Jean Coquelin

French stage and film actor and theatre director Jean Coquelin (1865-1944) was the son of the famous stage actor Benoit Constant Coquelin and the nephew of Coquelin Cadet. He was known for such films as L'abbé Constantin (1925), La chanson du souvenir (1937) and Café de Paris (1938).


French postcard in the 'Nos artistes dans leur loge' series, no. 59. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.

French postcard, signed and dated 17 July 1902. Photo: Van Bosch, Paris. Caption: Coquelin de la Comédie Française.


French postcard. Jean Coquelin as Flambeau in the play 'L'aiglon' by Edmond Rostand.

A debut at the Comédie Française

Jean Coquelin was born Camille Léon Jean Coquelin in 1865 in Paris, France. He was the son of the stage actor Benoit Constant Coquelin also known as Coquelin ainé and actress Antoine Mancy. His uncle, Coquelin Cadet, was also well-known actor.

He studied with Mme Arnould Plessy and Coquelin aîné, his father. He followed the latter on a major tour of Europe, and then entered the Comédie Française in 1890. He made his debut in 'Le Dépit amoureux', then played in 'Thermidor' and 'La Mégère apprivoisée'. He then moved on to the Renaissance Theatre.

In 1907, he became co-director of the Théâtre de la Gaité alongside Henry Hertz in 1907. In 1910, he and Hertz became the directors of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, when Edmond Rostand's 'Chantecler' premiered there. That year, he married Blanche Miroir on 18 May 1910 in Neuilly sur Seine. His witnesses were Edmond Rostand and Albert Carré, and the bride's witnesses were Henry Hertz and Mme Michel.

At the Porte Saint-Martin, hee created the character of Raigoné in Edmond Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac', the major play in which his father had performed.

Coquelin and his father played together in the stage play 'La Dame de Monsoreau', after a novel by Alexandre Dumas, turned into a stage play in 1860.


French postcard by ELD, no. 84. Jean Coquelin as the farmyard dog Patou in 'Chantecler', a play by Edmond Rostand.


French postcard by ELD / GPL. Photo: Bert. Jean Coquelin as the farmyard dog Patou in 'Chantecler', a play by Edmond Rostand.

Clergyman

In 1925, after years of theatre performances, Jean Coquelin started to appear in film too. He made his debut in the lead role of the comedy Abbé Constantin/The Abbot Constantine (Julien Duvivier, 1925) with Claude France. He often played a clergyman such as the priest in La Roche aux Mouettes (Georges Monca, 1933).

Coquelin played several times with Julien Duvivier in such films as David Golder (Julien Duvivier, 1930) starring Harry Baur and La fin du jour/The End of the Day (Julien Duvivier, 1939) with Victor Francen and Michel Simon.

He even played more often with director Sacha Guitry and appeared in his films Faisons un reve/Let's Make a Dream (Sacha Guitry, 1937), Les perles de la couronne/The Pearls of the Crown (Christian-Jaque, Sacha Guitry, 1937), Remontons Les Champs-Elysées/Let's Go Up the Champs-Élysées (Sacha Guitry, Robert Bibal, 1938) and Le destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary/Mlle. Desiree (Sacha Guitry, 1942).

After his debut in a lead role, most of his roles were secondary characters or bit parts. His last role was a bit part in Maurice Tourneur's Les mains du diable/The Devil's Hand (Maurice Tourneur, 1943) with Pierre Fresnay, after the novel by Gérard de Nerval.

Jean Coquelin died in 1944 in Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, Seine-et-Marne, France. He was 78. Coquelin was married to 'Blanche Miroir' and actress Louise Didès. With Didès, he had a son, actor Jean-Paul Coquelin.


French postcard by Eclair. Photo: Atelier Nadar. Caption: Porte St. Martin. Jean Coquelin in the play 'La Dame de Monsoreau' (1908).


French postcard. Jean Coquelin as Flambeau in the play 'L'aiglon' by Edmond Rostand.

Sources: Theatredatabase, Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

Nos artistes dans leur loge

One of the most fascinating and beautiful series of star postcards is Nos artistes dans leur loge. The series presents dozens of French stage and film stars of the 1920s in their dressing rooms. The postcards were all produced by the French journal Comoedia and one with Editions La Fayette.


Huguette Duflos. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge by Editions La Fayette, Paris. Photo: Comoedia.


Maurice Chevalier. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 201. Photo: Comoedia.


Vera Sergine. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 69. Photo: Comoedia.


Jean Coquelin. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 59. Photo: Comoedia.


Raquel Meller. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 20. Photo: Comoedia.

Tour de France
Nowadays the Paris journal Comœdia is defunct. In 1907, it was founded by French bicycle racer and sports journalist Henri Desgrange (1865 – 1940), according to Wikipedia. Desgrange was also the first organizer of the Tour de France and the founder of the popular sports journal L’auto (nowadays L'Equipe). However, another source Le Guichet du Savoir cites an article by Nathalie Léger in Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: le XXe siècle, who claims that the founder was Georges de Pawlowski. The journal - or in French ‘revue’ – Comœdia appeared as a daily from 1 October 1907 to 6 August 1914. In the beginning it had four pages. Because of the First World War the publication then halted. After the war, on 1 October 1919 Comœdia returned, again as a daily. The 1920’s with its expanding rheatre and silent film industry were a golden period for Comœdia. Among its contributors were such famous authors as Francois Coppe, Tristan Bernard, Jean Richepin, Jules Renard, and Georges Courteline. They published columns, reviews and articles about actors, actresses and directors. There were two supplements. Since 1908 there was the bi-monthly art journal Comœdia illustrated. In 1926 the daily Comœdia-journal was started. In 1936 Desgrange fell ill and Comoedia disappeared. In 1941, after the death of Desgrange, the journal returned, but now as a weekly till August 1944. It reappeared between 1952 and 1954 under the name Paris-Comoedia, weekly show with journalist and scenario writer Jacques Chabannes as its director.


Damia. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 256. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Performing Arts / Artes Escénicas.


Gabriel Signoret. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 185. Photo: Comoedia.


Maurice de Féraudy. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 131. Photo: Comoedia.


Eugène Silvain. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 191. Photo: Comoedia.


Musidora. French postcard in the series Nos Artistes dans leur loge, no. 97. Photo: Comoedia. Collection: Beth Gallagher.

The Mirror
The series Nos artistes dans leur loge was probably published between 1922 and 1926 as a supplement for Comœdia Illustrated. The series contained portraits of famous stage actors. The stars were often only referred to by their surname like Signoret, Dranem, De Feraudy et al. Many film stars were included. The ingredients of the picture were always the same. A full shot of an artist who is preparing for the spotlights in his or her dressing room. A recurring element on the photos is the mirror. Sometimes the star is glancing into the mirror, looking at himself or at the photographer. On other postcards he is watching the photographer – and the public – directly. The dressing room is never in full view, but on the pictures you can discover details: a chair, a lamp, an artwork. And every card has a signature of the artists written over it. The result is wonderful. And my favourite dressing room is Musidora's.


Victor Francen. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 108. Photo: Comoedia.


Max de Rieux. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 285. Photo: Comoedia.


Harry Baur. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 202. Photo: Comoedia.


Jacques Baumer. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 321. Photo: Comoedia.


Tramel. French postcard in the series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 5. Sent by mail in 1923. Photo: Comoedia.

Sources: Wikipedia (French) and Le Guichet du Savoir (French).