Exploring the Famous Graves of Paris France

Jenn: 00:00:00

And hard labor then.

Jenn: 00:00:01

It's basically just walking on a Stairmaster, but like a rock one that you

Jenn: 00:00:07

have to push the rock to step up onto the next step, and you have to keep it going.

Jenn: 00:00:13

And it's just exhausting.

Jenn: 00:00:15

And that's what you do all day.

Jenn: 00:00:16

And it does nothing

Jenn: 00:00:19

there's a movie called, I think it's the Snake Pit, where they first term,

Jenn: 00:00:25

gaslighting, they first used that term.

Scott: 00:00:38

Welcome to talk with history.

Scott: 00:00:40

I am your host, Scott here with my wife and historian, Jen.

Scott: 00:00:43

On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world travels,

Scott: 00:00:47

YouTube channel journey, and examine history through deeper conversations

Scott: 00:00:51

with the curious, the explorers and the history lovers out there.

Scott: 00:00:57

Now Jen we are wrapping up your france trip with this podcast, but before we get

Scott: 00:01:02

into that topic about the famous graves in paris I do want to give a little plug

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and let our audience know that there's A new way for you guys to support us,

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to support the show through a membership subscription over at thehistoryroadtrip.

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I just turned on those subscriptions.

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We already have people that have signed up and they were more than

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So we appreciate them.

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And one other thing that's coming with That membership is a new I'll call

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it occasional podcast called history after dark Now history after dark is

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going to be an opportunity for us to open up a little bit loosen up kind of

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maybe take off the historian hat we can well It'll still be history focused,

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but maybe deeper dive on some travel things Things that we might not be able

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to talk about on talk with history.

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So what's We're going to record our first one just after this episode.

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So what are we going to talk about?

Jenn: 00:02:23

it's not going to be our history hat.

Jenn: 00:02:25

I mean, my history hat never comes off.

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So it's just things that are a little bit inappropriate for our younger ears.

Jenn: 00:02:32

and more appropriate for older ears, but still has historic value, especially

Jenn: 00:02:37

since I saw the sexiest grave in Paris.

Jenn: 00:02:40

And I really don't think young ears should hear about this grave.

Jenn: 00:02:44

So let's talk about it in history after dark.

Scott: 00:02:46

Yeah, or some things, sometimes there's certain things that are a

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little gruesome, things like that.

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But it will be an opportunity for us as well.

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10, 15 minutes with that guest.

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com.

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To support what we do because what we do is a passion for us

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Be paying attention, at certain times of the year.

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But again, that's over at the history road trip.

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com where you can sign up.

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But there is a membership option and you will get some benefits with that.

Scott: 00:03:35

So now you were at, remind me of the name of this cemetery in France.

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That is one of the most visited cemeteries in the entire world.

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Pierre Lachaise.

Scott: 00:03:45

Pierre Lachaise.

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So this is, if you've seen our video, and of course I will link our video

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in the show notes, this is a massive, massive cemetery, very historic,

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smack in the middle of Paris, France.

Jenn: 00:03:58

the largest cemetery in Paris, France at 110 acres,

Jenn: 00:04:02

and it gets more than 3.

Jenn: 00:04:03

5 million visitors a year.

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It's absolutely gorgeous.

Jenn: 00:04:09

It's one of the most visited cemeteries in the world.

Jenn: 00:04:12

It is beautiful, and it has notable Figures in the art world buried there, and

Jenn: 00:04:18

that's who we visited, but the monuments are just beautiful and the statues and

Jenn: 00:04:26

because they allow all different religions and all different backgrounds and all

Jenn: 00:04:30

different classes, there's different things you can afford, of course.

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And so different people will have different monuments.

Jenn: 00:04:37

There are sculptures made and they're so elaborate and beautiful that it really is

Jenn: 00:04:43

when you walk around just walking in art.

Jenn: 00:04:45

And for me, I had never really thought about going to Pierre Lachaise before,

Jenn: 00:04:50

but I was with my friend Courtney and she really wanted to go to Pierre Lachaise.

Jenn: 00:04:53

And so I was like, yep, let's do it.

Jenn: 00:04:55

It's a walk to get to.

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And then once you're there, It takes a huge part of the city and there's

Jenn: 00:05:01

a lot of entrances to get into it, but there is only one main entrance.

Jenn: 00:05:07

And you'll know that when you walk in because you'll see

Jenn: 00:05:11

the office building there.

Jenn: 00:05:13

the administration office is right in the front part of when you first walk in.

Jenn: 00:05:16

And I think the road that is on is Port Principal.

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it should be relatively easy to find if you're in Paris, France.

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you can probably get an Uber there.

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And you guys went there because there's very famous English

Scott: 00:05:29

figures that are buried there that, I mean, the non French folks.

Jenn: 00:05:34

Yeah, well, we went there mostly.

Jenn: 00:05:35

I mean, I wanted to see Oscar Wilde.

Jenn: 00:05:38

But Jim Morrison, he's huge.

Jenn: 00:05:40

And that's I think a lot of people go to see him.

Scott: 00:05:43

I think that is one of the most visited graves in that

Jenn: 00:05:45

Yes.

Jenn: 00:05:46

And but like I said, you can because it's so big, you can get into all these

Jenn: 00:05:49

little nooks and crannies around it.

Jenn: 00:05:53

It's the walls are open to different walkways up inside, but you're not

Jenn: 00:05:56

really going to know where you are.

Jenn: 00:05:57

They have one kind of rudimentary map when you walk in.

Jenn: 00:06:02

And even that was difficult for me to navigate

Jenn: 00:06:06

it's all in French.

Jenn: 00:06:08

So if you know the person's name They do have a kind of like an

Jenn: 00:06:12

English translation just for a little history part of it, nearly

Jenn: 00:06:17

10, 000 funeral ceremonies each year.

Jenn: 00:06:20

And there's over 70, 000 graves there.

Jenn: 00:06:23

So it goes into a little bit of the history.

Jenn: 00:06:25

It wasn't designed until 1804.

Jenn: 00:06:27

So when we talked about Lafayette previously and the Reign of Terror,

Jenn: 00:06:32

this is all before Pilachet even opens.

Jenn: 00:06:35

So Pilachet was one of those places that needed to answer that call of,

Jenn: 00:06:41

unsanitary burials that were happening.

Jenn: 00:06:45

And so they got this large green space in Paris and actually it was Napoleon who

Jenn: 00:06:52

was really established the cemetery and

Jenn: 00:06:56

started to get, put it into use.

Scott: 00:06:57

And one of the things that I didn't really learn until after I had

Scott: 00:07:01

made the video because you had gotten your footage there, but you were

Scott: 00:07:05

wrapping up your trip so you didn't get to spend nearly the amount of time

Scott: 00:07:09

there to cover everything that's there.

Scott: 00:07:11

You had some very specific graves you were visiting but some of the unique

Scott: 00:07:16

Graves and statues and monuments that are there are so very french and I had

Scott: 00:07:23

showed them to you after I was done making the video And there's some very

Scott: 00:07:27

interesting ones like there's a grave.

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It looks more like a like a Like a tomb right it's it cuz this the box

Scott: 00:07:33

above ground but there's a statue and it's you could tell it was bronze

Scott: 00:07:37

because it has that green patina to it And it makes it look like

Scott: 00:07:40

someone is climbing out of this box.

Scott: 00:07:43

And that's the statue It was just so interesting and there's another one

Scott: 00:07:48

of some figure laying down Classic kind of laying in repose, but also

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holding like another mask, which looks like another face facing their face.

Scott: 00:07:58

It was just, I was like, this is so French looking at these pictures.

Jenn: 00:08:01

Yeah, I mean, they're very emotional.

Jenn: 00:08:04

There's one of a woman like crying on a grave, a body like a look like an older

Jenn: 00:08:09

woman laying on a grave crying on it.

Jenn: 00:08:11

There's like a stairway and a looks like death climbing the stairway,

Scott: 00:08:18

very artistic.

Jenn: 00:08:19

artistic.

Jenn: 00:08:20

I mean, it's France.

Jenn: 00:08:21

Now, what's interesting, this was the first crematorium in France.

Jenn: 00:08:27

it was at the cemetery.

Jenn: 00:08:28

It's still operational

Scott: 00:08:29

So it's like the first of its kind.

Jenn: 00:08:30

First of its kind.

Jenn: 00:08:31

So because there's so many people buried there, what happens is you can,

Jenn: 00:08:36

you can still be buried there today.

Jenn: 00:08:38

It's difficult.

Jenn: 00:08:39

They have these rules to be buried there.

Jenn: 00:08:42

You have to have lived in Paris.

Jenn: 00:08:44

It's strict.

Jenn: 00:08:45

You have to have died in Paris, but, and they give you just

Jenn: 00:08:50

the size of a coffin area.

Jenn: 00:08:52

That's what Jim Morrison has in a way.

Jenn: 00:08:54

But then you can reuse that grave.

Jenn: 00:08:58

Very French, very New Orleans when you think about it, which

Jenn: 00:09:02

is a very French concept.

Jenn: 00:09:04

So what will happen when we see like Edith Piaf's grave?

Jenn: 00:09:10

You'll see seven names on that grave.

Jenn: 00:09:12

And it's only the size of a tomb.

Jenn: 00:09:14

So you're like, what's going on here?

Jenn: 00:09:16

Well, they just keep digging down and they'll just put the call, the

Jenn: 00:09:20

coffin before you has more than likely collapsed and disintegrated.

Jenn: 00:09:24

So they'll just shove the new one down on top of it.

Jenn: 00:09:27

And basically they're just packing you in.

Jenn: 00:09:31

and that's really how it is in New Orleans with above ground

Jenn: 00:09:34

tombs is they Pack your bones in.

Jenn: 00:09:36

Yeah, you're all mixed with your family, and that's exactly

Jenn: 00:09:39

what they're doing more or less

Jenn: 00:09:41

Your whole family can be in one tomb, but they'll just

Jenn: 00:09:43

keep shoving the coffins down.

Jenn: 00:09:46

So that's how they reuse space and make use of space there.

Jenn: 00:09:50

There are so many and they're so close together.

Jenn: 00:09:54

And when you're navigating, it's just very difficult the roadways

Jenn: 00:09:58

and trying to walk in between.

Jenn: 00:09:59

And when you see Jim Morrison on the video, like he's like behind another,

Scott: 00:10:04

Tucked in this corner.

Jenn: 00:10:05

yeah, he's behind a big.

Jenn: 00:10:07

significant grave that's tall.

Jenn: 00:10:10

So you have to go behind it and look and go, Oh, there it is.

Jenn: 00:10:14

And I had spoke, one person had mentioned on the channel, it was their guard there.

Jenn: 00:10:18

So I guess when she had gone previously, they would have a guard standing, but

Jenn: 00:10:23

there wasn't a guard when I was there.

Jenn: 00:10:24

Jim Morrison was a singer.

Jenn: 00:10:26

He was a lead singer of the doors.

Jenn: 00:10:28

He dies relatively young.

Jenn: 00:10:29

He's 27 years old.

Jenn: 00:10:31

He died July 3rd, 1971 in Paris, France.

Jenn: 00:10:34

So that's one of the reasons why he's buried at Pierre Lachaise.

Jenn: 00:10:37

Plus the fact that he loved the French culture and he loved being there.

Jenn: 00:10:40

But I think he died from a drug overdose, if I'm not mistaken.

Jenn: 00:10:45

and so he just had such an influence on music and the art world.

Jenn: 00:10:50

People still love The Doors today.

Jenn: 00:10:51

It was a great movie with Val

Scott: 00:10:53

Yeah, well, and he's one of those classic rock star died young

Scott: 00:10:56

and just had the look and just became this rock pop culture icon.

Scott: 00:11:02

I had actually looked up a couple of little interesting tidbits about him.

Scott: 00:11:05

So he was actually a published poet and I guess known at one point as the

Scott: 00:11:09

lizard king But he supposedly had an iq level of 149 which would have put him

Scott: 00:11:16

in like the genius category Anything above I think 130 Is essentially you're

Scott: 00:11:21

in the top one or two percent, right?

Scott: 00:11:23

Because the average person I think is somewhere in right around 100, right?

Scott: 00:11:27

But you know very interesting and makes sense for somebody like that.

Scott: 00:11:31

That's just probably highly intelligent But probably might have a screw loose,

Scott: 00:11:35

so and that oftentimes that makes artists

Jenn: 00:11:39

Absolutely.

Jenn: 00:11:39

And he was, he's found dead in a bathroom at 6am.

Jenn: 00:11:43

Official cause of death was heart failure, but no autopsy was performed.

Jenn: 00:11:47

And there's conspiracy theories around his death, that it could have

Jenn: 00:11:51

happened at, some say at a heroin overdose in a club's bathroom at 2am.

Jenn: 00:11:56

And then his body was taken away by two men who were the drug dealers

Jenn: 00:11:59

to hide in his house in the tub because it was no autopsy.

Jenn: 00:12:03

There's, it leads it open to conspiracy theories.

Jenn: 00:12:06

Now his death is approximately nine months after Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

Jenn: 00:12:11

So he's in that same kind of magical genre of those amazing artists who

Jenn: 00:12:17

were taken very early by drugs.

Jenn: 00:12:19

And we never know what else they could have contributed to the art world.

Jenn: 00:12:24

But what we got of them was just so amazing and magical that even today,

Jenn: 00:12:29

like I was just singing Janis Joplin in the car the other day, like even

Jenn: 00:12:32

today, we still love their music.

Scott: 00:12:34

You mentioned on the video that his father was I think like

Scott: 00:12:38

an admiral or something like that,

Jenn: 00:12:41

in Florida, 1943.

Jenn: 00:12:43

And just like you said, 27 years old and such a loss at such a young age.

Jenn: 00:12:47

And if you haven't seen The Doors.

Jenn: 00:12:49

Movie.

Jenn: 00:12:50

I think it does a really good job of Val Kilmer and I think it's Meg

Jenn: 00:12:53

Ryan, who plays his girlfriend.

Jenn: 00:12:55

Really good movie.

Jenn: 00:12:56

So it was neat to go there because I think they actually show the

Jenn: 00:12:58

grave at the end of the movie.

Scott: 00:13:00

Yeah.

Scott: 00:13:00

And like you said, you watch our video and you can't get all

Scott: 00:13:02

the way up to it 'cause you were respecting the IES that they put up.

Scott: 00:13:05

But there is a ton, you could tell there's tons of people that visit there.

Scott: 00:13:09

So they have a picture of him and his youth.

Scott: 00:13:11

Like some of those classic Jim Morrison pictures that are still

Scott: 00:13:14

popular posters to this day.

Scott: 00:13:16

And there's trinkets and all sorts of stuff that's all kind of all covering his

Jenn: 00:13:20

Absolutely.

Jenn: 00:13:21

And so another grave that's probably very visited and so much so that

Jenn: 00:13:25

they have plastic guarding the grave is Oscar Wilde, who I adore.

Jenn: 00:13:31

That's who I wanted to see more than anybody.

Jenn: 00:13:33

I love his poetry.

Jenn: 00:13:34

He's an Irish poet.

Jenn: 00:13:36

We actually, I think we're in Dublin and we were sitting at a

Jenn: 00:13:39

cafe and I looked over and there was a statue of him at that park.

Jenn: 00:13:43

Remember?

Jenn: 00:13:43

And I said, Oh my gosh, it's Oscar Wilde

Scott: 00:13:45

Oh, okay.

Jenn: 00:13:46

And he trains at Trinity College in Dublin, but he goes on to Oxford and he

Jenn: 00:13:51

writes some of the most amazing poetry.

Jenn: 00:13:52

books like The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Jenn: 00:13:56

And I just think he has such a wit.

Jenn: 00:13:59

I just adored his writing.

Jenn: 00:14:01

Now Oscar Wilde gets caught up in this Victorian era

Jenn: 00:14:05

libel case for homosexuality.

Jenn: 00:14:08

Because his lover is the son of a very powerful aristocrat and that

Jenn: 00:14:15

aristocrat goes after Oscar Wilde,

Scott: 00:14:18

it Lord Alfred Douglas?

Jenn: 00:14:20

And he's found he's found guilty of gross indecency.

Jenn: 00:14:24

And because of that, he goes to prison and he's forced two years

Jenn: 00:14:28

of hard labor from 1895 to 1897.

Jenn: 00:14:32

And hard labor then.

Jenn: 00:14:34

If you see there's a really great movie about Oscar.

Jenn: 00:14:37

It's basically just walking on a Stairmaster, but like a rock one that you

Jenn: 00:14:42

have to push the rock to step up onto the next step, and you have to keep it going.

Jenn: 00:14:48

And it's just exhausting.

Jenn: 00:14:50

And that's what you do all day.

Jenn: 00:14:51

And it does nothing.

Jenn: 00:14:53

And it's not it just it really just wears on your psyche because you're not doing

Jenn: 00:14:59

anything, but you're working so hard

Scott: 00:15:01

I have never heard that before.

Jenn: 00:15:03

And that was his punishment for two

Scott: 00:15:05

So like literally they would make you do hard labor.

Scott: 00:15:08

That was completely pointless.

Scott: 00:15:10

It's not even breaking up big rocks in the little rocks.

Scott: 00:15:12

Wow.

Jenn: 00:15:13

And it disheartened him so much that he never wanted to go back to England.

Jenn: 00:15:18

And that's when he goes to Paris and he dies in Paris in 1900 at age 46.

Jenn: 00:15:24

So also very young.

Jenn: 00:15:26

And his tomb is also something that gets people want to a trinket from.

Scott: 00:15:34

It's a very interesting looking tomb for him because it's very Egyptian.

Jenn: 00:15:37

It is very Egyptian looking.

Jenn: 00:15:39

It's almost like a pharaoh kind of

Scott: 00:15:43

a Pharaoh Sphinx type deal.

Jenn: 00:15:45

But and realize Oscar Wilde was a huge traveler like he came to America,

Scott: 00:15:49

he did a whole tour here.

Jenn: 00:15:51

And so it it has that kind of feeling around it.

Jenn: 00:15:55

it looks about the size of a coffin, but built up and then

Jenn: 00:16:00

it's engraved all around it.

Scott: 00:16:03

Yeah, there was a neat kind of poem I guess that whoever made it

Scott: 00:16:07

that was inscribed on the back that you read in the videos, I liked it.

Jenn: 00:16:10

Yeah, it was really neat.

Jenn: 00:16:11

it's all protected by this plastic on every side because of so much people who,

Jenn: 00:16:19

vandalize it and take pieces of it off.

Jenn: 00:16:22

He was initially buried in another cemetery in Paris, but in 1909 his remains

Jenn: 00:16:27

were moved to Pierre Lachaise and his tomb was designed by Sir Jacob Epstein.

Jenn: 00:16:33

It's a modernist angel and it's supposed to depict the relief on the tomb

Jenn: 00:16:38

originally complete with so again, history after dark, we'll get more into

Scott: 00:16:45

talk more about

Jenn: 00:16:46

more into that, but just know that it's a very atomically correct grave.

Jenn: 00:16:52

So don't be surprised when you go there and if you see

Jenn: 00:16:54

that, but again, that's what.

Jenn: 00:16:56

gets broken.

Scott: 00:16:57

And one of the other things that was interesting that I think must be

Scott: 00:17:01

a tradition at that particular grave is women like left kisses all over

Scott: 00:17:05

the kind of glass surrounding of it.

Scott: 00:17:07

And it, I read that they even did that before they put that up

Jenn: 00:17:10

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:17:10

And I would have had lipstick.

Jenn: 00:17:11

I would have done that too, because I just love Oscar Wilde so much.

Jenn: 00:17:15

And again, it's just, it's one of those graves, like you'll, you'll

Jenn: 00:17:18

know when you see it cause it stands alone and it's so unique.

Scott: 00:17:22

of the things I had looked up about him, obviously they're talking

Scott: 00:17:24

about his wit and humor, right?

Scott: 00:17:25

That that's what his writing was known for.

Scott: 00:17:28

And one of his many quotes, where he said, I can resist everything except temptation.

Scott: 00:17:33

So that kind of speaks to his writing.

Jenn: 00:17:36

And I love, he would say be yourself.

Jenn: 00:17:37

Everyone else has taken, right?

Jenn: 00:17:39

He was always just, he was so quick witted in simplicity.

Jenn: 00:17:45

that I love that about him.

Jenn: 00:17:47

So I, that's who I really wanted to see.

Jenn: 00:17:50

And I was very happy to see him.

Jenn: 00:17:51

He is in the middle and hard to find.

Jenn: 00:17:54

And again, that that rudimentary map that they give you, it's difficult to figure

Jenn: 00:17:57

it out, but because he's so well traveled, if you see people walking around there,

Jenn: 00:18:03

if you just follow them, most people are

Jenn: 00:18:05

they're going to Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde.

Scott: 00:18:07

Now the next one is actually another American

Scott: 00:18:11

tied to gone with the wind.

Scott: 00:18:12

So who'd you who'd you at least try to find next?

Jenn: 00:18:15

Olivia de Havill, Dame d'Olivia de Havill, is de Havillan,

Jenn: 00:18:20

is from Gone with the Wind.

Jenn: 00:18:21

She plays Melanie.

Jenn: 00:18:23

She's Scarlet's nemesis, I guess you could say, but famous actress.

Jenn: 00:18:28

She was in many other movies.

Jenn: 00:18:29

She's Academy Award winner.

Jenn: 00:18:31

She lives to be 104.

Jenn: 00:18:33

She dies in 2020.

Jenn: 00:18:35

She's just one of those people that she was in The

Jenn: 00:18:38

Adventures of Robin Hood, right?

Jenn: 00:18:39

She plays Mary Marion with Errol Flynn.

Jenn: 00:18:42

Like she's just in all of these famous movies, the snake pit, the

Jenn: 00:18:46

heiress that she wins back to get nominations for best actress for those.

Jenn: 00:18:51

Like she's just one of those women that is in all of these timeless movies.

Jenn: 00:18:54

And of course, Gone with the wind and she was the last surviving person

Jenn: 00:19:00

from gone with the wind and she lived in paris the end of her life

Jenn: 00:19:04

and you say she's she's american.

Jenn: 00:19:06

She's like british american and french.

Jenn: 00:19:08

she holds all of those citizenships

Scott: 00:19:12

Okay

Jenn: 00:19:13

She dies in Paris, and she's cremated, and she's

Jenn: 00:19:19

buried at Père Lachaise.

Jenn: 00:19:20

Now, we went looking for her, but they don't think that they have

Jenn: 00:19:25

put her ashes into the crematorium area, they haven't put up her body.

Jenn: 00:19:30

marker yet.

Jenn: 00:19:31

So we walked through the crematorium and you can see in

Jenn: 00:19:33

the video, it's very large walls

Scott: 00:19:37

there's a lot there.

Jenn: 00:19:37

and they're very small, probably like eight by eight

Jenn: 00:19:40

squares with these large walls that have different people's names.

Jenn: 00:19:43

So you really have to look and read and you don't know where the new ones are.

Jenn: 00:19:47

So we just walk through the crematorium area and looked at those

Jenn: 00:19:50

walls and she's in there somewhere.

Jenn: 00:19:53

She will eventually be marked with her name.

Jenn: 00:19:56

For me, like I love Gone with the Wind and I love her portrayal in that movie.

Jenn: 00:20:03

Plus, I just think she's a great actress.

Jenn: 00:20:06

there's a movie called, I think it's the Snake Pit, where they first term,

Jenn: 00:20:11

gaslighting, they first used that term.

Jenn: 00:20:14

where she's starting to, she sees things and she's trying to tell

Jenn: 00:20:19

somebody this is what's happening and the person is doing it to her

Jenn: 00:20:23

to make her feel like she's crazy.

Jenn: 00:20:26

So he keeps saying, that's not what you're seeing.

Jenn: 00:20:29

You're not, and so that's, and she's holding a gas light.

Jenn: 00:20:32

as she's asking the questions and she's No, I see this.

Jenn: 00:20:35

I see this.

Jenn: 00:20:36

And he's No, you're wrong.

Jenn: 00:20:37

You're completely wrong.

Jenn: 00:20:38

Something must be wrong with you.

Scott: 00:20:40

Oh,

Jenn: 00:20:41

And so that that's where the term gaslighting comes from, because

Jenn: 00:20:44

she's holding a gas light in her hand as he's doing that to her.

Scott: 00:20:49

That's so interesting because, I mean, really, it's been in the past,

Scott: 00:20:52

I'd say, ten years that, that term has really come back and surfaced

Scott: 00:20:56

because of all the online stuff.

Scott: 00:20:58

How interesting.

Jenn: 00:20:59

1940s.

Jenn: 00:21:00

Olivia de Havilland, like she's just, she's one of those.

Jenn: 00:21:04

silver screen movie stars that really did put Hollywood on the map.

Scott: 00:21:09

Well, and I read too that she was, so much like a hollywood industry

Scott: 00:21:13

figure at one point she was this legal pioneer for women and actresses and

Scott: 00:21:18

actually successfully sued warner brothers in 1943 and it led to basically

Scott: 00:21:24

reducing the power that film studios had Over actors' careers, her success

Scott: 00:21:30

in this legal case that she won.

Scott: 00:21:33

So she sounds once I was learning more about her, just this staple and pillar

Scott: 00:21:38

of Hollywood for many, many years.

Scott: 00:21:40

And plus a very, very successful and talented actress.

Jenn: 00:21:43

Yeah, it says she went to Academy Awards and she's one of the

Jenn: 00:21:48

first people to method act as well.

Jenn: 00:21:55

. You have to remember, Pielicei, when Napoleon started Pielicei, his whole

Jenn: 00:21:59

premise was anyone could be buried here regardless of class and religion.

Jenn: 00:22:04

So it was one of the very first places to have a Muslim section, a Jewish section

Jenn: 00:22:09

and So much so that there used to be a cross when you walked into Père Lachaise,

Jenn: 00:22:13

they took the cross down, but there are religious symbols throughout the cemetery.

Jenn: 00:22:18

Anyone can put up their own religious symbols on their own graves.

Jenn: 00:22:21

And so you'll see a lot of strong Christianity or Judaism as you

Jenn: 00:22:26

walk through the cemetery because anybody from any religious background

Jenn: 00:22:30

or class could be buried there.

Jenn: 00:22:32

And that was radical at the time in the early 1800s to do that.

Scott: 00:22:36

Interesting.

Jenn: 00:22:37

that's neat about Père Lachaise.

Scott: 00:22:39

One of the things that I kind of love about this specific

Scott: 00:22:41

episode, especially for Famous Graves in Paris, France, it's all

Scott: 00:22:46

artists and writers and singers.

Scott: 00:22:50

and I love that because when you think of Paris, France, that's who you think of.

Jenn: 00:22:54

Yeah, when you go to France, it's very much the lover, the dreamer,

Scott: 00:22:58

The artists.

Jenn: 00:22:59

of course, we're going to end the episode with Edith Piaf.

Jenn: 00:23:03

She sings to me to my favorite French song, La Vida en Rose.

Jenn: 00:23:09

Now La Vida en Rose, roughly translated is like looking through

Jenn: 00:23:13

life in rose colored glasses.

Scott: 00:23:16

Yeah, so if I'm going to play just a quick snippet of that

Scott: 00:23:19

song and you'll, when you hear it, you will recognize it immediately.

Scott: 00:23:23

La Vie en Rose: my dear, I'm all done I'm all done for the day

Scott: 00:23:30

So that is La Vie en Rose.

Scott: 00:23:32

And so I don't think there's a person on this planet that doesn't hear

Scott: 00:23:36

that song and think of Paris, France.

Jenn: 00:23:37

Yeah, she's.

Jenn: 00:23:39

regarded as French, France's greatest popular singer and

Jenn: 00:23:43

one of the most celebrated performers of their 20th century

Scott: 00:23:46

And she actually wrote that song.

Jenn: 00:23:48

gosh.

Jenn: 00:23:48

I didn't know

Scott: 00:23:49

Yeah.

Scott: 00:23:49

So she actually wrote that song and her stage name of PF actually means Sparrow

Scott: 00:23:55

in French in Parisian slang and it's because she was only like four foot eight.

Scott: 00:24:00

So she was very short.

Scott: 00:24:01

And so that's how she got that name.

Jenn: 00:24:03

Well, there's a great movie made about her.

Jenn: 00:24:06

I think Marion Collard plays her and it's called La Vita Rose and you see

Jenn: 00:24:11

her life like she was born in a brothel.

Jenn: 00:24:14

She's a daughter of a prostitute and she lives in that brothel until she's in

Jenn: 00:24:18

her like early, teens, but she's blind.

Jenn: 00:24:22

She's born blind and she's blind until she's I think eight or nine years old.

Jenn: 00:24:25

And her mother takes her To a relic, basically a French relic that people

Jenn: 00:24:30

will touch and pray and miracles will happen and they did and she could see

Jenn: 00:24:36

I, it is crazy, but that's what happens.

Jenn: 00:24:39

And then she's always malnourished and she's always sickly and

Jenn: 00:24:45

that they attribute to her.

Jenn: 00:24:47

She never grows very tall and she dies very young.

Jenn: 00:24:50

She's 47.

Jenn: 00:24:51

She never really is a robust.

Jenn: 00:24:53

healthy person.

Jenn: 00:24:54

Now she also succumbs to alcoholism and she has a very rough lifestyle, I

Jenn: 00:24:59

would say, but her voice is magical.

Jenn: 00:25:03

And like I said, La Vita Rose means life in pink or life in rose,

Jenn: 00:25:07

life with rose colored glasses.

Jenn: 00:25:09

to me, it's one of the most beautiful French songs.

Jenn: 00:25:11

But when we found her grave there's a lot of her family is in one tomb.

Jenn: 00:25:17

basically think of a top of a tomb there's names written around it.

Jenn: 00:25:23

And you'll see if you see in the video, it's nice.

Jenn: 00:25:27

It's a nice marble tomb and they put pictures

Scott: 00:25:29

and you can tell people visit it because there's pictures of her.

Jenn: 00:25:32

And it's off the beaten path and these very, very thin walk arounds,

Jenn: 00:25:37

but you can walk around it and see it.

Jenn: 00:25:40

And it was just to me another person I really wanted to see

Jenn: 00:25:43

because I loved, I love that song.

Scott: 00:25:46

and I love that Louis Armstrong remade the song because this is probably

Scott: 00:25:51

where I first heard this version of it,

Scott: 00:25:58

which is just beautiful as, as you listen to this.

Scott: 00:26:02

And there's something to be said about people like that who will make

Scott: 00:26:06

their mark even with one song and it's just this lightning bolt moment.

Scott: 00:26:11

she was a very popular singer, right?

Scott: 00:26:13

and cultural icon at the time.

Scott: 00:26:15

But for something like that, I mean, that song defines.

Scott: 00:26:20

It's in the definition of Paris, France.

Scott: 00:26:22

And so it was really cool that you got to go visit her.

Jenn: 00:26:24

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:26:25

Her last words were every damn thing you do in life, you have to pay for.

Jenn: 00:26:29

And she dies of liver cancer from the drinking.

Jenn: 00:26:32

So again 47 years old and she dies in 1963 and she's buried at Père Lachaise.

Jenn: 00:26:38

Her grave is among the most visited.

Jenn: 00:26:42

So for me to go there, it was something I hadn't thought of doing before.

Jenn: 00:26:47

Courtney really dragged me there, And it was just fantastic

Jenn: 00:26:50

to be able to see all of them.

Jenn: 00:26:51

And then I knew Olivia de Haville had recently died, and she

Jenn: 00:26:55

was going to be buried there.

Jenn: 00:26:56

So for me to walk around there and just see to see it and to experience

Jenn: 00:27:00

it with people and tourists.

Jenn: 00:27:04

And you'll see in the video, this is cats.

Jenn: 00:27:06

This is cats there.

Jenn: 00:27:08

Like it really is a part of the Paris lifestyle.

Scott: 00:27:12

I can see, I can absolutely see people who live in that area.

Scott: 00:27:16

just going there to go walk around.

Scott: 00:27:18

it's just beautiful.

Scott: 00:27:19

You can just get lost in it and just wander around and see all the

Scott: 00:27:22

different interesting graves and tombs and statues and all that stuff.

Scott: 00:27:26

And it's just beautiful.

Scott: 00:27:27

So if you're in Paris, France there's not only famous American

Scott: 00:27:30

graves there, there's also famous French, very, very famous French

Scott: 00:27:33

people that are buried there as well.

Jenn: 00:27:35

Sure.

Jenn: 00:27:35

I mean, you're going to see if there are people, a lot of historians

Jenn: 00:27:38

asked me, did you go see Proust?

Jenn: 00:27:41

Did you go see, Marcel Marceau?

Jenn: 00:27:43

And I'm like,

Scott: 00:27:44

I think like Balzac, like he was a French writer.

Jenn: 00:27:47

Chopin, Chopin is there there's just very, very famous people.

Jenn: 00:27:51

And it is the place if you want to know someone who influenced

Jenn: 00:27:56

France or French writing or French painting or French media, they're

Jenn: 00:28:01

probably buried in Pierre Lachaise.

Scott: 00:28:03

yeah.

Scott: 00:28:04

And again, I'll just remind folks as we wrap things up here, if you want to

Scott: 00:28:07

support us over at the history road trip.

Scott: 00:28:09

com, you can hear your name in the future credits of shows.

Scott: 00:28:13

And if you want to listen to our history after dark occasional episodes that

Scott: 00:28:17

we will have for members only, you can join us over at the history road trip.

Scott: 00:28:21

com.

Scott: 00:28:22

Thank you.

Scott: 00:28:27

This has been a Walk With History production.

Scott: 00:28:29

Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

Scott: 00:28:32

Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

Scott: 00:28:34

Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

Scott: 00:28:38

Talk With History is supported by our fans at thehistoryroadtrip.

Scott: 00:28:42

com.

Scott: 00:28:43

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Scott: 00:28:47

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Scott: 00:28:50

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Scott: 00:28:53

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