Today's discovery ....
A provincial actor from the French 1860s ....
The photo was so delicious that I had to at least attempt to find out something about him ...
He'd written on the back, and signed his name with such extravagant flourishing that he was clearly a humourist: Victor Vallé. I'm pretty sure that the Place is Nancy, and the Date: 1 May 1868. But the inscription?
Oh, yes, funny fellow. It's mangled French. An imitation, I would guess, of some provincially accented dialect ... 'Mademoissaille" for Mademoiselle. "je suisse" for 'je suis',"auffrier" for 'offrir', "a fein queu" for 'afin que', "souviendrai" "souvan" for 'souvent'.
"Fils ?igile" has I imagine some connection with 'physique'.
So who was Mons Vallée? Well, I've gathered together a birth, a marriage, and half a dozen years of career as follows ...
Louis Victor Antoine VALLÉE born Paris 16 March 1834, the son of Rouenais, Louis Pierre Marie Vallée and his second wife Azéma Adelaïde née Lebrun. Died Algiers 13 December 1872.
I spot him on stage for the first time in 1863, by which time he has a Madame Vallée ('2nd dugazon, amoureuse') attached. Madame was Louise Marie Céleste Boissel (b 23 January 1836; d 23 June 1873), who a couple of years earlier had been playing at the theatre in Oran. She apparently didn't become Madame until their child -- Marie -- born on 13 June 1865 was a number of months old (22 January 1866).Though a family tree 'corrects' this to 23 October 1866. Maybe there were two Maries.
I spot them in 1863 at Geneva, whence they departed precipitately when the 'gentille' Louise was dumped, and at Dijon where they remained for two years. He was the company's lead comic actor and also appeared in opéra-comique (Le Caid) and opérette bouffe, she put in the occasional appearance as a supporting singer.
Among his many credits were Les Poseurs, Célimare le bien aimé, Ce scelerat de Poireau, les Effrontées, Les Femmes Fortes, La Tour de Nèsle, Les Chevaliers de Pince-Nez, as well as Le Brésilien, Jobin et Nanette and an original opérette bouffe by two local journalists Les Orangs-Outangs which was declared as worthy of the Bouffes-Parisiens by some of their fellow scribes.
In 1866 they were engaged at Metz: Victor as 'premier comique en tous genres' and 'trial' in opéra-comique (Alidor in Le Voyage en Chine), Louise for bits and ... as prompter. In 1867 somewhere in the Vosges, in 1868, by evidence of this photo, at Nancy and in 1869 at the Théâtre Impérial at Algiers ...
Victor never came home. He died in Algiers at the age of 38. I don't know of what, but it was seemingly catching, for Louise died six months later. Young Marie survived to become Mme Paul Jules Auguste Chagrot, mother of five, remained in Algeria and died there 17 September 1932.
A sadly short career for our young comedian. But he left this photo so that we know he existed.
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