CABARET VILLE MAGAZINE. P29 Cont'd from P28

THE RISE OF LA GOULUE

STROKE OF LUCK: By pure stroke of fate, La Goulue met France’s great, Auguste Renoir and became one of his models. Renoir introduced her to a group of  local artists and photographers (Known as la louée) who eventually paid her a few Francs to pose for them. History showed that, Achille Delmaet , husband of Marie Juliette Louvet, would later become famous  as the photographer who had taken many nude photographs of La Goulue. Her income as a model allowed her to buy fashionable clothes suitable to frequent places and parks where people of culture and social status mingle and gather. In one of the scattered parks, she encountered Joseph Oller, a co–owner of  the prestigious "Le Moulin Rouge". Taken by her wit and joie de vivre, he engaged her  in 1889, as a dancer at "Le Moulin Rouge", where she performed almost every night for 6 consecutive years. Quite a record! Her salary? Eight hundred Francs per month. Tips? Almost two thousands Francs. Nifty sum in those days!

Photos: La Goulue, when she was on the top of the world.

THE BEGINNING OF AN ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER, FAME, SUCCESS AND FORTUNE:

At "Le Moulin Rouge", Louise Weber (La Goulue) was taken under the wing of Jacques Renaudin, whose stage name was "Valentin Le Decosse" (1843-1907), a  colorful wine merchant who danced in his spare time at "Le Moulin Rouge" and at other well-established Parisian cabarets.  At "Le Moulin Rouge", when it first opened, La Goulue and Renaudin performed an early and innovative  form of Can Can, known to the locals  as the "chalut." The two dancers were instant stars but it was La Goulue  who stole the show. Renaudin was conservative. La Goulue was outrageous, and her "scandalously" flirting conduct captivated the audience. "Le Moulin Rouge" booked Louise Weber as a permanent headliner,  and her name appeared on the posters and stage bill of the legendary French cabaret as "The Main Attraction Artist" of the Moulin Rouge Nightly Show. She is set! Overnight, La Goulue  became a  cabaret sensation.