Félix Mayol

French singer and entertainer
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (December 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
  • View a machine-translated version of the French article.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Félix Mayol]]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Félix Mayol}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Mayol sporting his trademark quiff.

Félix Mayol (18 November 1872 – 26 October 1941) was a French singer and entertainer.

Career

Mayol was born in Toulon, France. His parents, amateur singers and actors, arranged for Felix to make his debut stage at six years of age. In 1895, he went to the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris where he began a career in entertainment that spanned more than forty years. He adopted a campy effeminate manner on stage as part of his theatrical persona.[1]

He sang the famous song "Viens poupoule, viens poupoule, viens...", and performed many songs by Théodore Botrel.

In the early years of the 20th century some of Mayol's performances were captured by an early form of talking picture. He would record his voice, then the motion picture camera would film him as he lip-synced to the record. Several of his Phonoscènes exist.

Other activities

The teenaged Maurice Chevalier took a risk by impersonating Mayol in small-time cafe entertainments,[2] Mayol reportedly recognised the young man's talent and gave him his blessing, which led Chevalier to the Casino de Paris and the Folies Bergère.[citation needed]

Shortly after World War I, he purchased a plot of land in Toulon and donated it to the local sports club, RC Toulonnais, for the building of a stadium. The facility, named Stade Mayol in his honor, remains in use today (after several renovations) as the home ground for the Toulon rugby team.[citation needed]

Personal life

Mayol never married, and many stories circulated of his homosexual liaisons, including an attempt to seduce Chevalier.[1] His brother, Charles Mayol, founded a music publishing company to print his works.[citation needed]

Selected filmography

External links

  • Félix Mayol at IMDb
  • Phonoscene with an Elephone chronophone (1905), Félix Mayol sings "La polka des trottins" (A. Trébitsch/ H. Christiné)

Notes

  1. ^ a b Michael Freedland, Maurice Chevalier, Morrow, 1981, p. 28.
  2. ^ Hugh MacDiarmid, Selected Essays of Hugh MacDiarmid, University of California Press, 1970, p. 106.
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
International
  • FAST
  • ISNI
  • VIAF
National
  • France
  • BnF data
  • Germany
  • Israel
  • Belgium
  • United States
  • Netherlands
  • Poland
Artists
  • MusicBrainz
Other
  • SNAC
  • IdRef


  • v
  • t
  • e