In Review: Pictures I've Kept - WITH LETTER FROM MAMIE EISENHOWER TO MAURICE CHEVALIER

Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.. 1969. The "concise pictorial 'autobiography'" of the 34th President, with an autograph note from Mamie Eisenhower to entertainer Maurice Chevalier matted and mounted on the front free end page. Thanking Chevalier for a message of sympathy after her husband's death in 1969, Eisenhower writes: "Your tribute to Ike warmed my heart and your message to me meant a great deal." 237 pp. Black cloth binding in fine condition; photo dust jacket with some wear to the edges, otherwise in very good condition.

Chevalier, it was reported in 1959, owed his life to Dwight D. Eisenhower: upon the liberation of Paris in 1945, Chevalier was threatened with death by firing squad for having entertained in France under the Nazi occupation. Chevalier (who had been living with a Jewish woman at the time) contended that he had only done so in order to facilitate a prisoner swap. Thanks to a word from General Eisenhower himself, Chevalier was kept alive until an investigation could be carried out, which proved that Chevalier was telling the truth.

The French actor, cabaret singer and entertainer Maurice Chevalier is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including "Louise", "Mimi", "Valentine", and "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" and for his films, including The Love Parade and The Big Pond. His trademark attire was a boater hat, which he always wore on stage with a tuxedo. In 1958, he starred with Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan in Gigi and in the early 1960s, he made eight films, including Can-Can in 1960 and Fanny the following year.  The success of Gigi prompted Hollywood to give him an Academy Honorary Award that year for achievements in entertainment.  (13889)

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