The Postcard
A carte postale that was published by Ernest Le Deley. Note how the carpet has been partially rolled up to stop it being damaged by visitors' feet.
The card was posted in Paris using a 90c stamp on Tuesday the 24th. July 1928 to:
Mrs. G. Bristow,
14, Crouch Hill,
Stroud Green,
London,
England.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Hotel Commodore,
Boulevard Haussmann,
Paris.
Tuesday.
My Dear Mama,
Arrived safely - lovely
crossing. I saw a large
fish jump out of the sea
whilst crossing. I've
never seen such a
thing before.
They were nearly all
Americans travelling.
Paris is full of loud and
horrid Yanks, we are
sick of them.
The heat is intense - we
feel like giving up. It's
much too stifling to work.
I had a bath and an early
night last night - it takes
all our energy out of us.
I hope you are feeling A1.
Try to write me if you
have time.
Much love to you all.
Doris xx"
Le Château de Malmaison
The Château de Malmaison (not 'de la') is a French château near the western bank of the Seine about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of the centre of Paris in Rueil-Malmaison.
Formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, along with the Tuileries it was the headquarters of the French government from 1800 to 1802, and Napoleon's last residence in France at the end of the Hundred Days in 1815.
History of the Château
Joséphine de Beauharnais bought the manor house in April 1799 for herself and her husband, General Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Napoléon I of France, at that time away fighting the Egyptian Campaign.
Malmaison was a run-down estate that encompassed nearly 150 acres (0.61 km2) of woods and meadows.
Upon his return, Bonaparte expressed fury at Joséphine for purchasing such an expensive house with the money she had expected him to bring back from the Egyptian campaign.
The house, for which she had paid well over 300,000 francs, needed extensive renovations; she had spent a fortune doing so.
The Garden at Malmaison
Joséphine endeavoured to transform the large estate into:
"The most beautiful and curious garden
in Europe, a model of good cultivation".
She located rare and exotic plants and animals to enhance the gardens. Joséphine wrote:
"I wish that Malmaison may soon become
the source of riches for all of France"
In 1800, Joséphine built a heated orangery large enough for 300 pineapple plants. Five years later, she ordered the building of a greenhouse, heated by a dozen coal-burning stoves. From 1803 until her death in 1814, Josephine cultivated nearly 200 new plants in France for the first time.
The property achieved enduring fame for its rose garden. Empress Joséphine had the Belgian artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) record her roses (and lilies), and prints of these works sell well to this day.
Joséphine created an extensive collection of roses, gathering plants from her native Martinique and from other places around the world. She grew some 250 varieties of roses. From the foreword to Jardin de la Malmaison (1803):
"You have gathered around you the
rarest plants growing on French soil.
As we inspect them in the beautiful
gardens of Malmaison, an impressive
reminder of the conquests of your
illustrious husband".
Birds and animals of all sorts began to enrich her garden, where they were allowed to roam free among the grounds. At the height of her days at Malmaison, Joséphine had the company of kangaroos, emus, black swans, zebras, sheep, gazelles, ostriches, chamois, a seal, antelopes and llamas to name but a few. Some were from the Baudin expedition.
Divorce
After her divorce from Napoleon, Joséphine received Malmaison in her own right, along with a pension of 5 million francs a year. She remained there until her death in 1814.
Napoleon's Return to the Château
Napoleon returned and took residence in the house after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo (1815), before his exile to the island of Saint Helena.
After Josephine's death in 1814, the house was vacant at times, leading to the garden and house being ransacked and vandalised. The garden's remains were destroyed in a battle in 1870.
Maria Christina
In 1842, Malmaison was purchased by Queen mother Maria Christina, widow of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. She lived there with her second husband Agustín Fernando Muñoz, Duke of Riánsares (made a duke by his step-daughter, Isabella II of Spain, in 1844).
Napoleon III
In 1861, Maria Christina sold the property to Napoleon III, Josephine's grandson through her daughter Hortense.
Restoration of the Château
Malmaison was fully restored by the famous French architect Pierre Humbert in the early 20th. century, and is now considered an important historical monument.
Evelyn Frechette
So what else happened on the day that Doris posted the card to her mother?
Well, the 24th. July 1928 marked the death of the son of Evelyn Frechette.
Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette, who was born on the 15th. September 1907, was an American singer, waitress, convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930's.
Frechette is known to have been involved with Dillinger for about six months, until her arrest and imprisonment in 1934. She finished two years in prison in 1936, then toured the United States with Dillinger's family for five years with their "Crime Doesn't Pay" show.
Billie married and returned to the Menominee Indian Reservation, where she was born, for a quieter life in her later decades.
Evelyn Frechette - The Early Years
Mary Evelyn ("Billie") Frechette was born in Neopit, Wisconsin, on the Menominee Indian Reservation. She described the background of her mother (née Mary Labell) as "half French and half Indian", and that of her father as simply French.
Billie Frechette's father died when she was eight years old. She attended a mission school on the reservation, and then was sent to a government boarding school for Indians in South Dakota. After time there, she moved to her aunt's to become a nurse.
At the age of 18, she moved to Chicago to be closer to her sister. On the 24th. April 1928, Billie gave birth to her only child, William Edward Frechette, while residing in an unwed mother's home in Chicago. William lived for only three months before dying on the 24th. July 1928.
Evelyn Frechette's Marriage and Family
Evelyn Frechette and "Walter Sparks" (Welton Walter Spark) married on the 2nd. August 1932 in Chicago. Spark was sentenced, with two others, on the 20th. July 1932, to a 15-year term at Leavenworth for three counts of robbery of postal substations in drug stores.
Walter Spark and his co-defendant, Arthur Cherrington, both married the same day, Cherrington to Patricia Young. Their marriage ceremonies were conducted at the Cook County Jail by Chaplain E. N. Ware. Spark and Cherrington entered Leavenworth on the 13th. August 1932.
Evelyn Frechette's Involvement With John Dillinger
Frechette met John Dillinger at a cabaret in November 1933. They began a relationship soon after that. Frechette was quoted as saying:
"John was good to me. He looked after me,
and bought me all kinds of jewelry and cars
and pets, and we went places and saw things,
and he gave me everything a girl wants. He
treated me like a lady".
Frechette assumed more marital roles with Dillinger than an accomplice. She once drove a getaway car after Dillinger was shot by the police. She was arrested on the 9th. April 1934 for allowing him to hide in her St. Paul, Minnesota, apartment and for obstruction of justice.
Dillinger and a companion watched the arrest from a block away. Dillinger wanted to attack the lawmen and rescue her, but accepted that he would have died in the attempt.
Frechette served two years at the Federal Correctional Farm in Milan, Michigan, for violating the Federal Harboring Law. She was released in 1936.
Evelyn Frechette - The Later Years
Frechette traveled with the Dillinger family for five years after her release and his death. The traveling show was "Crime Doesn't Pay." Frechette returned to the Menominee Reservation, where she had two subsequent marriages. She died of cancer on the 13th. January 1969, at age 61 in Shawano, Wisconsin.
She was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery next to her third husband, Arthur Tic.
Evelyn Frechette in Popular Culture
-- In the 1973 film Dillinger, Frechette was played by Michelle Phillips.
-- In the 1991 film Dillinger, Frechette was played by Sherilyn Fenn.
-- In the 2009 film Public Enemies, Frechette was played by Marion Cotillard.
