Piaf, Edith. (1915–1963)
Signed Photograph to Marinette Cerdan
Magnificent signed doubleweight Endrey of Paris photograph of the great French chanteuse. A haunting image of Piaf, signed and inscribed in blue fountain pen ink in French to the widow of her great love, the boxer Marcel Cerdan: "Pour Marinette / Souvenir sympathique d'un tas de souvenirs / Edith Piaf." Some wear at edges/corners, none affecting signature or inscription, and otherwise fine. 20 x 25 cm. A truly remarkable association.The love of Piaf's life, the married boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in a plane crash in October 1949, while flying from Paris to New York City to meet her. Cerdan's Air France flight, went down in the Azores, killing everyone on board, including great violinist Ginette Neveu. Piaf and Cerdan's affair made international headlines, as Cerdan was the former middleweight champion of the world and a legend in France in his own right.
"Edith's conviction of love's divinity was already being tested in her Boulogne household. Soon after her return from New York, she contacted Marinette Cerdan, who invited her to Morocco even though she knew of Edith's affair with Marcel. Their entente as co-mourners resulted in the Cerdan family's moving to Boulogne. Edith took responsibility for their welfare (including benefits like a mink coat for Marinette) out of her desire to give the boxer's sons the life he had wanted for them and also to show the world that his widow embraced the woman who had been her rival. Only conventional minds found their rapport hard to understand, she wrote: 'Marinette and I had been changed by [the same] man.'" (Carolyn Burke, "No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf," p. 145) (7331)
Signed Photograph Song