L'Histoire du petit Gambetta (Albert Millaud)

Overview

A satirical serial about the republican leader Léon Gambetta, published in Le Figaro in autumn 1876 by the journalist and librettist Albert Millaud (1844–1892; Wikipedia FR and EN, "Albert Millaud"; Millaud wrote daily pieces for the Figaro and libretti for Offenbach, Lecocq and Hervé). By Marie's own account it was "représentée en vingt-quatre tableaux" and the last tableau shows Gambetta, at the pinnacle of honours, marrying Princess Amanda, daughter of the Grand Duke of Gérolstein. Gérolstein is the fictional duchy of Offenbach's operetta La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867), which suggests the parody tone; this link is an inference, not stated by Marie.

Marie and this work

11 October 1876 (066.0759–0763), from the part of the entry restored from the manuscript: Marie writes two mock letters for the Figaro; the first is telegraphed to her aunt in Nice, who is to forward it to the paper, and the other goes by post (066.0759, 066.0762). She notes that the song all Paris is mad about is "L'amant d'Amanda", in one of the latest numbers of the Figaro, and that Albert Millaud is publishing the history of the little Gambetta. The first letter, signed "Amanda", protests against the last tableau: she will never marry a man whose soul was mortgaged to Satan, seized and sold by auction at midnight at the horse and dog market (066.0761). The second (066.0763) is addressed "au citoyen L. G." and offers him a Japanese "grand couteau" with the words "Fourre-toi ça dans le ventre !". Whether either letter was ever printed is not known from the diary.

Identification note

No digitised copy of the serial has been verified: the Figaro is presumably digitised on Gallica (BnF), but the issue could not be located in this pass (the Gallica server refused automated requests). The serial is by Albert Millaud, who died in 1892, so it is presumably in the public domain; a link can be added once the issue is found. The inventory did not mention that the "Amanda" letters are Marie's own parody, not Millaud's text.

References in Diary

Sources