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Find on Actu Chartres, every Sunday, a Eurelian chronicle of History and stories proposed by Alain Denizet. Professor, historian, writer from Eure-et-Loir, he has for years brought together all of his chronicles on his site.
December 13, 1959, Dreux: Edith Piaf’s illness, end of tour
Consumed by alcohol and drugs, victim of two car accidents, weakened by an operation for pancreatitis in September, broken by the end of her affair with George Moustaki… it is exhausted that Edith Piaf begins the November 20, 1959 a new tour [1].
It passes through Dreux on December 13. Did she remember singing at the age of 7, at Billy’s barracks, accompanied by her father?
Successful first part of his proteges
Backstage, weary voice, seated on a chair, it is she who introduces her proteges to whom the first part falls.
It is also very successful. An illusionist, three promising young singers and Nita Raya, singer and confirmed dancer – former companion of Maurice Chevalier – are warmly applauded.
But the public came for “ the kid ».
A smaller audience than expected, however, notes the Drouais journalist Roger Robinet in The Republic of the Center because, despite its name, “the village hall is far from full”.
Did the publicity made around his discomfort on stage in Maubeuge a few days earlier discourage some of his admirers?
Be that as it may, Edith Piaf barely does five hundred paid entrancestwo hundred less than the Compagnons de la Chanson which preceded it the same year in the same place.
Endless intermission, malaise behind the scenes
The intermission is endless. A quarter of an hour, half an hour, then an hour…
The audience waits, unaware of what is happening behind the curtains. Edith Piaf has made a new discomfort. Witness, Roger Robinet describes a real ordeal.
She floats in vapors of ether, collapsed on a chair… Leaning over her, musicians, artists and friends beg her not to go on stage. Perched on chairs, shoulder to shoulder, photographers strive to capture the pathos of this scene on film.
“La Môme” occasionally offers enlarged eyes, drowned in the intoxication of drugs and medication.
She sobs: “They paid to hear me, if I don’t sing at Dreux, I will die ».
Her features ravaged, she leaves her dressing room, returns to the stage, tries to rehearse. Nothing is going well despite the injection of solucamphor administered by a doctor from Drouais.
But she persists: Sing, that’s all I have in the world. “Between her health and the public, she has always chosen. Finally, as she had done in Maubeuge, she sends her entourage for a walk: ” I want to sing, I tell you that I want to sing! »
So sing anyway
It is almost midnight when, at the rise of the curtain, the five hundred spectators discover her, her face exhausted. One hand clings to the piano, the other has grabbed the microphone.
Transcended by the music and the fervor of the crowd, inhabited by an extraordinary automatism, the “Môme Piaf” finds herself.
If his measured gestures betray his weakness, his voice is there to bring ten songs to life, including ” The ballets of hearts and his latest hit, “ The man on the motorbike ».
But once again, prey to a failure, says a witness of the concert, she stammers her text. The curtain falls.
“How did she not collapse?” »
Against the advice of those close to her, she resumes and closes her recital with ” The crowd “. The public acclaims him. It’s Piaf, she gave it her all. She sang for forty minutes “at the limit of human resistance”, writes Roger Robinet who wonders: “How did she not collapse? »
Hardly had the gray curtain been lowered to the cheers of the public, when Edith Piaf collapsed. New malaise, new injection of solucamphor.
At one o’clock in the morning, she leaves the village hall between two silhouettes who carry her almost to a DS. Two hundred admirers park in the cold. As he passes, words of affection burst out, a way of homage. “Goodbye Edith”.
Dreux was the last date of his tour. Hospitalized, immersed in a sleep cure, she continued her convalescence in her residence in Yvelines, in Condé-sur-Vesgre. Before, incorrigible, to burn his wings again at both ends. Fifteen days later, she was singing at the Olympia.
Edith Piaf died on October 10, 1963. She wasn’t 45.
[1]. Did she remember singing at the age of 7, at Billy’s barracks, accompanied by her father?
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