (1917)
* ''[[Flower of Paris]]'' (1916) .... Margot Panard et Mistinguett
* ''Sous la menace'' (1916)
* ''[[The Gold Chignon]]'' (1916)
* ''Doppia ferita, La'' (1915)
* ''Valse renversante, La'' (1914)
* ''Misérables – Époque 4: Cosette et Marius, Les'' (1913) .... [[Éponine]]
* ''Misérables – Époque 3: Cosette, Les'' (1913) .... Éponine
* ''Misérables – Époque 2: Fantine, Les'' (1913) .... Éponine Thénardier
* ''Misérables – Époque 1: Jean Valjean, Les'' (1913) .... Éponine Thénardier
* ''Glu, La'' (1913) .... Fernande, dite 'La Glu'
* ''Une bougie récalcitrante'' (1912)
* ''Parapluie, Le'' (1912)
* ''Vocation de Lolo, La'' (1912)
* ''À bas les hommes'' (1912)
* ''Bal costumé'' (1912)
* ''Coup de foudre, Le'' (1912)
* ''Folle de Penmarch, La'' (1912) .... Yvonne ... aka ''Folle de Pen-March, La (France)
* ''Moche, La'' (1912)
* ''L'Oubliée, L'' (1912)
* ''Un enfant terrible'' (1912)
* ''Clown et le pacha, Le'' (1911)
* ''Épouvante, L''' (1911) .... La star de music-hall ... aka ''Terror-Stricken'' (UK)
* ''Ruse de Miss Plumcake, La'' (1911) .... Miss Plumcake
* ''Timidités de Rigadin, Les'' (1910) .... La fiancée de Rigadin
* ''Ce bon docteur'' (1909)
* ''L'Enlèvement de Mademoiselle Biffin'' (1909)
* ''Un mari qui l'échappe belle'' (1909)
* ''Fiancée récalcitrante, La'' (1909)
* ''Fleur de pavé'' (1909)
* ''L'Empreinte ou La main rouge'' (1908)

==References==

{{Reflist}}
''Paris Journal'' was written by Janet Flanner, Paris writer for the ''New Yorker'', 1925–1975.

==External links==

{{Commons category|Mistinguett}}
{{wikiquote}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0592965|name=Mistinguett}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028113459/http://geocities.com/~jimlowe/mist/mistdex.html |date=28 October 2009 |title=Fan Site }}
*[http://www.lenci-dolls.net/mistinguett.html Mistinguett by Lenci, c.1924]
*[http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=1480 Photographs and literature]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mistinguett}}
[[Category:1873 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Enghien-les-Bains]]
[[Category:Actresses from Île-de-France]]
[[Category:French stage actresses]]
[[Category:French women singers]]
[[Category:French cabaret singers]]
[[Category:French silent film actresses]]
[[Category:French film actresses]]
[[Category:French vedettes]]
[[Category:19th-century French actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century French actresses]]
[[Category:Moulin Rouge]]