This is a song that resembles us. Maurice Chevalier, Prince of Ménilmontant and King of Hollywood

Maurice Chevalier, for several years – and around twenty films – was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, singing many songs in French in successful films, even going so far as to correct his classic “Valentine”.

In partnership with the exhibition It’s a song that resembles us – Worldwide hits of French-language popular music At the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts, these chronicles look in detail at each of the stories presented there.

Maurice Chevalier is the immense Momo and his archetypal Parisian accent, in a more than classic song, Valentinewhich fans know is due to the combined talent of lyricist Albert Willemetz and composer Henri Christiné who, when it was created in 1925, sought to recreate the slightly ribald atmosphere of the pre-war café-concert of 1914.

That’s why Valentine has tiny feet and “a tiny piton”. It’s funny because it’s not a slang word that actually means a small nose. A piton, on the contrary, is more of a big drunkard’s nose. But in the picture, Maurice Chevalier clearly shows his nose because it’s the song from an American film from 1935, Folies Bergère of Pariswhich begins with Valentineperformed by Chevalier, who plays the role of a singer and director of the Folies Bergère, the most famous European cabaret. And so he sings this “tiny little piton” in French, even though you know very well what he sings in the original version.

Maurice Chevalier was an immensely popular artist for decades, who left us with a large number of immortal hits, including Valentine. But we easily forget today that the Prince of Ménilmontant was also the king of Hollywood. This Frenchman was for several years the highest paid actor in American cinema.

In 1935, Folies Bergère of Paris contains this charming scene. Sitting on a Parisian café terrace, Maurice Chevalier says that he prefers rain to good weather, and in a duet with the charming Anne Sothern, he sings and dances Rhythm of the Rain. But the French-speaking viewers of the film The man from the Folies Bergère will see Maurice Chevalier singing and dancing the romance of the rain with the charming Sim Viva, a Belgian actress. And around them, the same sumptuous troupe of dancers who deserve that this film received the Oscar for best choreography.

In this episode of It’s a song that resembles usyou hear excerpts from:

Maurice Chevalier, Valentine, 1935

Maurice Chevalier, Valentine, 1925

Maurice Chevalier and Ann Sothern, Rhythm of the Rain, 1935

Maurice Chevalier and Sim Viva, The Romance of Rain, 1935

Maurice Chevalier, Mimi (English version), 1932

Maurice Chevalier, Mimi (French version), 1932

Maurice Chevalier, Valentine, 1925

You can also extend this column with the book It’s a song that resembles us published by Heritage Publishing.

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