Original photograph of Mistinguett, with a brief note from Maurice Chevalier on the verso

N.p. N.p., Circa 1970. Vintage double weight satin-finish photograph of French entertainer Mistinguett in 1903. Photograph with a brief manuscript note signed from singer and actor Maurice Chevalier to his American talent agent, Paul Kohner, on the verso, with an additional signature by Maurice on the recto along with a note reading, "This is La Mist when she was thirty."

Although they never married, Maurice Chevalier and Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, better known as Mistinguett, were involved in a romantic relationship for over a decade. During World War I, when Chevalier was captured and taken prisoner in Germany in 1914, Mistinguett offered her services to France as a spy in order to work to secure his release—which she eventually did, persuading King Alfonso XIII of Spain to intervene and free Chevalier.

Chevalier's brief letter to Kohner addresses "the Lewis proposition"—likely his meeting with Jerry Lewis at Chevalier's home in 1972, on Chevalier's 83rd birthday—and alerting Kohner that he will be at the Hotel Bristol on Vienna starting June first. Chevalier also notes that he has not yet received his Oscars, possibly referring to the Honorary Academy Award he was presented with in 1958.

4 x 5.5 inches. Near Fine.

[Book #155038]