A RAG-PICKER’S-DAUGHTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 April 1929, Page 6

A RAG-PICKER’S-DAUGHTER

QUEEN OF PARIS DANCERS

Thei’e has died in a hospital bed, penniless, and almost forgotten, a woman who at one time had. Paris at her feet arid was admired by princes and grand dukes? Ovei’ thirty years ago she was the most photographed woman in the city; great.artists like Toulouse-Lautrec painted her, for she was beautiful, and had a figure which’ excited the adulation of men and the envy of women.

Who would have thought that L’a Goulue, as she was known for several decades,, would have had to be taken in a dying condition! from a caravan at Saint Quen to breathe her last sigh in a hospital? , ( Lriuise Weber, who was desfin,ed to become a ddncirig star at the Moulin Rouge and th!e undisputed queen of Montmartre, had an amazing career. Tile daughter of rag-pickers, .she was born in a caravan ori the .fortifications. She grew up a beautiful girl with finely-moulded lirnbs and a wonderful head of fair hair. u . , .... Such, beauty as . she possessed had' not to be wasted at the washtub. She was a laundress. at sixteen, but she only washed clothes for a year, for at,seventeen she made her debut.as a dancer, arid in a few yerirs made the fortune of the manager of the Moulin Rouge and her own 1 .

Louise Weber danced iri a quadrille, the favourite dance iri those days. And she was a fine dancer. Her ravishing beauty a'rid her grricjeful movements attracted attention. The young queen of the dance turned the heads of many men.

Distinguished' personalities visi’firig Paris went to the Mquliri ROuge to : see her, and many solicited the favour of dancing. with her. The eX-laudiiress had undoubtedly arrived. She had a magnificent mansion and a. fine equipage, and there are stories of rich meh having ruined themselves for her. , The quadrille, like other dances, had its day, arid Louise Weber found it necessary to frirri her attention to other forms .of. attracting arid amusing file pu’blic. . When .she left the Moulin Rouge she, had something like 150,000 francs, which in those days was a fair fortune. DANCING IN CAGE OF LIONS she went into the business of tabling wild beasts, and became the proprietress of a menagerie. Her show was the attraction of all the fairs iri Paris. She. danced in a cage of lions. The animals remained passive because they were fascinated by a systefri of reflectors which held them spellbound as long as the dance lasted.

La Goulue had unpleasant experiences with her wild beasts. She was bitten several times. The bites were an advertisement for her. For yerifs she. performed as a’ Wil'd-beast tafriir,' dancing and singih'g songs specially coinppsed for her.

But, like the quadrille,' the time came when this forth of eiftertriihment ceased ,to .attract, rind then trouble began for La Goulue. She had th get rid, of lifer animals oiie by one, arid her show, no longer app’eri'i'ed' at the fairs of Paris. She Was getting on in years arid .her figure had lost its comeliness. Yet. she decided to resume her profession as dancer. . . Poor La Gqu'lue' was disillusioned. The tango had come and her gracefulness had gone. Her reappearrihce, was riot successful, and. slid had to confers that lier daheing days were deiinitely over.

.Shq, retired to. thri Sa'frie where, she first saw the light of day—to a Jittlp. caravan" at Saint Quen. ; She, paid tiyenty francs ri'ionth ground rent, for tjie paravriii,' rind had to' earn her .liying as best she could'. She Who had lived, in luxury’s lap, had troops of friends and adinifers, had inspired poets and artists, had supped with men bearing great names. Was reduced . fo\ selling packets of ridifga.t in the night estabHshments of Mpritiriartre. Increasing years'—she . was 63 — brought illness. La Goulue had been missing fof seVerril days. Neighbours entefed the caravan arid found her morinirig.ori.a mattress'. The erstavliile queen of beauty and the danse whs in a bad way. She Was, taken to .the hospital, Wh'e're ifer Spirit speeriily fled.