Maria Annina Laganà Pappacena, best known as Anna Fougez ( 9 July 1894 – 11 September 1966) was an Italian actress and singer. Born in

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

, at 6 years old Pappacena became orphan of both her parents, and was adopted by her aunt. She was a

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

, debuting as a café-chantant singer aged eight, and at 9 years old she was already a star, performing as a canzone napoletana singer in Milan, Paris and Naples. She adopted her stage name as a tribute to French singer

Eugénie Fougère Eugénie Fougère (12 April 1870 – 6 February 1946) was a French vaudeville and music hall dancer and singer. She was often called a soubrette − a flirtatious or frivolous woman − known for her eye-catching outfits, frisky movements, sugges ...

Gianfranco Baldazzi Gianfranco Baldazzi (28 July 1943 – 25 June 2013) was an Italian lyricist, record producer, author and journalist. Life and career Born in Bologna, Baldazzi started his career as a stage actor. Active from the second half of the 1960s, he wrot ...

. "Fougez, Anna". Gino Castaldo (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990. pp. 708-9.Doriana Legge
"Pappacena, Maria Annina Laganà, in arte Anna Fougez"
'' Enciclopedia Italiana: Dizionario biografico''. Treccani, 2014.Stefano Tomassini. "Variety Theater". ''Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies: A-J'', Volume 1. Taylor & Francis, 2006. pp. 1950-1. While at that time the success of variety artists was in general short and ephemeral, Fougez was a real diva for several decades, and was the most paid Italian artist of her time. Reasons for her ensuring success include her ability in choosing her repertoire and adapting it to her figure, her peculiar beauty, more elegant and very different from the other actresses of her time, her ability to readily interact with the audience, and her particular costumes, which she mostly drew by herself, and which influenced the Italian fashion of the time. She was also in good relations with Fascism, and shortly before the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fa ...

composed and performed in front of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

the song "Fox-trot di Mussolini". Between the second half of the 1910s and the early 1920s Fougez starred in a number of silent films of good success. In 1928, together with her second husband, the French dancer René Thano, she started her own revue company, "Grande rivista italiana". In 1931, she wrote her memoirs, ''Il mondo parla ed io passo'' (i.e. "The world speaks and I pass"). In 1940, still famous, she eventually retired from showbusiness.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fougez, Anna 1894 births 1966 deaths Italian film actresses Italian stage actresses People from Taranto Italian silent film actresses 20th-century Italian actresses Music hall performers 20th-century Italian women singers