Maurice Chevalier [VINTAGE 1981] [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Fine unread condition dark blue boards, blue spine, and silver spine lettering contained in a near fine condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes List of Other Books by Michael Freedland; Author Dedication; Acknowledgments and Le Roi. Illustrated with a section of black-and-white photographic plates plus black-and-white photographic frontispiece. A 1/2 inch repaired closed tear at the lower rear left jacket tip; the jacket is otherwise in fine condition (see photographs). All pages are in fine unmarked condition and the spine/binding is in exceedingly tight and square unread condition (see photographs). "This is the first full-length biography of one of the most famous and controversial entertainers of this century. Passionate, egotistical, driven by a desire to become the most beloved performer in the world, Maurice Chevalier was the epitome of suave Gallic charm. Despite his long career in the public eye, little was ever revealed about the private life of the man whose trademarks were a rakishly tilted straw hat and a carefully nurtured accent. Michael Freedland tells in lively detail the story of Chevalier's life from the beginnings of his career at age twelve singing off-color ditties in cafes. His first big break, a job with the Folies-Bergere, also led him into a long, stormy affair with Mistinguett, "the girl with the million-franc legs." Wounded in World War I, Chevalier learned English in a German POW camp. During the Twenties in Paris, Chevalier rose to incredible popular success in nightclubs and films. By the 1930s he was a major Hollywood figure before returning to France in 1935 to make several films there. Accused of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II, Chevalier cleared his name eventually and won a new generation of admirers in the Fifties and Sixties with such films as Gigi and Fanny. Filled with new information, Maurice Chevalier presents a fascinating portrait of one of the most charismatic performers of our time." - from the inner front jacket flap. "This is a book that has been needed ever since Chevalier's death in January 1972 - the first definitive biography of a man whose fame was at one time stronger in the United States than in his native France and who, in the minds of many people, was a living symbol of France. Chevalier wrote a number of autobiographical works himself, but none of them told the story that Michael Freedland does in this biography. None referred to the real contradictions and torments of the years when Chevalier was branded as a Nazi collaborator. Of course, none ever mentioned his mother fixation, his alleged stinginess, his insatiable appetite for women, or his attempts at suicide. In short, this is the first book ever to tell the whole story and the first to analyze the hold Chevalier had over audiences, a gift that made him one of the longest-working celebrities in the history of show business - from 1900 to 1970. To research this book, Michael Freedland made a number of trips to France as well as to the United States. He interviewed many people who had worked with or for Chevalier. To get the story of the World War II years into perspective, he consulted the leading French historians of the period. Michael Freedland met Chevalier in 1971 for an in-depth radio interview broadcast on BBC radio. As Freedland has written: "From that moment on, I knew I was also going to write the real Chevalier story. I began collecting data on him and building up a rounded picture ready for the time when the detailed research was to begin. I believe a lifetime like his needed to be digested for a long while before a really objective picture could emerge." - from the rear outer jacket.…