About Marianne (née Gendron) L'Heureux

Introduction

How My Parents Met in N.Y.C. Through Edith Piaf, a French Singer

Edith Piaf (1915 –1963) was a French singer, lyricist, and actress; France's national chanteuse. One of her most famous songs was “La Vie En Rose” (“Life in Rose”), which she wrote and sang in 1946; she taught this song to my mother in New York City in 1949. For many years thereafter, Mother sang this song at most of her singing engagements in New York City and in Japan. 

Edith Piaf, Marcel Cerdan, My Mother and Father

The romance and affair between Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan, France's greatest middleweight boxer, remains a legend in France. Piaf and Cerdan first met at “Club des Cinq”, a cabaret in the artistic quarter of Montmartre in Paris, France. Joseph “JoJo” Longman owned the nightclub. Edith spent a lot of time at the Club de Cinq, so it was inevitable that she would eventually meet Marcel, “the great love of her life”. Joe Longman would become the Manager of Marcel Cerdan, and he travelled with him everywhere. Longman and my mother became an item, joining Piaf and Cerdan to make a foursome when they went out in New York City. Not much is known about Longman. Mother told me he wore sunglasses all the time because he was in Northern Africa during WWII, and the bright sun and sandstorms had damaged his eyes.

In 1947, Edith Piaf made her temporary home in New York City at the Ambassador Hotel. She had a contract to appear at Club Versailles, which modified its stage to accommodate her petite frame and height; she was only five foot ten. In Manhattan, Piaf and cortege met at “Jean French Cooking”, where my father had worked as a waiter, and later a sous chef, until opening his first restaurant in Times Square. Father's first restaurant was simply a counter and two barstools with a small cooking range and a sink. Yet it was very popular, and it was in the perfect location in the heart of the city, Times Square. After closing up his restaurant for the night, Father sometimes would hang out backstage  at the Versailles  with Piaf’s entourage. He was passionate about music, especially Edith Piaf’s music. Father's other passions were gambling and placed bets on boxing matches and horse races. 

  Piaf and Cerdan: On their first date, Piaf had a rendezvous with Marcel Cerdan at the Ambassador Hotel in Manhattan. This was after Cerdan had won a boxing match in Montreal, Canada.  A cousin of Joe Longman, Cerdan’s manager, ran an Italian restaurant at the harbor, and Piaf, Longman, and Cerdan piled into a blue Cadillac and went to eat there. After dinner, they went to the Broadway Playhouse on 48th Street where Piaf got up and sang a few songs. My mother was there that night too; mother met Joe Longman for the first time and they became a couple. The four of them would go out on the town together and mother learned to sing “La Vie en Rose” from Edith Piaf.

The crash of Air France Flight 009

In June 1949, Cerdan lost his world middleweight championship in Detroit and was offered a rematch on December 2, 1949, with Jack La Motta. On October 27, 1949, Cerdan arrived at the Orly Airport in Paris, and boarded Flight Air France Flight 009 for New York City with Joe Longman. Prior to flying, a gypsy fortune teller in Paris told him not to travel. 

The flight crashed into a mountain while attempting to land at the airport in Azores, Portugal, on a stopover. All forty-eight people on board were killed, which included eleven crew members and thirty-seven passengers. 

Edith performs

In New York City, Edith Piaf was told the tragic news of the airline crash. She told her manager “I will sing for Marcel. We owe him one.” My mother, having heard of the crash, went over to the Versailles, and went backstage to be with Piaf. That night, the audience was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Edith sang two songs, but on the third song, she almost collapsed onto the stage and was not able to finish her performance.  Piaf sang at the Versailles nightclub for nine more months before returning to Paris in 1950. 

Following the tragedy of the airline crash and the death of Joe Longman, mother was consoled by my father. He had always been in the background until then. Father said he was enthralled by my mother’s singing, and he called her “his songbird”.  My parents married in the 1950s and lived with my great-grandmother and grandparents in a three-story brownstone on 179thstreet in Washington Heights. My maternal grandmother, Marian, arranged for my parents to marry in a civil ceremony at the Manhattan courthouse. Marian was a witness, and Johnny LeBlanc, the Haitian pianist at Father’s restaurant on 46th Street, was the other witness.

Tribute to Edith Piaf

Over fifty years singing Mother paid a tribut  by including “La Vie En Rose” in many of her performances on stage.  She improvised by using a round hand mirror encircled with red silk roses;  she used the mirror to direct the spotlight from her onto people in the audience. Her French accent was perfect, having learned the song from Edith Piaf herself in 1949.

Notable people killed in the Air France 009 accident: 

Ginette Neveu (1919–1949) was a French classical violinist who was on the flight with her brother Jean Neveu. Her violin was a Guadagnini (worth sixteen million dollars today), and only some scrolls were found. Neveu was posthumously awarded the Cross of the Legion d’Honneur. Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881–1949) was a French painter, sculptor, and engraver. Herman "Kay" Kamen (1892–1949) was an American merchandising executive who worked with the Walt Disney Company and promoted the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Also on board were two Basque sheepherders who were on their way to jobs in the Pacific Northwest.