Simenon - affaire Prince - Paris-Soir - 20 mars 1934

Jean Prouvost (24 April 1885,

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

– 18 October 1978, Yvoy-le-Marron) was a businessman, media owner and French politician. Prouvost was best known for building and owning the publications that became ''

France-Soir ''France Soir'' ( en, France Evening) was a French newspaper that prospered in physical format during the 1950s and 1960s, reaching a circulation of 1.5 million in the 1950s. It declined rapidly under various owners and was relaunched as a popul ...

'', ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on ''L'Intransigeant' ...

'', and '' Télé 7 Jours''.

Early life

Prouvost was born into a family of industrialists from Northern France, the son of Albert Felix Prouvost, president of the Commercial Court of Roubaix, and Martha Devémy. Jean Prouvost was not the eldest son and would not inherit the family firm, ''Peignage Amédée Prouvost''. Prouvost instead borrowed one million francs and in 1911 started La Lainière de Roubaix, a textile company that quickly became a leader in the European textile industry.
Jean Prouvost - Le Patron de Presse. Société d’Emulation de Roubaix

Newspaper Empire

After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Jean Prouvost focused his interests on the newspaper business. In 1924 he bought Paris-Midi, a Paris daily that then had a circulation of 4,000. Six years later, thanks to a bold commercial and editorial policy, circulation had reached 100,000. In 1930 he bought Paris-Soir, where he introduced methods proven in the United States: extensive photo spreads, high quality paper, and especially the improvement of content. He recruited top journalists (

Pierre Lazareff Pierre Lazareff (1907–1972) was a French newspaper editor and publisher. He was the son of a Russian Jewish emigrant, David Lazareff, and an Alsatian Jew, Marthe Helft. He was passionate about newspapers from his childhood, even running a fam ...

, Paul Gordeaux and Hervé Mille) and commissioned occasional contributions from prominent literary names:

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

covered various subjects;

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

toured the world for the newspaper;

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

reported on sensational criminal cases. Prouvost hired as war correspondents

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mod ...

Joseph Kessel Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef", was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Biography Kessel was born to a Argentine Jews, Je ...

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

, and Paul Gordeaux. Paris-Soir published story serializations from

Maurice Dekobra Maurice Dekobra (26 May 1885, Paris – 1 June 1973, Paris) was a French writer. His real name was Ernest-Maurice Tessier.

Pierre Mac Orlan Pierre Mac Orlan, sometimes written MacOrlan (born Pierre Dumarchey, February 26, 1882 – June 27, 1970), was a French novelist and songwriter. His novel '' Quai des Brumes'' was the source for Marcel Carné's 1938 film of the same name, starring ...

and

Pierre Daninos Pierre Daninos (26 May 1913 – 7 January 2005) was a French writer and humorist. Life Daninos was born in Paris. He wrote ''Les carnets du Major Thompson'', which was published in 1954, and was followed by many sequels. The books in the series ...

. From 70,000 copies in 1930, the circulation of Paris-Soir reached 1.7 million in 1936. Jean Prouvost soon had an empire that also included ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'', the women's magazine bought in March 1937, and the sports paper ''

Match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

'', bought the following year to

Louis Louis-Dreyfus Louis Louis-Dreyfus (September 6, 1867 – November 10, 1940) was a member of the French parliament and co-director of the commodity distribution and trading company, Louis Dreyfus Group. Biography Louis-Dreyfus was born in Zurich to a Jewish fam ...

Group. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, on 6 June 1940, with France on the verge of surrender, Prouvost became information minister in the

Reynaud Paul Reynaud (; 15 October 1878 – 21 September 1966) was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. Reynaud opposed the Munich Agreement of ...

government and on 19 June 1940 High Commissioner for Information in the Petain government, a post he resigned on 10 July 1940, when Pétain took dictatorial powers. During the Occupation, two versions of ''Paris-Soir'' were published: one in Paris, a collaborationist daily disowned by Jean Prouvost and his colleagues, and another published in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. During this period, Jean Prouvost was hated by both the Vichy regime and by the Resistance. At the Liberation he was charged with

Indignité nationale ''Indignité nationale'' ( French "national unworthiness") was a legally defined offense, created at the Liberation in the context of the "''Épuration légale''". The offence of ''Indignité nationale'' was meant to fill a legal void: while t ...

, the criminal offense of collaboration with the Nazi regime, but the High Court dismissed the charge in 1947.

Post-War

After that time, Jean Prouvost began to rebuild his empire, dismantled after the liberation. The FFI authorities had confiscated newspapers that had continued to publish after the German 1942 invasion of Vichy France. While he had permanently lost Paris-Soir, which soon became ''

'' under his former employee Pierre Lazareff, ''Match'' was reborn in 1949 under the name ''

'', with Paul Gordeaux as its first editor. ''Marie Claire'' restarted publication in 1953. In 1950, Prouvost and Ferdinand Béghin together bought half the shares of the newspaper ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

''. In 1960, Jean Prouvost bought ''TV 60'', which he renamed '' Télé 7 Jours'', a television magazine that became a huge success (with a circulation of 3 million copies in 1978). Paris Match's circulation later declined however, suffering from competition from radio and TV. Prouvost appointed the writer

Gaston Bonheur Gaston Bonheur, pseudonym for Gaston Tesseyre (27 November 1913 – 4 September 1980) was a French journalist and writer. He is known for writing the screenplay for the 1955 film version of Lady Chatterley's Lover (1955 film), Lady Chatterley's ...

as director of his newspaper holdings. In 1966, Prouvost became involved in radio and acquired a significant shareholding in Radio-Télé-Luxembourg. Prouvost was appointed the company's ''Président administrateur délégué'' (that is, Chairman and CEO) in 1965. Prouvost renamed Radio Luxembourg as RTL on 11 October 1966 to make it seem less foreign to French listeners and changed the programming to adopt a more modern and friendly tone. From 1970, the Prouvost empire entered a period of difficulties. In July 1975 ''Le Figaro'' was sold to

Robert Hersant Robert Hersant (30 January 1920 – 21 April 1996) was a French newspaper magnate. He was a leader in the pro-Nazi youth movement during the Vichy wartime years, but after prison time built a major newspaper empire and engaged in conservative ...

, while in 1976 ''Télé 7 Jours'' was sold to the

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

group and ''Paris Match'' was acquired by the Filipacchi group. By the time of Jean Prouvost's death in October 1978, only the women's publications remained in his family.

Private life

He married Germaine Lefebvre (died 1973),
Thierry Prouvost: Lefebvre daughter of Edmond Henri Lefebvre (a Roubaix industrialist) and Julie Marie Grimonprez. In 1951, Prouvost became the mayor of Yvoy-le-Marron, a small village in

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...

, where he later retired.

References

* Marcel Haedrich, ''Citizen Prouvost : Le portrait incontournable d'un grand patron de la presse française'' (Citizen Prouvost: The essential portrait of a great baron of the French press), Filipacchi Eds, Levallois-Perret, 1995. * Raymond Barillon, ''Le cas Paris-Soir'', Paris,

Armand Colin Armand Colin is a French publishing house founded in 1870 by Auguste Armand Colin. It specializes in publishing works concerning human sciences, economics and education. Among its best-known publications are the "U" collection begun in 1968, a ...

, Col. Kiosque, 1959. * Philippe Boegner, ''Oui Patron'' (''Yes Boss''). * Guillaume Hanoteau, ''La fabuleuse aventure de Paris-Match''. *''Encyclopaedia universalis. Universalia'', 1979.*

External links

''Les pionniers de la communication : Jean Prouvost'', sur Les Echos.fr

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prouvost, Jean 1885 births 1978 deaths French newspaper chain founders French magazine founders Paris Match writers