Curious signed autograph letter: Admirer of Mistinguett & Invention 1925

  

Curious signed autograph letter from a Mistinguett admirer & fanciful invention, 1925. Signed autograph letter from a certain [Galy Amédée], dated June 9, 1925, in Serres-sur-Arget (Ariège).

Written in brown ink on a double sheet of lined vellum paper. The letter is addressed to the woman he calls the “Queen of French stars,” identified as Mistinguett (because of the explicit mention of her recent triumphant receptions in Canada in 1924). This document is exceptional for its content, which blends romantic exaltation with a scientific claim worthy of speculative literature or outsider art. The author refers to a mysterious invention: he claims to hold the secret of a “super device of life and death.

” The letter is also direct testimony to the fascination Mistinguett inspired even in the depths of the French provinces. The author calls her the “queen of French stars” and praises her beauty and courage. The tone of the letter is a mixture of paranoia (fear that his letters may be opened) and wounded dignity: “my situation is still far from being in keeping...

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Dimensions: 19.5 x 30 cm.
Condition: See photos and description for more details.
Number of pages: 2 pages.

Full transcription:
“Miss,

I believe I owe you this letter, because of the circumstances, which, to me, do not seem illusory, in order to express my best feelings to you and assure you of my complete discretion, whatever decision you may make regarding me. You must know that I hold the secret of a super device of life and death, without which I would have believed it to be a prank, albeit not a feigned one; it is true that it would not have arisen, or at least lasted so long.

As soon as your name was mentioned, trusting in my works, I surrendered myself to loving you, understanding that you were the queen of French stars and more, by your beauty; the receptions given to you in Canada proved it. I would have been impressed by less, because of your kindness, now further enhanced by your enduring courage and the infinite goodness reflected in your image. Logically, one should not suspect my earlier promises, since they come from an author whom people have always considered almost the opposite of other men, because I have never deceived any person of dignity, especially a woman. Now that you are settled in your view of me in an irrevocable way, nothing can change it except your whim; you know what to expect. Since my situation is still far from being in keeping, relatively speaking, with yours, it is preferable that you remain silent, my letters risking being opened; as soon as I have succeeded, here or elsewhere, I will hasten to let you know.

I have completed extremely difficult works, which made me unfit to take advantage of my discoveries; if I had been in comfortable circumstances, I would never have managed to finish them: because of distractions, sometimes unavoidable. Kindly accept, Miss, my sincerest sentiments.

”

Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, known as Mistinguett, born April 3, 1875 in Enghien-les-Bains and died January 5, 1956 in Bougival, was a French revue star, singer, and actress.

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