Vintage postcard, nr. GF 025 66/18. Photo: Philips.
Singer and actress Patachou (1918) is a mythical icon of the French chanson. With her full voice and typical Parisian accent, she was very popular in France during the 1950’s, and had a successful international career. She discovered singer Georges Brassens and song writer Guy Béart. She also appeared on stage and in several French films.
Patachou was born as Henriette Ragon in Paris in 1918. She began her working life as a typist, then a factory worker, a shoeseller, an antique dealer. In 1948, with her husband Jean Billou she took over a cabaret-restaurant on the butte of Montmartre, called Patachou. She performed in the patisserie-bistro at the request of the guests. One of those guests was the famous entertainer Maurice Chevalier, who encouraged her to become a professional singer. French journalists began to call her Lady Patachou after the name of her cabaret restaurant (pâte-à-choux means cream puff dough). She sang pre-war songs like Mon homme and Domino. Many chanson singers like Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour also performed in her cabaret-restaurant. In 1952, the then unknown Georges Brassens sang there, and together Patachou and he sang the duet Maman, papa. Patachou was the first interpreter of his songs like Le bricoleur and La chasse aux papillons, and she introduced them to a broad audience. From 1952 her first records appeared; she appeared at 'Bobino', a Montparnasse music-hall, toured in France and then further afield. Later she would be the first to perform songs by Guy Béart (the father of film star Emmanuelle Béart).
Patachou also became popular as a film star in the early 1950’s. She appeared in the films Femmes de Paris (1953, Jean Boyer), French Cancan (1954, Jean Renoir) and napoléon (1954, Sacha Guitry). From 1953, she toured throughout the United Stated and performed at the Palladium, the Waldorf Astoria, and Carnegie Hall. She stayed for more than 20 years in the USA, and performed more than 20 times on the legendary Ed Sullivan Show. The Americans gave her the nickname ‘Sunshine girl’. From the beginning of the 1970’s, Patachou toured Japan and Sweden where L'eternal Parigot, with her cheeky Parisian register was popular. In Paris she anuimated for a while the restaurant in the Eiffel tower. She finished her singing career, but in the 1980’s she became again a well known actress on television and in the cinema. Among her later films were Faubourg St Martin (1986, Jean-Claude Guiguet) with Françoise Fabian, La Rumba (1987, Roger Hanin) with Michel Piccoli, Pola X (1999, Leos Carax) with Catherine Deneuve, and Les Acteurs/Actors (2000, Bertrand Blier). Probably her best known film role was the charming grand-mother Mathilde in the art-house hit Drôle de Félix/Funny Felix (2000, Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau) starring Sami Bouajila. Her most recent film was San-Antonio (2003, Frédéric Auburtin) starring Gérard Depardieu. Patachou was named Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2004. With Jean Billou she has a son, Pierre Billou, who had a certain success as a singer in the 1970’s and wrote J'ai oublié de vivre for Johnny Hallyday.
Sources: Sylvester Hoogmoed (het Chanson), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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