Louis Armstrong in Paris

Louis Armstrong spent a good deal of time in Paris, performing at the best venues in town, recording, and even making a movie (Paris Blues). Here are some fun facts about Satchmo and the City of Light!

Louis Armstrong stencil art
© Discover Paris!
During his first visit to Paris in 1932, Armstrong stayed at Le Grand Hôtel, across from the Palais Garnier and down the street from the Olympia Theater.

Le Grand Hôtel
© Discover Paris!
In 1934-1935, Armstrong lived at the Hôtel Alba Opéra in the 9th arrondissement. A plaque on the façade of the building honors him.

Hôtel Alba Opéra - façade
© Discover Paris!

Plaque at Hôtel Alba Opéra
© Discover Paris!
He frequented Eugene Bullard's Athletic Club, which was also located in the 9th arrondissement, during this stay.

Ad for Eugene Bullard's Athletic Club
© Discover Paris!
In 1947, Armstrong recorded a jazzy version of the Edith Piaf classic song "La Vie en Rose." Listen to it here:



In 1991, a square in the 13th arrondissement was dedicated to him to commemorate his first recording outside the U.S. at a nearby music studio.

Place Louis Armstrong
© Discover Paris!

Flower bed at Place Louis Armstrong
© Discover Paris!
In 2003, Didier Jeunesse published a children's book on Armstrong for its Guinguette collection. Called Armstrong, it was written by Claude Nougaro and Maurice Vander.

Armstrong - book cover
© Discover Paris!
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Black History Month Celebrated at the U.S. Ambassador's Residence

The U. S. State Department in Paris has hosted several events in celebration of Black History Month in Paris over the years. This year, Ambassador Jane D. Hartley opened the Ambassador's residence for a screening of the Claude Ribbe documentary on the first African-American military pilot, Eugene Bullard.

Bullard (1895-1961) was an American expatriate whose life in Paris spanned World War I, the interwar years, and the early part of World War II. He was a boxer, vaudeville performer, drummer, and entrepreneur. He owned and operated night clubs, and even owned an athletic club. As a member of the Foreign Legion, he was wounded in battle at Verdun during World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star for heroism. He then became the first ever African-American fighter pilot—training with the French and joining the Lafayette Escadrille, an American flying corps under French command. Despite valorous service, Dr. Edmund Gros of the American Hospital arranged to have him permanently grounded because of Gros’ own race prejudice.

Eugene Bullard and his monkey, Jimmy
The screening was attended largely by U. S. and French military personnel—including the Military Governor of Paris, Hervé Charpentier—as the State Department wanted to make Bullard's story known to the men and women in American and French uniform who are stationed in and around Paris.

Screening attendees at the Ambassador's residence
© Discover Paris!

Commander John Q. Quartey, USN and Chief Warrant Officer Four David Smeigh, USA
© Discover Paris!
Colonel Brendan B. McAloon, the attaché de defense for the U.S. Army, was responsible for organizing the evening. He worked closely with Ambassador Hartley and her team.

Ambassador Jane D. Hartley and Colonel Brendan B. McAloon
© Discover Paris!
Eugene Bullard is a 52-minute TV documentary directed by Claude Ribbe. It was produced by Ortheal, a film and television production studio in Paris, with the participation of the French National Public Television (France 3). Prior to the screening, Ribbe gave a brief introduction of the documentary and his motivation for creating it.

Claude Ribbe, director of Eugene Bullard
© Discover Paris!
Afterward, the Ambassador’s residence resounded with conversations about how touched the attendees were by Bullard's story. Bullard's history was particularly compelling for Michelle M. McAloon, a military pilot who retired from the U.S. Army as a captain and went on to achieve the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Lieutenant Colonel Michelle M. McAloon, USAR, ret. and
Colonel Brendan B. McAloon, USA
© Discover Paris!
Eugene Bullard was released for French television in 2013. An English-language version will be released this year and a feature film is currently in production. Ribbe's hope is that the full-length film will be ready for release in time for the 2017 commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the entry of the United States into World War I and the creation of the Lafayette Escadrille flying corps.

Watch a trailer for the English-language documentary here: Eugene Bullard

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U.S. Embassy Celebrates Black History Month with Discover Paris!™

For anyone looking for a tour with a warm and knowledgeable guide that goes beyond the usual monuments and landmarks, I highly recommend taking a Discover Paris! tour.

Arcadia Letkemann, TMM Public Outreach Coordinator/Special Projects
American Embassy Paris

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On Saturday, February 12th, fifteen staff members of the U.S. Embassy in Paris celebrated Black History Month by taking a Discover Paris! Entrée to Black Paris™ (ETBP) walk that I created especially for them. It incorporated elements of ETBP’s “Black Pearl Walk” and “Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden” walk. I was pleased to be able to include several new tidbits of information that I recently uncovered through interviews and research!

The first part of Saturday’s walk focused on the personas of Josephine Baker and Beauford Delaney. We began at Place Josephine Baker in the 14th arrondissement, where I briefly presented Josephine’s legacy of performing, military service and French Resistance activities during WWII, and philanthropy.

At Place Josephine Baker
© Discover Paris!

We then visited the Bobino Theater – site of her last performance run in 1975 – and talked of the last days of her life and her funeral. We stopped near the wall of the Montparnasse cemetery, where I spoke of artist Beauford Delaney and his long-lasting friendship with James Baldwin. We then saw two hotels where Beauford lived during his first years in Paris, and got an unexpected glimpse of a courtyard that preserves the essence of “old Montparnasse.” The city of Paris razed the neighborhood in the 1960s and 70s, implementing an urban renewal project that favored profits over architectural aesthetics and the preservation of the area’s village atmosphere.

We went on to the Carrefour Vavin, where we continued to discuss Beauford and Josephine; for good measure I also offered an anecdote about African-American fighter pilot Eugene Bullard. All of the “Carrefour cafés”– Le Dôme, La Rotonde, Le Select, and La Coupole – have African-American history associated with them.

In front of Le Select
© Discover Paris!

Making our way to the Luxembourg Garden, we stopped briefly while I pointed out the former location of La Boule Blanche – one of the two most famous post-WWI Antillean clubs in Paris. People came here to dance the beguine, which was widely popularized when Josephine Baker included it in one of her dance performances in 1931.

We entered the garden at the southeast corner, where I talked briefly about the working apiary and the espaliered trees that exist there. We then wended our way along the gently curving paths to reach the Statue of Liberty. At the foot of the statue, I discussed the urban legend that claims that the sculptor used a black woman as the model and that the statue was conceived to honor the black soldiers who served during the Civil War.

Statue of Liberty
© Discover Paris!

During the remainder of our time in the garden, I talked about the “mutual admiration society” of Richard Wright and Gertrude Stein, the landscape paintings of Loïs Mailou Jones, and the Loi Taubira – the French law that declares slavery a crime against humanity. We ended our leisurely but eventful stroll at the Fabrice Hyber sculpture that commemorates the abolition of slavery in France.

Le Cri, L'Ecrit
Fabrice Hyber
© Discover Paris!

Arcadia Letkemann, Coordinator of TMM Public Outreach/Special Projects at the Embassy, had the following to say about the tour:

The Discover Paris! Black History Month walking tour, especially prepared for the American Embassy Paris, was a relaxing and informative experience. Don’t be daunted by the length of this tour; two hours went by quickly – especially because the tour was not strenuous and the pace was leisurely.

Monique Wells is a very personable and knowledgeable guide who was both well prepared and flexible; she even threw in information about landmarks, history and traditions that were not specifically geared to African-American history per se, but which enriched our understanding of the larger context that attracted black writers and artists to Paris during the 20th century.

For anyone looking for a tour with a warm and knowledgeable guide that goes beyond the usual monuments and landmarks, I highly recommend taking a Discover Paris! tour.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

Remembering Eugene Bullard

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Eugene Bullard (1895-1961) was an African-American expat whose life in Paris spanned World War I, the interwar years, and the early part of World War II. He was a boxer, vaudeville performer, drummer, and entrepreneur. He owned and operated night clubs, and even owned an athletic club. Here is a brief overview of his remarkable life.

At the tender age of twelve, Bullard sailed for Europe on the German ship Matherus. He debarked in Scotland, where he worked at odd jobs to make ends meet. He soon moved to Liverpool, England, where he found himself attracted to the world of boxing and began training for the sport. He then went to London as the protegé of Aaron Lester Brown, the "Dixie Kid," who eventually arranged for Bullard's first fight in Paris. After that first taste of the city, Bullard knew that he didn't want to live anywhere else.

Back in London, Bullard joined the traveling vaudeville troupe Freedman's Pickanninies as a performer. He reasoned that when the troupe got to Paris, he would not move on with them. Once in the City of Light, he returned to boxing, learning French and German during his first several months in town. With the outbreak of World War I, he joined the French Foreign Legion.

As a member of the Foreign Legion, Bullard was wounded in battle at Verdun during World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with a bronze star for heroism. He then became the first ever African-American fighter pilot—training with the French and then joining the Lafayette Escadrille, an American flying corps under French command. (At that time, the U.S. armed forces did not permit blacks to fly.) Bullard flew at least twenty missions with two squadrons in the Lafayette Escadrille before Dr. Edmund Gros of the American Hospital arranged to have him permanently grounded because of Gros’ own race prejudice.

Bullard next to his plane with his pet monkey Jimmy

Bullard's Military Medals

Bullard capitalized on the jazz craze that swept France after the war, learning to play the drums and then going to work as the drummer, manager, and artistic director at Zelli’s night club in Montmartre (in the area that is now called Pigalle). He continued to box during this time, and fought his last professional bout in Egypt in 1922. Returning to Paris, he married his French girlfriend and continued to work at Zelli’s. Sometime later, he went on to manage the night club called Le Grand Duc. He would eventually buy this club, and another called l’Escadrille just a few meters away. Ada “Bricktop” Smith and Langston Hughes worked at the Grand Duc while Bullard was manager there.

Bullard in a boxing pose

In addition to Le Grand Duc and L’Escadrille, Gene Bullard owned and operated Bullard’s Athletic Club in the same neighborhood. Professionals such as “Panama” Al Brown trained there, but the club was primarily a place for everyday residents to exercise—including women and children! His businesses continued to do well in the 1930s despite the Great Depression because of his ability to speak fluent French. He eventually sold Le Grand Duc, but kept the Escadrille and the gym.

Ad for Bullard's Athletic Club

In 1939, Bullard was recruited by French military intelligence to become a part of the counterintelligence network formed to identify and watch German agents operating on behalf of the Nazis. He would spy on Germans who frequented his establishments.

Just before the Germans advanced into Paris in 1940, Americans began leaving France. Bullard opened his establishments to friends in need of assistance during the evacuation. In 1940, he closed his businesses and sought to join his old World War I regiment. He left Paris on foot, marching south. He joined a unit in Orléans several days later, and was injured by an artillery shell on June 18. He was forced to flee France and return to the U.S., where he was once again subjected to daily humiliation and discrimination because of his race.

Bullard died forty-nine years ago today, in New York City. He was buried in a French Foreign Legion uniform, and received a military funeral service. Per his request, a French flag was draped over his coffin. Members of the Federation of French War Veterans, France Forever, and the Verdun Society attended the service. Afterward, the French War Veterans led the procession of cars to his final resting place the French War Veterans Cemetery in Flushing, NY.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.