COVER I TABLE OF CONTENTS I CONTINUES NEXT I
CABARET AND REAL LIFE: ABSOLUTE MISERY
In June 1899, she joined a Parisian character as a partner in an impresario agency. It did not take long to convince her partner, Monsieur Pezon to open a new night club. But once again, the cabaret did not succeed. She failed big time. She had no understanding of business, whatsoever. Finally, she decided to leave Paris for good, more bitter than ever. In 1903, she met a shady character, a third class gigolo who did not treat her right, and now, Louise Weber became totally dependant on alcohol. Her beauty became to fade away and her health deteriorated. Those who saw her in that condition and state of mind could not recognize her. All her so-called friends deserted her. She was alone. Age too caught up with her and without a job or a source of income, what was left from what she earned at "Le Moulin Rouge" and the fortune she had amassed from dancing for years, began to disappear...In April of that year, she asked her friend, Toulouse-Lautrec to design ornamental screen panels for a small barrack she turned into a Middle Eastern belly dancing joint. It did work for a while, but once again, the business failed. Poor Louise Weber, she tried everything to promote that business. She used to stand outside the joint and dance in the street in front of her joint for a few minutes to attract customers (SEE VIDEO ON THE NEXT PAGE). But her public performance turned into a public joke and humiliation. This loving woman needed a professional advice, but she would not listen to those who knew the business. She was surrounded by losers, alcoholics, gigolos and shady character of the night. People she could identify with in her struggles and frightening loneliness. In December, she gave birth to Simon Victor, an illegitimate son of an unknown father. She used to tell the neighbors "Simon is a prince...his father is a prince." Illusion, fantasy or masquerading the truth, nobody knew and nobody cared, because Louise Weber was nobody in their eyes. Nobody, simply because she is no longer the sparkling star of "Le Moulin Rouge" and the wealthy Queen of Paris nightlife. Around 1990, she met a man who was in the troubadours business. He adopted her son and gave him his name. And despite his modest means, he gave Louise some money to cover her urgent and immediate financial needs and pay her debts. Instead, she went to pay the medical bills of one of the prostitutes she knew years ago. And what was left, she donated to a synagogue and a local church. Allegedly, Louise said "God, I do not know what religion you follow. Are you Catholic? Are you a Jew? I have no clues. This is why, I divided my donation between a church and a synagogue. But when I die, please have mercy on my soul." In 1901, Louise Weber married José Droxler, seven years younger than her. She lived in quasi poverty with him until he died in 1923. And soon later, her son died too. Louise disappeared from the eye of the public
THE MISERY AND TRAGIC END OF LA GOULUE
Frightened, depressed, alcoholic and destitute, Louise Weber returned to Montmartre on February 17, 1928. She returned not as a diva, but as a miserable and very poor woman trying to make a living by selling cashews, peanuts, cigarettes, and matches on the terraces of cheap cafes and sometimes, on a street corner near "Le Moulin Rouge" where, once upon a time, she reigned as the Queen of Paris nightlife and entertainment... and made headlines. She was not allowed to step in. She stayed outside, on the corners of streets, and nearby garbage cans, selling those filthy matches and Gauloise cigarettes. She loved to stand outside, at the entrance of "Le Moulin Rouge", to be part of the "le beau monde", meaning the chic and well to do society. She stood there for hours, trying to sell her cigarettes, matches boxes and peanuts, while inside "Le Moulin Rouge", Mistinguette, the new superstar was taking the cabaret by storm, exactly as she did, years ago...Sometimes, few people passing by recognized her and asked for her autograph. No one came to her rescue. Except Maurice Chevalier and Jean Gabin (The famous French movie star and lover of Marlene Dietrich) who on four or five occasions brought her inside "Le Moulin Rouge" where they used to perform and presented her to the audience of "Le Moulin Rouge". No one recognized the heavily overweight, poorly dressed and former Queen of Paris. The once upon a time, the Toast of Paris, Louise Weber has become one of the poverty frightening shadows in the dark alleys of Paris. Flat broke, sick and completely forgotten. She died one year later on January 29, 1930 and was buried in the Cimetière de Pantin in the Paris suburb of Pantin, and much later her remains were transferred to the Cimetière de Montmartre. Louise Weber has become a frightening reminder and a living example of destiny mockery, hardship of life and self destruction. She died in the street of a broken heart, without a single dime in her pocket, homeless and alone. Before she closed her eyes for the last time, she asked God to keep a small corner for her in his paradise. La Goulue who was larger than life when she was on the top of the world, became smaller than the box of matches she sold in the streets of Paris, when she went down the drain. When Louise Weber became ill, lonely, poor and hungry, nobody was there to give her a helping hand. The former queen of the Nights of Paris, the friend, the woman with THE big heart who took care of the homeless and needy, died alone in the streets of Paris, nearby a garbage can and paint tubes of a miserable homeless artist. She died without a name, unknown and completely forgotten...and she had hard time convincing the priest who gave her the last holy sacrament that she was indeed Louise Weber, the once upon a time, the queen of Paris. CONTINUES NEXT