ALHAMBRA MAURICE CHEVALIER (1948)

In February 1904, a company formed by the English businessman Thomas Barrasford, the Alhambra Limited, takes possession of the premises, betting on the new vogue of the music hall from America. The Alhambra immediately becomes the fashionable place, ahead of its illustrious elders: the Alcazar, the Eldorado or the Scala. We can applaud many stars including Yvette Guilbert, Nitta Jo, Fragson, Polin, Dalbret, the Grock clown, the contortionist and magician Houdini, Tramel, Raimu, Bouglione, Georgel and of course Mistinguett. The young Maurice Chevalier, a student of the hilarious Little Tich, appears there in 1907 in the Alhambra 1905, imitating Fragson and Sarah Bernhardt. Knight will remember his debut singing in 1957, at age 68, during his return to the Alhambra March Menilmontant:

"A little guy, from an early age
Dreamed of becoming a singer
And it's at the Alhambra, on the top floor
That he cheered his great teachers »

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