In her last years Montez shifted her profession from actress to lecturer, including among her topics “The Comic Aspects of Love,” “Wits and Women of Paris,” and “Gallantry.” The publication of her letters proved so successful that she followed this with The Arts of Beauty, or Secrets of a Lady’s Toilet, with Hints to Gentlemen on the Art of Fascinating. Prosperous for a while, at her home in upper New York State she hosted a small salon, masterfully inciting and guiding witty conversation while she smoked cigars. Though her disregard for the truth continued unabated, in her last years she tried to become what was then called “a good Christian.” But financial need forced her onto the lecture circuit again. For the first time since her childhood, she returned to Ireland, and later spoke in Britain as an expert on America. Returning to America, she lectured throughout the country on England.
Finally she had earned enough respect and success to feel certain of her future. Yet within a few months, on a very hot day in New York, she suffered a stroke. With her formidable will, she struggled back to health, even walking again with a cane. She seemed on the road to full recovery and spent some time at the New York Magdalene Society counseling women who were trying to give up prostitution. But on Christmas Day, a walk in the cold windy air proved fatal. Stricken with pneumonia, she did not recover. She was forty years old when she died, listening as, at her request, a friend read her passages from the Bible.
THE GREAT SARAH BERNHARDT was able to give up galanterie after she made millions from her tours in the New World. Her leg had to be amputated, yet she continued with her brilliant career, carried onto the stage, seated in a chair or propped up. She traveled to the front to entertain soldiers during World War I, and performed in the theatre through her late seventies. One of her last appearances was organized to benefit Madame Curie’s laboratory. When her failing body forced her to give up the stage, she appeared in a film. “There was nothing left of her,” the young actress Mary Marquet wrote. But when the director shouted “Camera!” suddenly she rose from her torpor. As Marquet remembered it, “her face lit up, her eyes were shining, and she demanded, ’What should I do?’ in a voice that seemed suddenly strong and young. She had just dropped thirty years.” A few months later, at the age of seventy-nine, her health finally failed.
Colette has given us a portrait of her at the end. “I record here one of the last gestures of the tragedienne approaching her eightieth year: a delicate faded hand offering a full cup; the cornflower blue of her eyes, so young, caught in a web of wrinkles; the laughing interrogative coquetry of the turn of her head. And that indomitable, endless desire to charm, to charm again, to charm even unto the gates of death.”
As if proving the truth of Colette’s words, on her deathbed she asked her son Maurice to make certain that her coffin was covered in lilacs. As the funeral cortège, followed by one of the largest crowds ever seen in modern France, moved from the Church of Sainte-Françoise-de-Sâles to Pè re Lachaise, the mourners stopped for a moment of reverent silence in front of the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, transfixed by the memory of her golden voice.
Glossary
les abonnés: subscribers to the ballet, and also men who pursued dancers and courtesans
Accademia: gatherings of men and women in Rome, Venice, and Florence during the Renaissance who met to share a meal and discuss art and ideas; occasions which wives could not attend but at which courtesans often were present
les agenouillées: literally, the kneeling ones, slang for courtesans who did have occasion to kneel at times
les amazones: the word used for the masculine riding costume women wore and for the women who wore it; also a code word for courtesans who, even if they were not always androgynous in manner, took the prerogatives of men
auletrides: young women who played the flute for hire at banquets for men in ancient Rome. In addition to playing the flute at the beginning of the evening, they would often engage in prostitution at its end
le Beau Monde: literally, the beautiful world; fashionable society, which included courtesans
les belles petites: term for courtesans
les biches: a term for courtesans and lorettes; using the image of a doe, the term expresses and projects the animality that men associated with courtesans
le bon ton: good taste; the fashionable crowd
le boulevard: “The Paris of the Parisians,” wrote Cornelia Otis Skinner, “began at the Madeleine and ended at Tortoni’s. . . .”
boulevardier: “The term boulevardier was now invented to describe men whose principal accomplishment consisted in appearing at the proper moment in the proper café,” writes Roger Shattuck. As Roger Moréas described, this moment went on for hours. “In the old days, I arrived around one in the afternoon . . . stayed until seven and then went to dine. At about eight we came back and didn’t leave until one in the morning.”
camélias: another code word for courtesans, derived from the play by Alexandre Dumas fils, La Dame aux camélias
cocodès: in English in the 1920s and 1930s, the translation would have been “ swells”—men out for a good time who were willing and able to pay for it
cocodette: a déclassé society woman, excluded from high society because of scandal or divorce, who lived the life of a courtesan while preserving her upper-class manners. Thus, according to Philippe Perrot, helping to blur the demarcations between “zones of social hierarchy”
cocotte: literally, hen; a slang term used for both prostitutes and courtesans
coquette: a flirt
cortigiana: Italian term originally coined in Rome to mean courtesans who learned many of the skills of courtiers; it came to apply to prostitutes as well
cortigiana oneste: in Italy, particularly Venice, an honored courtesan as distinct from a prostitute
cortigiano: Italian for courtier
courtisane: French for courtesan
dames galantes: see femmes galantes
dégrafée: unhooked, unclasped, unbuttoned; another term for a courtesan
demi-castor: a word for a particular kind of courtesan, a middle-class or bourgeois woman, often unmarriageable due to scandal, who instead of being supported directly would be given expensive gifts by her lovers. Laure Hayman, the mistress of Marcel Proust’s uncle, whom Proust used as a model for Odette Crécy in A la recherche du temps perdu, was considered a demicastor
demi-mondaines: women in the demi-monde, not all of whom were courtesans. KiKi of Montparnasse, for instance, was a demi- mondaine but not a courtesan
demi-monde: the alternative world of gentlemen, artists, writers, social rebels, actors, courtesans, and lorettes which existed in Paris throughout the nineteenth century. The word was coined by Alexandre Dumas fils in his play Le Demi-Monde, though the definition changed
demi-reps: British term for wellborn women who became courtesans
deshabillés: literally, undressed, partly undressed, or undressing; a term for courtesans
diseur de mots: a witty man, usually to be found in a café on one of the Grand Boulevards
the fashionable impure: since purity meant chastity in a woman, the impure were women who were not chaste but were fashionable. Usually but not always courtesans
favorites: the women chosen or “favored” and kept by French kings and emperors
femmes galantes: most often courtesans, living a life of galanterie; the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century analogue of the demi-mondaines
femmes honnêtes: respectable women; but the term honnête came to mean authentic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and as such was applied to both Ninon de Lenclos and Jeanne du Barry
femmes légères: women who take moral lessons lightly; courtesans
fille d’amour: a young woman who was either a courtesan or a potential one
filles de marbres: courtesans and lorettes; taken from a popular play of the nineteenth century, Les Filles de Marbre
galanterie: the sensual and amorous life led by aristocrats in France in the sev
enteenth and eighteenth centuries; also used for the pursuit of pleasures, especially amorous and especially with courtesans in the nineteenth century
galants: men who were well mannered and elegant, often pursuing women while they led fashionably debauched lives
garde-robe: wardrobe, an essential word in the lexicon of the courtesan
gay: the word now used for homosexual once implied the presence of courtesans, hence gaiety
Gay Nineties: the Belle Epoque, famous for its courtesans and their wild behavior, whose epicenter was Paris, and within Paris, Maxim’ s
“Gay Paree”: the risqué world of courtesanry, artistic rebellion, and general mischief that attracted initiates and tourists from around the world
grandes horizontales: a term for courtesans that was especially popular in the Belle Epoque and the fin-de-siècle
les Grandes Trois: Liane de Pougy, Caroline Otero, and Emilienne d’Alençon, the three most sought-after courtesans of the Belle Epoque
le grand monde: high society, the upper classes; le petit monde: the working classes
les Grands Boulevards: the great boulevards in Paris that run from the eleventh arrondissement to the first, from the Bastille to the Madeleine, including boulevard des Italiens, boulevard Montmartre, boulevard Haussmann, boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, boulevard du Crime, boulevard du Temple, etc.
le Grand Seize: the private room reserved for royalty and the courtesans they invited upstairs at the Café Anglais
grisette: literally, milliner’s assistant, but the word applied to seamstresses and shopgirls too. Since these women were paid so little and had few prospects, many engaged in casual prostitution, hence the meaning: a woman of “easy virtue.” Madame du Barry began as a grisette, as did Marie Duplessis and Alice Ozy
hetaera: courtesan in ancient Greece; sometimes also a priestess of Aphrodite
high life: in French, as taken from English, “le high life” (pronounced to rhyme with “fig leaf”). It meant an elegant good time filled with almost constant revelry
honnête homme: one of several names by which Ninon de Lenclos was called in Paris—Il n’y a point de plus honnête homme que Mlle Lenclos (There is no more honest man than Mademoiselle Lenclos). Among other names, she was known as la belle courtisane and la vieille courtesan
impure: not chaste; courtesan
Jockey Club: the club, founded by Lord Seymour, father of Richard Wallace, Alice Ozy’s famous protector, whose aristocratic members shared an enthusiasm for the British custom of racing horses. They were also famous for their enthusiasm for courtesans
jolies filles: beautiful girls—applied to grisettes, lorettes, courtesans, and demi-mondaines alike
joyeuse: blithe and gay; also the term for a courtesan
libertinage: philosophically, the attempt to reconcile Epicureanism with Christianity, led by Pierre Gassendi; also refers to the activities of libertines, who indulged freely in sensual pleasure
libertine: a man who practices libertinage, the equivalent of sex, drugs, and rock and roll during the Ancien Régime
lion: as in social lion, for whom, at least in Paris, keeping a courtesan was de rigueur, and belonging to the Jockey Club almost equally obligatory
lionne: pursued, chased, and kept by one or more lions
lorette: a kind of minor league courtesan, part of the gay life along the boulevards, supported but not in the grandest style, usually hoping for advancement. So many lived in the neighborhood of the church called La Dame des Lorettes in the ninth arrondissement that the boulevardier Nestor Rocqueplan christened them “ lorettes.” “A marvelous lorette of the tall sort,” Delacroix wrote in a letter to George Sand, “all clad in black satin and velvet . . . when alighting from her cabriolet let me see up her leg to her belly, with the nonchalance of a goddess”
ma"tresses en titre: the semiofficial mistresses of French kings, who were presented at court and entertained at various royal palaces
mangeuse d’homme: the direct translation would be man- eater, but in French mangeuse connotes a woman with a large sexual appetite, hence a term for a courtesan
monde entier: the whole world, but also society (as in tout Paris)
mot juste: as with bon mot, a witty remark or response
“notre courtisane nationale”: “our national courtesan”—Liane de Pougy
précieuses: aristocratic women of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who cultivated romantic love in a highly refined way, so refined that they shunned its more bodily expressions
restaurant discret: a restaurant that provides salons particulières, where private meetings or parties can be held with courtesans. Famous among such restaurants was the Café Anglais, which had a room, le Grand Seize, often reserved for royalty and their friends. The Parisian restaurant Lapérouse has retained its salons particulières
ruelle: intellectual gathering in eighteenth-century Paris
salon: writers, artists, and philosophers gathered with their friends in the grands salons, or great rooms of private residences, to discuss their work, listen to performances, hear music. A number of these salons were conducted by courtesans—notably, Ninon de Lenclos, Marion Delorme, Sabatier, Jeanne Duval, and Alice Ozy. The custom was earlier practiced in Renaissance Italy
salone: Renaissance Italian word for salon
salon particulière: a private room in a restaurant where gentlemen could dine and spend much of the evening with the courtesans they escorted
souper et galant: to dine with a femme galante, followed by galanterie, often conducted in the salon particulière of a restaurant discret—a tradition initiated by Philippe d’Orléans, regent of France after Louis XIV
tendresses: yet another euphemism for courtesans and lorettes
the Three Graces: aside from the mythological figures who assisted Aphrodite both sartorially and with the seasons, there have been two sets of famous women given this name in the French history of courtesanry: the three Mailly sisters, daughters of the marquis de Nesle, all lovers, sequentially, of Louis XV; and the trio celebrated during the Belle Epoque—Liane de Pougy, La Belle Otero, and Emilienne d’Alenç on
vigna: villas in Renaissance Rome and outside Venice in whose beautiful gardens gatherings of artists, writers, philosophers, and courtesans were held. “Oh when I think back to those times gone by,” Jacobo
Sadoleto writes, “how often I recall those suppers and our frequent meetings . . . how after our homely banquets, spiced more with wit than gluttony, we used to recite poetry and make speeches. To the great satisfaction of all, because though they revealed a lofty spirit, they were delivered with gaiety and grace.”
voluptuary: one whose life is devoted to sensual pleasure
Bibliography
Adler, Laure. La Vie Quotidienne dans les Maisons Closées, 1830– 1930. Paris: Hachette, 1991.
Anderson, Jack. Dance. New York: Newsweek Books, 1974.
Anon. An Englishman in Paris. New York: Appleton & Co., 1892.
Apraxine, Pierre, and Xavier Demange, eds. La Comtesse de Castigione par elle-même. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées nationaux, 1999.
Aretino, Pietro. Aretino’s Dialogues, trans. by Raymond Rosenthal. New York: Stein & Day, 1971.
Atwood, William G. The Parisian Worlds of Frédéric Chopin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
Bach, Steven. Marlene Dietrich, Life and Legend. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000.
Balzac, Honoré de. A Harlot High and Low, trans. Rayner Heppenstall. London: Penguin Books, 1970.
———. Les Boulevards de Paris. Paris: Le Cadratin, 1994.
Baral, Robert. Revue. A Nostalgic Reprise of the Great Broadway Period. New York: Fleet Publishing, 1962.
Barbier, Patrick. Opera in Paris, 1800– 1850. A Lively History, trans. Robert Luoma. Portland: Amadeus Press, 1995.
Baring, Anne, and Jules Cashford. The Myth of the Goddess. Evolution of an Image. London: Viking Arkana, 1991.
Barrot, Olivier, and Raymo
nd Chirat. Le Théâtre de Boulevard, Ciel mon mari! Paris: Gallimard, 1998.
Baudelaire, Charles. Intimate Journals, trans. Christopher Isherwood. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1990.
———. Les Fleurs du mal, trans. Richard Howard. Boston: David R. Godine, 1983.
———. Paris Spleen, trans. Louise Varèse. New York: New Directions, 1970.
———. The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays, ed. Johnathan Mayne. New York: Phaidon Press, 1995.
Baudot, Françoise. Fashion, The Twentieth Century. New York: Universe Books,
1999.
Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex, trans. H. M. Parshly. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.
Benjamin, Walter. The Arcades Project, trans. Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin. Cambridge: Belknap Press, Harvard University, 1999.
Benstock, Shari. Women of the Left Bank, Paris 1900– 1940. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986.
Bernhardt, Sarah. My Double Life. The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt, trans. Victoria Tietze Larson. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.
Bigne, Yolaine de la. Valtesse de la Bigne. Paris: Perrin, 1999.
Blackmer, Corinne E., and Patricia Juliana Smith, eds. En travesti. Women, Gender, Subversion, Opera. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
Boudet, Micheline. La Fleur du Mal. La Véritable Histoire de la Dame aux Camélias. Paris: Albin-Michel, 1993.
Bourguinat, Elizabeth. Les Rues de Paris au XVIII siècle. Le regard de Louis Sébastien Mercier. Paris: Museé Carnavalet, 1999.
Boussel, Patrice et al. Dictionnaire de Paris. Paris: Larousse, 1964.
Bowers, Jane, and Judith Tick, eds. Women Making Music. The Western Art Tradition, 1150– 1950. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Boyle, Kay, and Robert McAlmon. Being Geniuses Together, 1920– 1930. New York: Doubleday, 1968.
Bressler, Fenton. Napoleon III, A Life. New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers, 1999.
Briais, Bernard. Grandes Courtisanes du Second Empire. Paris: Tallandier, 1981.
The Book of the Courtesans Page 26
