La Goulue (, meaning ''The Glutton''), was the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

of Louise Weber (12 July 1866 – 29 January 1929), a French

can-can The can-can (also spelled cancan as in the original French /kɑ̃kɑ̃/) is a high-energy, physically demanding dance that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s, continuing in popularity in French cabaret to this day. Originally dance ...

dancer who was a star of the

Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche. In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (Par ...

, a popular cabaret in the Pigalle district of Paris, near

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 ...

. Weber became known as ''La Goulue'' because as an

adolescent Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated w ...

, she was known for guzzling cabaret patrons' drinks while dancing. She also was referred to as the Queen of Montmartre.

Childhood

Very little is known about her early childhood, but it is believed that Louise Weber was born into a Jewish family from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

that eventually moved to

Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine Clichy ( , ; sometimes unofficially Clichy-la-Garenne ) is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located on the Seine, from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. Located in Clichy are the headquarters ...

, near Paris. Her mother worked in a laundry. As an impoverished young girl who loved to dance, Weber is said to have enjoyed dressing up in laundry customers' expensive clothing and pretending to be a glamorous star on a great stage. At age 16, she was working with her mother in the laundry, but behind her mother's back began sneaking off to a dance hall dressed in a customer's "borrowed" dress.

Early career

Toulouse-Lautrec - Moulin Rouge - La Goulue

Dancing at small clubs around Paris, Weber quickly became a popular personality, liked for both her dancing skills and her charming, audacious behavior. In her routine, she would tease the male audience by swirling her raised dress to reveal the heart embroidered on her knickers and would do a high kick while flipping off a man's hat with her toe. Because of her frequent habit of picking up a customer's glass and quickly downing its contents while dancing past his table, she was affectionately nicknamed La Goulue (The Glutton). Eventually she met the Montmartre painter

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

, who introduced her to a group of models who earned extra money posing for the community's artists and photographers.

Achille Delmaet Achille (, ) is a French and Italian masculine given name, derived from the Greek mythological hero Achilles. It may refer to: People Artists * Achille Beltrame (1871–1945), Italian painter * Achille Calici (c. 1565–?), Italian painter * ...

, husband of

Marie Juliette Louvet Marie Juliette Louvet (9 May 1867 – 24 September 1930)'' L'Intermediaire des Chercheurs et Curieux'', vol. 21 (1971), p. 958: "Marie–Juliette Louvet, née à Pierreval (Seine alors Inférieure) le 9. V. 1867 est décédée à Paris (XVI*) le ...

, would later find fame as the photographer who had taken many nude photographs of La Goulue.

Star of the Moulin Rouge

Louise Weber was taken under the wing of Jacques Renaudin (1843–1907), a wine merchant who danced in his spare time under the

Valentin le Désossé Valentin le Désossé ("Valentin the Boneless"; 26 February 1843 – 4 March 1907) was the stage name of Jacques Renaudin, a French can-can dancer who was a star of the Moulin Rouge in the 1890s as the partner of Louise Weber, known as La Goul ...

. They danced at the renowned

in Montmartre when it first opened, performing an early form of the ''

cancan The can-can (also spelled cancan as in the original French /kɑ̃kɑ̃/) is a high-energy, physically demanding dance that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s, continuing in popularity in French cabaret to this day. Originally dance ...

'' known as the ''chahut''. The two were instant stars, but it was Weber who stole the show with her outrageously captivating conduct. Booked as a permanent headliner, La Goulue became synonymous with the can-can and the Moulin Rouge nightclub. The toast of Paris and the highest paid entertainer of her day, she became one of the favorite subjects for

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Count, ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colour ...

, immortalized by his portraits and posters of her dancing at the Moulin Rouge. Her best friend was La Môme Fromage (The Cheesy Girl), another famous cancan dancer at the Moulin Rouge. They were so close that people called them sisters.

Decline

Having achieved both fame and fortune, Weber decided to part company with the Moulin Rouge in 1895 and strike out on her own. She invested a considerable amount of money into a show that travelled the country as part of a large fair; but her fans who had lined up to buy tickets at the Moulin Rouge did not take to the new setting, and her business venture turned into a dismal failure. Following the closure of her show, La Goulue disappeared from the public eye. Suffering from depression, she drank heavily and dissipated the small fortune she had accrued while dancing. File:Weber-Goulue.jpg File:La Goulue03.jpg, 1885 File:La Goulue2.jpg File:BLW Poster for La Goulue, 1894.jpg, 1894 File:La Goulue02.jpg, 1895 show La Goulue01.jpg Alcoholic and destitute, La Goulue returned to Montmartre in 1928. She eked out a living selling peanuts, cigarettes, and matches on a street corner near the Moulin Rouge; few recognized the severely overweight and haggard former Queen of Montmartre. She died a year later at age 62 in the

10th arrondissement of Paris The 10th arrondissement of Paris (''Xe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le dixième'' (; "the tenth", formally ''l ...

and was buried in the Cimetière de Pantin in the Paris suburb of

Pantin Pantin () is a Communes of France, commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. In 2019 its population was estimated to be 59,846. Pantin is located on the edge of ...

, but later her remains were transferred to the

Cimetière de Montmartre The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

Cultural references

* 1889/90. Painting. Georges Seurat. ''Le Chahut''. Oil on canvas. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands. * 1891. Poster. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. ''Moulin Rouge: La Goulue''. Color lithograph. Approximate print run: 3,000 copies. * 1934. Ballet. Bar aux Folies-Bergère''. Choreography by Ninette de Valois. Music by Emmanuel Chabrier. Created for Ballet Rambert, London, with Alicia Markova as La Goulue and Frederick Ashton as Valentin le Désossé.Beth Genné, ''The Making of a Choreographer: Ninette de Valois and Bar aux Folies-Bergère''. Studies in Dance History (Society of Dance History Scholars, 1996). * 1950. Novel. Pierre La Mure. ''Moulin Rouge''. Based on the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. New York Random House. * 1952. Film. ''

''. Directed by John Huston. Romulus Films. A biography of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, with

Katherine Kath Katherine Kath (born Rose Marie Lily Faess; 11 August 1920 – 17 November 2012) was a French prima ballerina at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, who became an actress after suffering from an injury which destroyed her chances of continuing her ...

as La Goulue and Walter Crisham as Valentin le Désossé. * 1955. Film. ''

French Cancan ''French Cancan'' (also known as ''Only the French Can'') is a 1955 musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin, Francoise Arnoul and María Félix. It marked Renoir's return to France and to French cine ...

''. A fictionalized history of the Moulin Rouge, written and directed by

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...

and starring

Jean Gabin Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976), was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films, including '' Pépé le ...

. Franco London Films. With

Françoise Arnoul Françoise Arnoul (born Françoise Annette Marie Mathilde Gautsch; 3 June 1931 – 20 July 2021) was a French actress who achieved popularity during the 1950s. Early life Born in Constantine, French Algeria, the daughter of stage actres ...

as La Goulue and

Philippe Clay Philippe Mathevet (7 March 1927 – 13 December 2007), known professionally as Philippe Clay, was a French mime artist, singer, and actor. He was known for his tall and slim silhouette—he was tall—and for performing songs by Charles Aznavo ...

as Valentin le Désossé, called Nini and Casimir le Serpentin in the film.

References

External links

Video biography
��This might be the most diligently researched biography about her in parallel to the history of

and the

Can-can The can-can (also spelled cancan as in the original French /kɑ̃kɑ̃/) is a high-energy, physically demanding dance that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s, continuing in popularity in French cabaret to this day. Originally dance ...

. Includes a few short filmstrips of her.
JOSY ANDRIEU "LA GOULUE"
��A most likely inaccurate French song of La Goulue.
''La Goulue'' by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
, Check123 - Video Encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Goulue, La 1866 births 1929 deaths People from Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine French artists' models French female dancers Burials at Montmartre Cemetery 19th-century French Jews People of Montmartre Moulin Rouge 19th-century French dancers