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The Folies Bergère () is a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

music hall in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after nearby Rue Bergère. The house was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s' ''

Belle Époque The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...

'' through the 1920s. Revues featured extravagant costumes, sets and effects, and often nude women. In 1926,

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

, an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

expatriate singer, dancer and entertainer, caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère by dancing in a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas and little else. The institution is still in business, and is still a strong symbol of French and Parisian life. The métro stations are

Cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

and Grands Boulevards.

History

Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, and opened on 2 May 1869, the Folies Bergère, as the Folies Trévise, was built as an opera house, and patterned after the Alhambra music hall in London by the architect, Plumeret, who was a building inspector of the crown

The term "folies" refers to pleasure houses, vacation homes built from the end of the 18th century near large cities to discreetly shelter the adulterous loves of the bourgeoisie and aristocrats.

It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas,

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular ''opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

(comic opera), popular songs, and gymnastics. The original name derived from the street of that name by the stage door. However, the Duc de Trévise objected. On 13 September 1872, it became the Folies Bergère, named after a nearby street, Rue Bergère ("bergère" means "shepherdess"). In 1882,

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

painted his well-known painting ''

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère ''A Bar at the Folies-Bergère'' () is a painting by Édouard Manet, considered to be his last major work. It was painted in 1882 and exhibited at the Paris Salon of that year. It depicts a scene in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris. The pa ...

'' which depicts a bar-girl, one of the demimondaines, standing before a mirror. In 1886, Édouard Marchand conceived a new genre of entertainment for the Folies Bergère: the music-hall

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

. Women would be the heart of Marchand's concept for the Folies. In 30 November 1886, the Folies Bergère, staged the first revue-style music hall show ''Place au jeûne !'', featuring and scantily clad chorus girls, was a tremendous success. In the early 1890s, the American dancer

Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (; born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American dancer and a pioneer of modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. Auguste Rodin said of her, "Lo ...

starred at the Folies Bergère. In 1902, illness forced Marchand to leave after 16 years. In 1918, (1880–1966) made his mark on the revue. His revues featured extravagant costumes, sets and effects, and "small nude women". Derval's small nude women would become the hallmark of the Folies. During his 48 years at the Folies, he launched the careers of many French stars including Maurice Chevalier, Mistinguett,

, Fernandel and many others. In 1926, Baker, an

expatriate singer, dancer, and entertainer, caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère in a new revue, ''La Folie du Jour'', in which she danced a number ''Fatou'' wearing a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas and little else, and ''Un Vent De Folie''(1927). Her erotic dancing and near-nude performances were renowned. The Folies Bergère catered to popular taste. Shows featured elaborate costumes; the women's were frequently revealing, practically leaving them naked, and shows often contained a good deal of

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not ...

. Shows also played up the "exoticness" of people and objects from other cultures, indulging the Parisian fascination with the

négritude ''Négritude'' (from French "nègre" and "-itude" to denote a condition that can be translated as "Blackness") is a framework of critique and literary theory, mainly developed by francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians in the Africa ...

of the 1920s. In 1926 the facade of the theatre was given a complete make-over by the artist . The facade was redone in

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style, one of the many Parisian theatres of this period using the style. In 1936, Derval brought Baker from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to lead the revue ''En Super Folies''. , a young Hungarian arrived from Balassagyarmat, his hometown, designed the poster for ''En Super Folies'', a show starring Baker in 1936. This began a long love story between Michel Gyarmathy, Paris, the Folies Bergère and the public of the whole world which lasted 56 years. The funeral of Paul Derval was held on 20 May 1966. He was 86 and had reigned supreme over the most celebrated music hall in the world. His wife Antonia, supported by Michel Gyarmathy, succeeded him. In August 1974, Antonia Derval passed on the direction of the business to Hélène Martini, the empress of the night (25 years earlier she had been a showgirl in the revues). This new mistress of the house reverted to the original concept to maintain the continued existence of the last music hall which remained faithful to the tradition. Since 2006, the Folies Bergère has presented some musical productions with

Stage Entertainment Stage Entertainment is an international operating live entertainment company, a subsidiary of Advance Publications. The company was founded in 1998 by Joop van den Ende in Amsterdam. History The Netherlands / Corporate The root of the company l ...

like ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

'' (2006–2008) or ''

Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...

'' (2009–2010).

Filmography

* 1935: '' Folies Bergère de Paris'' directed by

Roy Del Ruth Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893 – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker. Early career Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) for the pr ...

, with Maurice Chevalier, Merle Oberon, and

Ann Sothern Ann Sothern (born Harriette Arlene Lake; January 22, 1909 – March 15, 2001) was an American actress who worked on stage, radio, film, and television, in a career that spanned nearly six decades. Sothern began her career in the late 1920s ...

* 1935: '' Folies Bergère de Paris'' directed by Marcel Achard with Maurice Chevalier, Natalie Paley, Fernand Ledoux. A French-language version of the 1935 Hollywood film. * 1956: '' Folies-Bergère'' directed by

Henri Decoin Henri Decoin (18 March 1890 – 4 July 1969) was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 ...

with Eddie Constantine, Zizi Jeanmaire,

Yves Robert Yves Robert (; 19 June 1920 – 10 May 2002) was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Life and career Robert was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. In his teens, he went to Paris to pursue a career in acting, starting w ...

, Pierre Mondy * 1959: '' Énigme aux Folies Bergère'' directed by Jean Mitry with Dora Doll, Claude Godard * 1991: ''

La Totale! ''La Totale!'' (, a French expression roughly meaning " the whole nine yards") is a 1991 French spy comedy film directed by Claude Zidi and starring Thierry Lhermitte, Miou-Miou, Eddy Mitchell and Michel Boujenah. It centers on a spy (Lher ...

'' directed by Claude Zidi with Thierry Lhermitte

Similar venues

The Folies Bergère inspired the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as '' The Ziegfeld Foll ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and other similar shows, including the ''Teatro Follies'' in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and a long-standing revue, The Las Vegas Folies Bergere, at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, which opened in 1959, closed at the end of March 2009 after nearly 50 years in operation. In the 1930s and '40s the impresario Clifford C. Fischer staged several Folies Bergere productions in the United States. These included the ''Folies Bergère of 1939'' at the Broadway Theater in New York and the ''Folies Bergère of 1944'' at the Winterland Ballroom in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. A recent example is Faceboyz Folliez, a monthly burlesque and variety show at the Bowery Poetry Club in

In popular culture

Folies Bergère is mentioned in the movie, '' The Last Time I Saw Paris''. It is also mentioned in the movie,

Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

Notes

External links