Olivia DeHavilland - Free Agent

A very Happy Birthday to Olivia DeHavilland! Most people think of her as Melanie in "Gone With the Wind", or as Maid Marian in "Robin Hood"; or as a score of other characters she portrayed in her long and storied career. And that would be enough of a legacy in and of itself. But there is more to Ms. De Havilland's story than all that.

When you pick up the sports pages, and see the articles about athletes negotiating as "free agents", we never think of the role Ms. De Havilland played in the drama of labor negotiations. Actually, when you come right down to it, she is the star of that show.

Ms. De Havilland was under contract to Warner Brothers for seven years in 1943 when she filed suit. Her initial one year contract had been extended each year since 1936 for a total of 7 years. The studio was trying to take the position that the extensions were separate contracts of 1 year apiece. The court ruled that 1 times 7 equals 7 and so she was free to pursue her interests with other studios.

It’s a good thing, too. Otherwise we might not have her in such groundbreaking films as “The Snake Pit.” Her victory in the case became known as the De Havilland Law and affects entertainers in film, television and even the music industry. 

The De Havilland Law is the informal name of California Labor Code Section 2855, the California law disallowing personal services contracts between an entity and one party beyond 7 years from the original date of contract. These are contracts apply to individuals who's services cannot be duplicated by anyone else. Athletes are a good example, as well as actors and some musicians.

This was quite a blow to the old “studio” system of making movies. Although that system did reward the actors/actresses with security; and a good bit of money; it had a chilling effect on the creative side of things. Actors were not free to make movies with actors from other studios. That would come later on; after Ms. De Havilland became a “free agent.”

So, this year I’m wishing a very Happy Birthday to a woman who was ahead of her time and made a difference in the lives of so many creative people. Without her successful fight for her own artistic freedom, which is what this case was all about, think of all the wonderful artists and performers who may have never reached their apex. That loss would have been ours.

Ms. De Havilland as Maid Marian in "Robin Hood".

"La Vie En Rose" with Marion Cotillard (2007)

Marion Cotillard gives a truly outstanding performance in this film about the life of Edith Piaf, the legendary French “street singer” who became one of the world’s most well-known peformers, and a symbol of France itself.  Edith Piaf was born to a life on the edges of the society in which she lived. She was the child of a mother who thought of herself as a great artist; but was a hopeless alcoholic; and a father who struggled with demons of his own, though he did his best to raise her.

It was while performing in the street one day that he got the idea of using his daughter as a means of increasing the meager “tips” he was receiving for his street act, which consisted of his talents as a contortionist and some other tricks. But when little Edith opened her mouth to sing, it seemed as if the angels had given voice to his child. And so began one of the most fascinating, and sad, careers in show business history.

The film is stunningly filmed, with all of the grit and glamour of pre-war Paris veritably leaping from the screen. When Edith meets Louis Leplée, played by Gérard Depardieu, she falls in love with this determined man, who helps her discover how to present her voice on stage rather than in the streets. More than anyone else, he was the man most responsible for making her one of the world's most beloved stars.

With great sensitivity the film manages to convey the pain, hardships, addictions and love; all of which combined to make Edith Piaf the tragic star she was destined to be. Her alcoholism and dependence upon morphine are handled with gentleness instead of sensationalism. This was a woman who was in both physical and emotional pain which even all the drugs and alcohol could never erase. Yet, through it all, she always kept that remarkable voice.

The film is basically told as a flashback from 1963, when Ms. Piaf is recovering from illness and planning a comeback at age 48. She never made it. The pain which caused her to fall from grace finally caught up to “the Little Sparrow.”

Edith Piaf was actually named Édith Giovanna Gassion when she was born in 1915, named for a British nurse, Edith Cavell, who was serving in the First World War before the entry of the Americans in 1917. She was executed for helping the French POW’s escape their German captors.

By the time she was 14, she had lived in a brothel with her grandmother before being reunited with her father. In the opening years of the Great Depression she began her street performances before being discovered by Louis Leplée in 1935. This meeting would change her life, but nothing could change, or erase the pain of her past, which included the death of her infant daughter Marcelle, who died of meningitis at the age of 2, when Edith was only 19. This tragedy would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Louis Leplée, owned the club Le Gerny off the Champs-Élysées, and it was there that he first presented her to Paris. She was small and petit, and full of energy, which earned her the nickname “The Little Sparrow”, a name which would stay with her for her entire career.

My own first recollection of Ms. Piaf is from about the age of 3 or 4, while playing with my parent’s extensive record collection. There was one record which I would play over and over again, and was probably the first foreign language record I ever heard. It was “La Vie en Rose”, which is still one of my favorite recordings today. Of all the recorded versions of that song I am particularly drawn to the one by Louis Armstrong, with its plaintive coronet and beautiful translation of the French lyrics. I have posted both versions of the song here before. That post is at;

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2011/04/la-vie-en-rose-en-deux.html

And here is another clip from You Tube showcasing the various artists over the years who have recorded this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEuD8UqnJfg

But of all the newer versions of this song, the one by Mireille Mathieu rings the truest for me. It is comparable, in my mind, to the performance by Beyoncé of Etta James’ recording of the song “At Last”, in the film Cadillac Records. It is that good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4_uN3Ztya4

And, finally, here is Edith Piaf, herself, performing her signature song live, and which will always have a place in my heart.

La Vie En Rose en Deux

There are 2 versions of this song "La Vie en Rose" which will live forever. Louis Armstrong's version is my favorite- the plaintive sound of his coronet and the abbreviated lyrics make this a tight and soulful version of Edith Piaf's original recording of the song. These are the lyrics, as translated for Mr. Armstrong;

(Il existe 2 versions de cette chanson "La Vie en Rose" qui vivra éternellement. La version de Louis Armstrong est mon préféré-le son plaintif de sa couronne et le lyrics cette version abrégée un virage serré et soul de l'enregistrement original d'Edith Piaf de la chanson. Ce sont les paroles, traduit de M. Armstrong;)

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose

When you kiss me heaven sighs
And tho I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom

And when you speak...angels sing from above
Everyday words seem...to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose

This is the original version by Edith Piaf, the noted French chauntuse. The lyrics are a bit more complicated, but it was originally intended as a woman's song, which is why the lyrics of Mr. Armstrong's version were simplified.

(Il s'agit de la version originale par Edith Piaf, l'a noté chauntuse français. Les paroles sont un peu plus compliqué, mais il était initialement conçu comme un chant d'une femme, ce qui explique pourquoi les paroles de la version de M. Armstrong ont été simplifiées.)

(intro)

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens

Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose

Il me dit des mots d’amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose

Il est entré dans mon coeur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause

C’est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie

Et dès que je l’aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon coeur qui bat

Des nuits d’amour à plus finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Les ennuis, les chagrins s’effacent
Heureux, heureux à en mourir

Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose

Il me dit des mots d’amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose

Il est entré dans mon coeur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause

C’est toi pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie

Et dès que je l’aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon coeur qui bat

English

(intro)

Eyes that gaze into mine,
A smile that is lost on his lips—
That is the unretouched portrait
Of the man to whom I belong.

When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.
It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
He has told me, he has sworn to me, for life.
And from the things that I sense,
Now I can feel within me
My heart that beats.

In endless nights of love,
A great delight that comes about,
The pains and bothers are banished,
Happy, happy to die of love.

When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.
It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
He has told me, he has sworn to me, for life.
And from the things that I sense,
Now I can feel within me
My heart that beats.

Marion G. Crandall - An Interesting Side Note

This is the parade of the 27th Division on Fifth Avenue in New York City on August 30th, 1917. Within the next month they would start leaving New York for training in South Carolina. From there they would be shipping out for France and combat. This was my Grandfather's Division. I have been researching his wartime experiences.

While looking for more information about him I did run across the story of a very interesting woman, Marion G. Crandall. She was the first American woman to die in the war as a result of enemy fire. Her journey from Iowa to France and then back again, is a very unusual story, particuliarly for a woman in the context of the times.

Fluent in French, she spent time in Paris teaching school there sometime prior to 1916, when she returned home. After the United States declared war on Germany in April of 1917, she enlisted as a nurse and returned to France where she was killed by an artillery explosion early in 1918. The link to her homepage appears to be broken, so I have not posted it here. But a quick Google of her name will take you to several sites about this fascinating and compassionate woman. She was one of those rare and brave souls who put her beliefs into action. And though that action led to her untimely death, it does not diminish what she did within the short space of her life.