Arletty: 30 years after its disappearance, the canal carries

Thirty years after his death, Arletty gives his name to a footbridge on the Saint-Martin canal, very close to the famous Hôtel du Nord.

An iconic footbridge

In the spring of 2022, the elected representatives of the 10^e wished baptize the footbridges of the Saint-Martin canal. While their big brothers that span the Seine have long had well-identified names, these footbridges, no less emblematic of Paris, were until then only designated by the names of the streets that led to them.

To pay homage to the theatrical history of the borough (which still counts today more than a dozen rooms), as much as the long list of films shot on the quays de Jemmapes and de Valmy, these are the names of actresses who will be attributed in the years to come to all the footbridges of the 10^e. A way to give back their place to women in the names of public spaces (only 12% of Parisian places bear the name of a woman).

The first of these actresses is therefore Arletty. The famous cheeky Parisian and her unforgettable “mouth of atmosphere”, immortalized by Marcel Carné in “Hôtel du Nord” in 1938, marked the history of the Saint-Martin canal. However, the film was not shot at the Récollets lock, but in the Billancourt studios, where the surroundings of the canal were entirely recreated by the decorator Alexandre Trauner.

It does not matter: since the success of the film, the quays, bridges and locks have remained associated with this major actress of the cinema of the pre-war years.

Everyone on the bridge !

The inauguration of the Arletty footbridge will be held on Thursday September 15, 2022, at 2.30 p.m., in the presence of Alexandra Cordebard, Mayor of the 10^eLaurence Patrice, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Memory, and Élie Joussellin, Deputy Mayor of 10^e delegate to memory. A solemn time which will of course be open to all.

From Léonie Bathiat to Arletty

Daughter of a Paris tramway agent, Michel Bathiat, and a linen maid, Marie Dautreix, Léonie Bathiat was born in Courbevoie in 1898. Her studies completed, she trained as a secretary and stenographer.

The Great War mowed down her first love, whom she nicknamed “Ciel” because of her beautiful blue eyes. Devastated by this loss, and refusing to become a war widow, she decides she will never marry. New drama in 1916: his father was knocked down by a tram. Léonie and her family were then expelled from the office they occupied.

Some time later, she meets a young banker who introduces her to “All Paris” and makes her discover the theater, the great fashion designers, the good restaurants… She becomes a model for a time and chooses the pseudonym “Arlette” (found in a novel by Maupassant), which will be anglicized into “Arletty”. From modeling to magazines, through song, Arletty crossed the 20s and started in cinema and theater in 1930.

We see her in “The sweetness of loving” (René Hervil), in “A dog that brings back” (Jean Choux), in the operettas “A New Year’s Eve” (Raoul Moretti) and “O my beautiful stranger” (Reynaldo Hahn and Sacha Guitry), and above all the adaptation of Zola’s play “Au bonheur des dames”, alongside Michel Simon, played nearly 500 times. Then comes the role of Madame Raymonde in “Hôtel du Nord”, offered by Marcel Carné in 1938: the success is immense and Arletty enters the legend of popular Paris thanks to her inimitable cheekiness and her famous nervousness when Louis Jouvet evokes his wish to change the atmosphere.

The Second World War and the occupation did not interrupt his career: his interpretation of Garance, in “Les Enfants du paradis” (Marcel Carné), shot in 1943 and released in 1945, is considered the peak of his career. game. But it is above all his love for a German officer, Hans Jürgen Soehring, which remains controversial. Separated from him in 1949, she will find the boards with “A streetcar named desire” by Tennessee Williams. In the 1950s, she made another twenty films, notably alongside Georges Marchal, Gina Lollobrigida, Michèle Morgan, and Jean-Claude Brialy.

Suffering from glaucoma, she partially lost her sight and disappeared from the stage and screens in the 1960s. She died on July 23, 1992, at the age of 94, in her Paris apartment. It was just 30 years ago.