Le joyeux chansonnier Digipack

Description

Born on June 3, 1891, in Mantes-la-Ville, Georges Guimbourg became interested in music and song at a very young age, took piano lessons, and stepped onto the stage at the age of 10 within an amateur society in Rosny-sous-Bois where he lived. Later, in 1908, while working in commerce in Paris, a colleague introduced him to the program seller of the Concert du XXe siècle (Boulevard Montmartre). He was hired for three days at 15 francs for two songs. He then adopted the pseudonym Georgius when the impresario Dalos found him engagements in neighborhood cafés-concerts: La Fauvette, Chansonia, the Casino de Montmartre... Initially a performer of romances, he began to incorporate some comic songs into his repertoire, which particularly caught the ear of the stage manager of the Gaîté-Montparnasse, who, in 1912, advised him to specialize in this genre that seemed to suit him better. Hired for a year, with the obligation to bring five different songs each week, Georgius quickly exhausted the repertoire and began writing his own lyrics as early as 1914, having had his contract renewed twice. This was the apprenticeship of his craft, where his keen sense of observation led him to exercise his talents in parodies. But he had style and did not adopt a personalized comic outfit; he remained faithful to a black tailcoat with a flower in the lapel. After a year of frequenting various cafés-concerts, he returned, this time as the headliner, to the Gaîté-Montparnasse, where he staged several pieces of which he was the author. In 1919, he founded his own troupe of comedian-singers, Les Joyeux Compagnons, with whom he produced numerous revues and one-act plays that concluded the performances. A prolific author, he wrote about a hundred songs a year. While many of them would only last the duration of a show, a few would remain in memory, such as Les Archers du roy (published in 1918), of which it is said that 350,000 small formats were sold, or Le Fils père (1924), which he never recorded, the theme being a bit risqué for the time. In January 1921, Georgius was at the helm of the revue “Fais-moi rire” at the Européen. In September, at the Concert Mayol, a true song performance consisting of 10 songs made up the first part of his show. Presenting himself in front of a backdrop, Georgius took on all the roles of his characters in a sort of synthesis between the café-concert and the music hall. A visionary, he knew that the café-concert of his father would not survive after the war and, anticipating its disappearance, he evolved it into new forms. Possessing perfect diction, he performed (and would always perform) without a microphone in front of an orchestra to which he would add a jazz (that is, a drum set) starting in 1925. In February 1922, Georgius recorded his first records, six titles including Sur la pointe des pieds, Un agent courait, and Les Archers du roy. The sessions then followed one after another without interruption: La Plus bath des javas and Par Politesse (1924), Le Genre de la maison which opened his song performance (1928)... In total, 177 recordings until 1950. In 1926, at the Zénith, then at the Européen, Georgius presented his “Théâtre chantant,” which included various artists followed by the “Chansons de Paris” by himself in the first part, followed by a musical comedy after the intermission. In between, he appeared alone on the stage of the Empire. His revue “C'est Paris qui chante” was performed in 1928 at the Nouvelle Scala. The only misstep: participating in the revue “Allo, ici Paris,” he did not convince the audience at the Moulin Rouge. However, the audience at the Bouffes du Nord applauded him as the head of a troupe of 25 artists (including Sinoël and Esther Lekain) in “Le Roi des sauvages.” In 1929, the “Théâtre chantant” was at Bobino... We will not enumerate all the shows, in Paris as well as in the provinces, that punctuated a career conducted at a fast pace. Having become a major star of the music hall, Georgius shot his first film, “Pas de femmes” with Fernandel, in 1932. Other unpretentious comedies would follow, but the big screen was not his forte; it was on stage in front of his audience that he excelled and triumphed! In 1933 and 34, he took over the direction of the Gaîté-Montparnasse, where he had started, renaming it Studio d'Art Comique before giving up due to financial difficulties. The peak of his career, illustrated by his best songs and greatest successes, occurred throughout the 1930s: Triste lundi, Au lycée Papillon (1936), Monsieur Bébert, La Mise en bouteilles (1937), Ça c'est de la bagnole (1938), Sur la route de Pen-Zac, 160,000 78s (1939), etc. Nicknamed “L'Amuseur public n°1,” he acted in theater, sang the verses of the operetta “Dédé” at the Bouffes-Parisiens, participated in the revue “Parade de France” at the Casino de Paris, sang at the Boeuf sur le Toit... It was at the Alhambra, in 1935, that he debuted his famous white outfit, with a chrysanthemum in the lapel. Very active during the Occupation on stage and on the radio (which would be criticized despite a few well-aimed sharp verses: Il travaille du pinceau, En vélo, Méfie-toi de la patrouille), he ensured the artistic direction of three theaters, l'Étoile, l'Ambigu, and the Théâtre Antoine (revue “Paris 1900”). In April 1944, “La Revue de Georgius” was performed at Bobino. He would return to the music hall on the left bank in October 46, then in May 51, before saying farewell to the stage in April 1954. In the meantime, Georgius took to writing; after Au lycée Papillon, his first novel, he embarked on a series of detective stories under the pseudonym Jo Barnais. From time to time, he left his farm in Oise, for example, to record his first 33 RPM; published in 1965, it would be followed by a Musicorama at the Européen and a few television appearances on the shows of Michèle Arnaud and Jean-Christophe Averty. And, while Les Charlots successfully revived Sur la route de Pen-Zac, Georgius passed away, after a full life, on January 8, 1970, in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne... not to be confused with Fricandeau-sur-Baloche... When pigs fly! A true phenomenon endowed with exceptional talent, Georgius is much more than a “fantaisiste”; he is a great humorist, an author, inventor of comic, wacky, nonsensical, funny, and hilarious works that he develops, with inexhaustible verve, into a progressive delirium. An outstanding observer, he draws from all angles from an event, a situation to compose a song, a true little unusual piece, embellished with asides, comments, dialogues, and sketches, and he shoots without warning in all directions with a vigor, a drive, a quick wit that brings the audience to their knees, from the streetwise to the intellectual (Colette, Dullin, Desnos, Leiris, Guitry...). With a frantic rhythm supported by excellent music that perfectly matches the lyrics, he holds the stage for more than two hours without a break, winning over the audience with his charm, wit, joy, suggestive allusions, and absurdities, with his jabs, parodies, and outlandish stories. A whirlwind! Perhaps the greatest comic in the history of song.