EDITH PIAF
Photo:
Piaf with Les Compagnions de La Canson.
In mid-August 1951, Edith sustained broken ribs and a fracture to her left arm in an automobile accident. The car had skidded off the road. Andre Pousse was driving at the time, Edith and Charles Aznavour were in the back. Three weeks previously she had been involved in an accident whilst being driven by Aznavour, but both had escaped unharmed. Her injuries were treated and she was prescribed painkillers - morphine - to enable her to continue singing, although the accident effectively closed the play. This was the start of a long-running battle with drug dependence, and the the end for Andre Pousse. It wasn't long before she was betraying him with a friend of his, another cyclist named Louis Gerardin. Gerardin had a wife however, who was less than happy at his abandonment of her. When he moved into Pousse's newly vacated spot at the Bois de Boulogne, taking with him a number of items from the marital home (all valuable), Mme Gerardin had a private detective follow him and; much to the delight of the press, charges of being an accessory to theft and a receiver of stolen goods were laid at Edith's door. Edith threw him out.
Marriage and Drugs: By the end of 1951 Edith had sold 5 rue Gambetta, Bois de Boulogne, moved into an apartment on Boulevard Pereire and was was without a romantic interest or protege to cultivate. She was lonely, depressed and quickly took to cruising the bars of Paris for company and stimulation. In addition to the alcohol,she was injecting cocktails of morphine and cortisone - allegedly to combat the pain of recurrent bouts of rheumatism. Those around her; Momone, Aznavour, Michel Emer, were initially taken in by her rationalisation and reassurances that she was "in control" of it and wasn't addicted.The next man she became involved with married her. Jacques Pills was an old friend and associate who approached her with a song - Je t'ai dans la Peau. He wrote the lyrics,the music was by Francois Silly, later known as Gilbert Becaud. Edith went on to write a couple of songs with Becaud, namely "Elle a dit" and Ça guele-ça madame. Within a few months she and Pills were married at the Mairie, 16th arrondissement, Paris. It was the 29th July 1952. It was followed by a church ceremony on 20th September at the Church of Saint Vincent-de-Paul in New York. Both of them had engagements in the U.S.A. - Edith was not the only well-known French artist working there. On returning to Paris, they moved into an apartment on Boulevard Lannes - No. 67 Edith instantly filled it with her usual life, clutter, activity and music, and, despite her good intentions, was succumbing to the temptation of the drugs more frequently. She used the same rationalisation with Jacques as everyone else. Finding excuses to drink to excess was easier - Jacques was only too happy to accompany her - and soon their antics became legendary!
Edith Piaf's grave at Pere Lachaise cemetery.
End of the article.