Marie Dubas (3 September 1894 – 21 February 1972) was a French music-hall singer,

diseuse A monologist (), or interchangeably monologuist (), is a solo artist who recites or gives dramatic readings from a monologue, soliloquy, poetry, or work of literature, for the entertainment of an audience. The term can also refer to a person w ...

and comedian.

Biography

Born in

Paris, France 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 ...

, Marie Dubas began her career as a stage actress but became famous as a singer. Using the great

Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque. Biography Emma Laure Esther Guilbert was born in Paris on 20 January 1865 to a modestly w ...

as her model, Dubas started singing in the small cabarets of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

mixing comedy into her routine. She earned a following that led to offers to perform in Parisian operettas and musicals and during the 1920s and 1930s, starred at such places as the Casino de Paris and Bobino, the great

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...

. Her most famous song, '' Mon légionnaire'', was written by Raymond Asso and recorded in 1936. Her popularity became such that in 1939 she toured the United States. The occupation of France by the Germans during World War II proved a difficult time for the Jewish Marie Dubas. Although married to a French

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

who served in the Air Force, she was nevertheless banned by the

Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...

government and placed under house arrest by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

who raided her Paris apartment. Forced to flee the country, Dubas took refuge in Lausanne, Switzerland where she remained until the end of the war. On her return to France, she learned her sister had been executed and her nephew had been shipped to a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

, never to be heard from again. The inspiration for

Édith Piaf Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...

, Marie Dubas returned to performing and in 1954 was chosen as a headliner for the reopening of the Paris Olympia. A stage production about her life, ''Dubas de haut, en bas'', was created by Opéra Éclaté.

Death

Marie Dubas retired in 1958. She died in Paris in 1972 and is interred there in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

. She is largely forgotten today.''Piano ma non-solo'',

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. He is also affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, a European trade union. Career Thiollet attended a school in Châtelleraul ...

, Anagramme Ed., 2012, p. 27.

Sources

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubas, Marie 1894 births 1972 deaths Singers from Paris 20th-century French comedians 20th-century French Jews Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French women singers Comedians from Paris French women comedians