Encore une fois
1950/51 saw Edith taking tours of France, Canada and
America; along with her went not only
Charles Aznavour,
but a new lover, Eddie Constantine. His initial meeting with her had been in
Paris at the Bacarra where he showed her an English translation of Hymne a
l'Amour. Their romance only lasted until the latter end of a comedy play they
were jointly appearing in - "La P'tite Lili". "La P'tite Lili" was dogged with
production problems virtually up to the opening night. Arguments between
producer, director, actors and songwriters over salaries,set design and
personality clashes, plus the discovery that the play hadn't even been written
when rehearsals were due to start meant that it was a miracle it opened at all,
let alone be the resounding success it was! Edith was - in no small way -
responsible for holding it all together. However, during the seven months of
the play's run she found another interest in the form of sportsman Andre
Pousse, a racing cyclist. They originally met in 1948/49 when Edith was
involved with Marcel Cerdan - she had no romantic interest in anyone else at
that time - but they had a mutual friend in Louis Barrier, and in 1951 she
began to invite him to her newly-acquired farm at Hallier, Dreux. It wasn't
long before she had asked him to move into the house at the Bois de Boulogne.
Things seemed to be looking up for her despite her continuing sorrow for the
loss of Cerdan, but once again this was to change.
In mid-August 1951, Edith sustained broken ribs and a
fracture to her left arm in an automobile accident. The car had skidded off the
road. Andre Pousse was driving at the time, Edith and Charles Aznavour were in
the back. Three weeks previously she had been involved in an accident whilst
being driven by Aznavour, but both had escaped unharmed. Her injuries were
treated and she was prescribed painkillers - morphine - to enable her to
continue singing, although the accident effectively closed the play. This was
the start of a long-running battle with drug dependence, and the end for
Andre Pousse. It wasn't long before she was betraying him with a friend of his,
another cyclist named Louis Gerardin. Gerardin had a wife however, who was less
than happy at his abandonment of her. When he moved into Pousse's newly vacated
spot at the Bois de Boulogne, taking with him a number of items from the
marital home (all valuable), Mme Gerardin had a private detective follow him
and; much to the delight of the press, charges of being an accessory to theft
and a receiver of stolen goods were laid at Edith's door. Edith threw him out.
1996-2009©J.M.Smethurst