Dateline: Paris - 1939: 3 persons enter Paris's Musée Grévin and decapitate famed Breton maid Bécassine, who embodied the exodus to Paris of hundreds of Bretons, including many young girls, in the 1870s and on…. Note: It was a statue. But.... Why?
Who is She and Why Cut off her Head?
(DP Note: Apologies - Been away writing a tale for cold, hard clams (money!) – which my cats claim is needed to keep'em in tuna. The story? It's under wraps but involves some plucky fighter-pilots who, while in Europe, bought their fine selves an abandoned French Château, restored it and then, when forced to leave, took it apart and flew it ...well, Stay tuned!)
We are back to a more or less bi-weekly sked in the dawns and dusks a comin'...so....
OK! The Case of the Decapitated Breton Maid, BÉCASSINE
We've previously brought you the harrowing history and heinous crimes of Paris WWII mass-murderer Dr. Petitot, plus the miscreant who pranced off with the Mona Lisa. Today a look at...Bécassine.
First...some background. When visiting Paris (and you will!) you may notice those charming windows/slanted apartments atop many a building. Called chambres de bonne (the easy translation being ‘maids rooms’) they were traditionally small rooms in buildings where a family's 'domestic' lived.
Today many of these rooms (some 100K remain) are technically not legally large enough to rent, 9 sq meters is the current minimum (or 97sq ft), but, as I say, ‘technically’.
Watch Parisian rooftops video under a cloudy sky....
A typical Parisian sight....
Encore….
The term bonne stems from a tendency folks had of referring to domestics/maids who lodged in their buildings as 'mon bon' or 'ma bonne'. And thus the place where they lived became chambre de bonne...
Photos: chambres de bonne today….
For many years a huge swath of these workers were young Breton women from Brittany (the folks are 'Bretons'; the region is 'Britanny').
Food FYI: As Gare Montparnasse serves northeast France, many arrivals hoping for that first Paris job alit in the Montparnasse area, ergo the still abundant number of crêperies there. (Crêpes originated in Brittany. Legend holds a 13th C. Bretonne house-wife slipped while carrying some buckwheat porridge, ...it sloshed on a hot, flat surface ...and voilà, a thin crispy crêpe was born). We digress. Sorry. *****(Breaking Update: No sooner than I “Publish, comes news that the FIRST EVER Crêperie bretonne has opened in Japan! It is Japan’s first ever! French Crêpier Bertrand Larcher (The King of Breton Pastry) is transferring his finely honed galate skills. Watch the French clip with Japanese Crêpier Kei Saito… WATCH HERE Saito says folks love them as buckwheat is very popular… No french needed to appreciate the visuals!
Meanwhile as city-slickers are wont to do these young women were unfairly portrayed as naive and clumsy and, by extension, their native Breton took the wrap as a cultural hinterland. (As one fascinated with things Breton —including a language once spoken by abt a million persons*, and the “only Celtic language still in use on the European mainland”, I can only say its history and culture is deeply spellbinding. And, of course...those bagpipes!!). Yes, another digress! Not sorry!
*Why the Bretons of Brittany Speak a Celtic Language - Explained (it all began in the 5th century…..Click for more
The Birth of Bécassine
Source: (low res) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Becassine_large.jpg
Bécassine is a French comic strip and the name of its heroine, appearing for the first time in the first issue of La Semaine de Suzette on February 2, 1905. “While one of the earliest female comics characters, she is not the very first. That honour goes to Gene Carr's Lady Bountiful (1901) and Winsor McCay's Hungry Henrietta (1905)”.
The start: One day in 1905 a writer at La Semaine de Suzette, a newspaper for “girls from good society” messed up and forgot an assignment, which left an offending blank space. Perhaps amped-up by his screw-up, editor-in-chief Jacqueline Rivière, began ranting about the inanities of her Breton maid –which spiraled into the idea for a character, who she named Bécassine and had artist Joseph Pinchon draw her (button nose, not quite there mouth...) ...and the rest is infamy/history. The series was a instant hit.
Source: La Semaine de Suzette
By 1921 Bécassine was so popular a statue of her won a spot at Paris's famed Musée Grévin , prominently displayed at the entrance its grand staircase, facing a statue by Alfred Grevin. (Originally drawn in the clothing style of Picardy, her couture was changed to reflect the Breton style...and then to Finisterian where she supposedly went to school in Clocher-les-Bécasses).
Above (right): The ill-fated statute
Paris’s Famed Wax Museum, Musée Grévin
Source By Photo: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8478203
The antics and gags in Bécassine may have been funny to many urbanites, but they hid a darker reality. Life was hardly amusing nor easy for the hundreds of young Breton women who came to toil in bourgeois Parisian families. Most were probably unaware or flummoxed by the often subtle social codes and ways of life which ruled hierarchical, normative Paris. Many faced innumerable challenges, including accents, grasp of the language plus the reality of living in close proximity to employers.
Bécassine, while popular, wasn't universally cherished. Especially in Breton. (Friends say their parents recall the term Bécasse as a synonym for 'silly goose', or 'feather-brain').
In 1939 a Bécassine movie began shooting, which included filming in Brittany (Ploumanac'h & Trégastel). Many Bretons were less than thrilled with the Bécassine representation, and began protesting. And even Paulette Dubost, the actress playing Bécassine on screen, was supposedly threatened during filming in Lannion.
Movie Poster for Bécassine, waaaaaay back in the day! Courtsey: BDFCI
There were even calls for a boycott and appeals to Prime Minister Edouard Daladier asking him to prohibit the screening of the film. Alas to nada avail. The comedy Bécassine, appeared in 1940, staring Max Dearly, Paulette Dubost (alive & unblemished) and Marguerite Deval.
Consequences? Fright at the Museum Grévin
We can only wonder what effect those failed protests, if any, had on three young disgruntled Bretons who chose to take matters into their own hands.
On June 18, 1939*, our aggrieved trio entered Paris's Musée Grévin with malice in their hearts and hidden hammers at the ready . They quickly found the popular Bécassine statue and instantly beheaded it (a French thing)….before utterly destroying the offending (“personification of imbecility”) symbol of their ridicule.
Quickly arrested two of the troika pretended to only speak Breton. Amazingly within but one night in the slammer they mastered French, explaining their act as both protest against the film and as they were fed up with “hearing passers-by in Paris say to a Breton woman in traditional costume: "Here, here is a Bécassine". Released they were made to pay fines.
*Oddly, exactly a year later, June 18th 1940, another appeal rang out across France, this from a London-based French army officer, Charles de Gaulle ...after the collapse of France.
Decapitation and dismemberment aside, Bécassine enjoyed a long and commercially successful life. In 2001 came the animated Bécassine, le trésor viking (Bécassine and the Viking Treasure) and in 2018 another Bécassine version was made. I am unsure if a Bécassine replacement statue was ever made. And, what of the fate of the broken statue pieces?
Who Was Bécassine?: Though originally portrayed in a less than flattering light, a blundering, awkward and socially inept soul with a huge heart, Bécassine evolved into a capable endearing character. In the BD’s, Bécassine's lot improves over time: soon after arriving at the Marquise de Grand'Air's house, she becomes a governess and adviser to her mistress, and eats at the same table, (which we assume, was a step up). In the Bruno Podalydes 2018 film version, Bécassine she was “a very modern woman driving a car, taking the plane and participating in the emancipation of women..” (Rough translation). Or as one movie goer put it: “…Bruno Podalydès shaped the content in a specific and poetic way. The cinematography is beautiful and the cast is remarkable, especially with Emeline Bayart and Karin Viard….” .
Fair use: Courtsey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9cassine_(2018_film)
Becassine Trivia: She did have a family name, it was Annaïk Labornez
You can still find Bécassine BD's (Bande dessinée*) and there are many a folk who love the indefatigable and endearing soul, with a heart of gold, from Breton. *Bande dessinée - Originating in France & Belgium, they were first called Franco-Belgian comics. The nature of this art form has changed over the years.
Stamp of Approval
A century after her debut, a French stamp was issued in Bécassine's honour....
Image: LaPoste France
In Brittany Bécassine is still a popular, familiar figure, with dolls and ornaments available in tourist shops.
Thanks for reading! And please pass along to any fan of things French or Parisian!
Further Stuff:
Thanks a metric ton for reading! Cheers !