Moulin Rouge - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Moulin Rouge is a cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

built in 1889 by Joseph Oller

Joseph Oller

Joseph Oller was a Spanish Catalan entrepreneur who lived in Paris for most of his life. He founded the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge and was the inventor of the parimutuel betting....

, who also owned the Paris Olympia

Paris Olympia

The Olympia is a music hall in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Located at No. 28, Boulevard des Capucines, its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin and Auber....

. Close to Montmartre

Montmartre

Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

in the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill

Windmill

A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche

Blanche (Paris Metro)

Blanche is a station on Paris Métro Line 2, on the border of the 9th and the 18th arrondissement. The station is located under the Boulevard de Clichy in Montmartre....

.

The Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can

Can-can

The can-can is a high-energy and physically demanding music hall dance, traditionally performed by a chorus line of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings...

dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesan

Courtesan

A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

s who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue

Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...

evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today the Moulin Rouge is a tourist destination, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. Much of the romance of turn-of-the-century France is still present in the club's decor.

Background

The Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...

, a period of peace and optimism marked by industrial progress and a particularly rich cultural exuberance. The Exposition Universelles of 1889
Exposition Universelle (1889)
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...

and 1900
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...

are symbols of this period. The Eiffel Tower was also constructed in 1889, epitomising the spirit of progress along with the culturally transgressive Moulin Rouge.
Japonism
Japonism
Japonism, or Japonisme, the original French term, was first used in 1872 by Jules Claretie in his book L'Art Francais en 1872 and by Philippe Burty in Japanisme III. La Renaissance Literaire et Artistique in the same year...

, an artistic movement inspired by the Orient with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...

as its most brilliant disciple, is at its height.
Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

, which, at the heart of an increasingly vast and impersonal Paris, manages to retain a bucolic village atmosphere. Festivities and artists mixing with pleasure and beauty as their values.
6 October 1889: The Moulin Rouge opens, in the Jardin de Paris, at the foot of the Montmartre hill. Its creator Joseph Oller
Joseph Oller
Joseph Oller was a Spanish Catalan entrepreneur who lived in Paris for most of his life. He founded the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge and was the inventor of the parimutuel betting....

and his Manager Charles Zidler are formidable businessmen who understand perfectly the public’s tastes. The aim is to allow the very rich to come and slum it in a fashionable district, Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

. The extravagant setting – the garden is adorned with a gigantic elephant – allows people from all walks of life to mix. Workers, residents of the Place Blanche, artists, the middle classes, businessmen, elegant women and foreigners passing through Paris rub shoulders. Nicknamed “The First Palace of Women" by Oller and Zidler, the cabaret quickly becomes a great success.
The ingredients for its success:
A revolutionary architecture for the auditorium that allowed rapid changes of décor and where everyone could mix;
Festive champagne evenings where people danced and were entertained thanks to amusing acts that changed regularly, such as the Pétomane;
A new dance inspired by the quadrille which becomes more and more popular: The Can-can
Can-can
The can-can is a high-energy and physically demanding music hall dance, traditionally performed by a chorus line of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings...

, danced to a furious rhythm by dancers in titillating costumes;
Famous dancers whom history still remembers: la Goulue
La Goulue
Louise Weber was a French can-can dancer who performed under the stage name of La Goulue...

, Jane Avril
Jane Avril
Jane Avril was a French can-can dancer made famous by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec through his paintings. Extremely thin, 'given to jerky movements and sudden contortions', she was nicknamed La Mélinite, after an explosive. -Biography:...

, la Môme Fromage, Grille d’Egout, Nini Pattes en l’Air, Yvette Guilbert ;
A place loved by artists, of whom the most iconic was Toulouse-Lautrec. His posters and paintings secured rapid and international fame for the Moulin Rouge.

The Moulin Rouge’s greatest moments

The early years of the Moulin Rouge are marked by extravagant shows, inspired by the circus, and attractions that are still famous such as Pétomane. Concert-dances are organised every day at 10pm.
1886–1910: Footit and Chocolat, a comic act of a white, authoritarian clown and a black, long-suffering Auguste, are very popular and often appear on the Moulin Rouge poster.
19 April 1890: 1st review, “Circassiens et Circassiennes”.
26 October 1890: His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, who on a private visit to Paris, booked a table to see this quadrille whose reputation had already crossed the Channel. Recognising him, La Goulue, with her leg in the air and her head in her skirts, spontaneously called out “Hey, Wales, the champagne’s on you!” ".
1891: “La Goulue”: Toulouse-Lautrec’s first poster for the Moulin Rouge.
1893: The “Bal de Quat’zarts” caused a scandal with its procession of a nude Cleopatra surrounded by young naked women.
12 November 1897: The Moulin Rouge closed its doors for the first time for the funeral of its Manager and co-founder Charles Zidler. Yvette Guilbert paid him homage saying “You have the knack of creating popular pleasure, in the finest sense of the word, of entertaining crowds with subtlety, according to the status of those to be entertained".
1900: visitors from all five continents, attracted by the Universal Exhibition, flock to the “Moulin Rouch”. Once home again, these visitors thought of Paris as a modern Babylon, the capital of pleasure and the “little ladies of Paris”. In many capital cities "Moulin Rouges" and "Montmartres" sprang up like mushrooms, but their methods of imitation and free interpretation made them more like Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....

than Babylon.

Operetta and grand shows

January 1903: the Moulin Rouge reopened after renovation and improvement work carried out by Niermans, the most “Parisian” architect of the Belle Époque (amongst other works he designed the brasserie Mollard, the Paris Casino, the Folies Bergère in Paris, the Palace Hôtel in Ostend in Belgium, the rebuilding of the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz and the creation of the Hôtel Négresco on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice). First aperitif concert, where the elite of the fashionable world met for dinner and a show in a setting more beautiful and comfortable than any that existed elsewhere.
Until the First World War, the Moulin Rouge became a real temple of operetta. Further successful shows follow: “Voluptata”, “La Feuille de Vigne”, "le Rêve d’Egypte" , "Tais-toi tu m’affoles" and many others, each with a more evocative title than the last.
3 January 1907: during the show “le Rêve d’Egypte”, Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...

exchanged kisses that showed her links with the Duchess of Morny. Deemed to be scandalous, the show was banned.
29 July 1907: first appearance of Mistinguett
Mistinguett
Mistinguett was a French actress and singer, whose birth name was Jeanne Bourgeois. She was at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world...

on stage at the Moulin Rouge in the “Revue de la Femme”. Her talent was immediately obvious. The following year she had a huge success with Max Dearly in “la Valse chaloupée”.
Mistinguett, born in poverty, was not particularly beautiful but had an undeniably quick wit. She wanted to build her own life and said “the poor suburbs, it’s not enough just to want to get out. I had a talent: life. All the rest remains to be done, to be thought about. I couldn’t allow myself just to be a beautiful animal, I had to think of everything”. A peerless businesswoman, she first listened carefully then captivated. She lived wholly for her art, and toured Europe and the United States.
9 April 1910: A former lady-in-waiting to the Empress Eugénie attended a showing of the Revue Amoureuse at the Moulin Rouge. She was so enchanted by the faithful recreation of the ceremony for the return of the troops from Italy that she could not stop herself from calling out “Long Live the Empress!”
27 February 1915: the Moulin Rouge was destroyed by fire.
1921: The rebuilt Moulin Rouge finally reopened.

The Mistinguett years

After the war, Francis Salabert took charge of the Moulin Rouge. A businessman rather than a showman, he gave Jacques-Charles, the leading impresario of the time, the task of reinvigorating the cabaret. The Moulin Rouge took off again, thanks to stars such as Mistinguett, Jeanne Aubert
Jeanne Aubert
Jeanne Aubert was a French singer and actress.Born Marguerite Perrinot in Paris, France to an aristocratic father and a former flower girl, she was pushed by her mother into showbusiness. At age five, she began performing on stage at the Théâtre du Châtelet...

or Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...

, and to the first showing in Paris of American revues with the Hoffmann Girls.
Gesmar, aged 20, became set designer. His drawings and models will always be associated with the image of the Moulin Rouge.
Jacques-Charles and Mistinguett were the originators of shows that have become mythical:
1925 : "la Revue Mistinguett"
1926 : "Ça c’est Paris"
1928 : "Paris qui tourne"
At the Moulin Rouge, Mistinguett created many songs that will endure for ever, including “Valencia”, "Ça c’est Paris", both by Jose Padilla, "Il m’a vue nue", "On m’ suit", "La Java de Doudoune", the latter with Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...

.

After Mistinguett

1929: Mistinguett retires from the stage and leaves the Moulin Rouge.
After her departure, the ballroom is transformed into the most ultra-modern Night Club of the time.
June – August 1929: the revue “Lew Leslie’s Black Birds”, by a troop of a hundred black artists accompanied by the Jazz Plantation Orchestra, is put on at the Moulin Rouge.
1937: the Cotton Club, all the rage in New York, is put on at the Moulin Rouge; Ray Ventura and his Collegians also appear.
1939–1945: the Second World War interrupts the Moulin Rouge’s sparkle.
1944: a few days after the liberation of Paris, Edith Piaf, whose talent is already evident, performs at the Moulin Rouge, with Yves Montand
Yves Montand
-Early life:Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in...

, a newcomer chosen to appear with her.

The age of renewal

22 June 1951: Georges France, called Jo France, founder of the Balajo, acquires the Moulin Rouge and starts major renovation work. He gives Henri Mahé, one of the most fashionable architects of the day, the task of improving and fitting out the new auditorium. The décor envisaged by Jo France and largely realized by Henri Mahé still delights today’s visitors to the Moulin Rouge.
The evening dances, the acts and of course the famous French cancan are all back at the Moulin Rouge.
19 May 1953: the 25th “Bal des Petits Lits Blancs“, organised by the novelist Guy des Cars, takes place at the Moulin Rouge in the presence of the French President, Monsieur Vincent Auriol, and it includes, for the first time on a European stage, Bing Crosby. The evening attracts 1,200 artists and stars from around the world, including Josephine Baker who sings “J’ai deux amours”.
Between 1951 and 1960, a succession of famous artists appears: Luis Mariano
Luis Mariano
Mariano Eusebio González y García aka Luis Mariano was a popular tenor of Spanish Basque origin who achieved celebrity in 1946 with « La belle de Cadix » an operetta by Francis Lopez...

, Charles Trénet
Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...

, Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...

, Line Renaud
Line Renaud
- Early life :Line Renaud was born in Pont-de-Nieppe on 2 July 1928. Her mother Simone was a shorthand typist; her father was a truck driver during the week, but he played trumpet at the weekends, in a local brass band...

, Bourvil
Bourvil
André Bourvil, born André Robert Raimbourg was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy, most notably in his collaboration with Louis de Funès in La Grande Vadrouille .-Biography:His father was killed in the First World War before Bourvil was born...

, Fernand Raynaud
Fernand Raynaud
André Gustave Fernand Raynaud, best known as Fernand Raynaud , was a French stand-up comic star, an actor and a singer...

, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...

.
1955: Jo France transfers the Moulin Rouge to the brothers Joseph and Louis Clérico who already own the Lido. Jean Bauchet becomes Manager. The famous French cancan is still performed, soon to be choreographed by Ruggero Angeletti.
1957: Doris Haug creates the “Doriss Girls” troop at the Moulin Rouge. Initially four girls, today there are sixty.
1959: the Moulin Rouge is transformed with the creation and fitting out of new kitchens so as to offer the increasingly international clientele a dinner-show with a gastronomic menu and revues that soon acquire a worldwide reputation.
1960 The “Revue Japonaise” makes news. Entirely composed of Japanese artists, the revue launches the Kabuki in Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

F as in…

1962: Jacki Clérico, son of Jospeh Clérico, takes control of the Moulin Rouge. It is the start of a new era: Enlargement of the auditorium, installation of a giant aquarium and the first aquatic ballet
1962: Revue “Cancan”, devised by Doris Haug and Ruggero Angeletti.
Since 1963 and the success of the “Frou-Frou” revue, out of superstition Jacki Clérico chooses only revue titles that start with the letter F. Naturally, the famous French cancan is performed at every revue.
- 1963-1965 : “Frou-Frou”
- 1965-1967 : “Frisson”
- 1967-1970 : “Fascination”
- 1970-1973 : “Fantastic”
- 1973-1976 : “Festival”
- 1976-1978 : “Follement”
- 1978-1983 : “Frénésie”
- 1983-1988 : “Femmes, femmes, femmes”
- 1988-1999 : “Formidable”
- Since 1999: “Féérie”

7 September 1979: the Moulin Rouge, the centre of Paris night life, celebrates its 90th birthday. On stage, for the first time in Paris, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....

is surrounded by various stars including Thierry Le Luron
Thierry Le Luron
Thierry Le Luron was a French impersonator and humorist.-External links:*...

, Dalida
Dalida
Dalida , born with Italian name of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a world-famous singer and actress born in Egypt with Italian origins but naturalised French with the name Yolanda Gigliotti. She spent her early years in Egypt amongst the Italian Egyptian community, but she lived most of her adult...

, Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...

, Jean-Claude Brialy
Jean-Claude Brialy
Jean-Claude Brialy – died 30 May 2007, Monthyon, Seine-et-Marne, France was a French actor, director, and socialite.-Biography:...

, Georges Chakiris, the Village People
Village People
Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....

, Zizi Jeanmaire
Zizi Jeanmaire
Zizi Jeanmaire is a ballet dancer and widow of renowned dancer and choreographer Roland Petit. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet version of Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films.-Background:Born in Paris,...

.
23 November 1981: the Moulin Rouge closes for one evening only so as to present its show to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
4 February 1982: one-off show with Liza Minnelli.
3 July 1984: gala with Dean Martin.
25 September 1984: gala with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

.
1 December 1986: the world's most famous classical dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, creates an original ballet by Maurice Béjart at the Moulin Rouge.
20 February 1988: Dazzling at 90 years old, the Moulin Rouge was to be even more amazing at 100. The premier of the revue “Formidable” is a “Royal Variety Performance in Paris”, one of the most prestigious official events in Britain, attended each year in London by a member of the Royal Family
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...

. For the second time, the show took place in France, at the Moulin Rouge. Presided over in 1983 by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, on 20 February 1988 His Royal Highness Prince Edward is the guest of honour.
Spring 1989: one-off performance by the Moulin Rouge in London before their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales.
6 October 1989: Centenary gala with Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...

, Lauren Bacall, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...

, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

, Gipsy Kings
Gipsy Kings
The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of...

, Margaux Hemingway
Margaux Hemingway
Margaux Hemingway was an American fashion model and actress.- Early life :Margot Louise Hemingway was born in Portland, Oregon, and was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway...

, Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks
Barbara Hendricks is an African American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland on Lake Geneva since 1985, She is a citizen of Sweden.-Early life and education:...

, Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...

, Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

, Jane Russel, Charles Trénet
Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...

, Esther Williams
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...

.
1994: Cartier gala in aid of the Artists’ Foundation against AIDS with a private concert by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

.
1995: Lancôme
Lancôme
Lancôme Paris is a makeup brand. Owned by L'Oréal since 1964, Lancôme is part of the Luxury Products division, which offers skin care, fragrances, and makeup at higher-end prices....

gala – launch of the perfume “Poème” with Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...

. Private concert with Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...

and Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...

.
14 November 1999: last showing of the Centenary revue “Formidable”, seen by more than 4.5 million spectators between 1988 and 1999.
23 December 1999: first showing of the new revue “Féerie”.
February 2009: for the Year of France in Brazil, and as part of the Rio Carnival
Rio Carnival
The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent every year and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1723.-Samba schools:...

, the Moulin Rouge is produced on the mythical Copacabana beach.
October 2009: the most famous cabaret in the world celebrates its 120th birthday.

Films about the Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge Dancers 1&2 (1898) - USA - silent film about the Moulin Rouge
Queen of the Moulin Rouge (1922), directed by Ray C. Smallwood and Peter Milne - USA - silent film about the Moulin Rouge
Le Fantôme du Moulin Rouge (1925), directed by René Clair - with Sandra Milowanoff and Georges Voltier
Moulin rouge (1928), directed by Ewald André Dupont
Ewald André Dupont
Ewald André Dupont was a German film director, one of the founders of the German film industry. He was frequently credited as E. A. Dupont....

- With Olga Tschechowa, Eve Gray and Jean Bradin
Moulin rouge also titled L’étoile du Moulin Rouge (1934), directed by Sidney Lanfield
Sidney Lanfield
Sidney Lanfield was a film director known for directing comedy films and later television programs.The one-time musician's first directing job was for the Fox Film Corporation in 1930; he went on to direct a number of films for 20th Century Fox...

- with Constance Bennett - USA
La Chaste Suzanne (1937/1938), directed by André Berthomieu - with Raimu and Henri Garat
La P’tite femme du Moulin Rouge (1945), directed by Benito Perojo - with Alberto Bello, Héctor Calcaño, Homero Cárpena, Tilda Thamar
Moulin Rouge (1952), directed by John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...

- with José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...

, Suzanne Flon and Zsa Zsa Gabor
French Cancan (1955), directed by Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...

- with Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...

, Françoise Arnoul
Françoise Arnoul
Françoise Arnoul is a French actress, who achieved popularity with her cute and sexy charm, especially during the 1950s.Born Françoise Annette Marie Mathilde Gautsch in Constantine, France , as the daughter of stage actress Janine Henry and artillery general Charles Gautsch, she has two brothers...

, María Félix
María Félix
María Félix was a Mexican film actress and one of the icons of the golden era of the Cinema of Mexico and also one of the myths of the Spanish language Cinema for her life style and personality...

, Jean-Roger Caussimon
Jean-Roger Caussimon
Jean-Roger Caussimon was a French singer-songwriter and film actor. He appeared in 90 films between 1945 and 1985 but is better known for having worked with poet-singer Léo Ferré.- Discography :...

, Gianni Esposito, Philippe Clay
Philippe Clay
Philippe Clay, born Philippe Mathevet, was a French mime artist, singer and actor.He was known for his tall and slim silhouette and for his interpretations of songs by Charles Aznavour, Claude Nougaro, Jean-Roger Caussimon, Boris Vian, Serge Gainsbourg, Jean Yanne, Léo Ferré, Jacques Datin,...

, and Michel Piccoli
Une Nuit au Moulin Rouge (1957), directed by Jean-Claude Roy - with Tilda Thamar, Noël Roquevert, Armand Bernard and Jean Tissier
La Chaste Suzanne (1963), directed by Luis César Amadori - with Armand Mestral, Noël Roquevert
Noël Roquevert
Noël Roquevert was a French film actor. He appeared in over 180 films between 1932 and 1972.He was born in Doué-la-Fontaine, France and died in Douarnenez, France.-Selected filmography:* Le Corbeau...

and Frédéric Duvallès - Spain/France
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...

(2001), directed by Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...

, with Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...

, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...

, John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo
Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...

, Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...

, and Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as villains.-Early life:...

Documentaries about the Moulin Rouge

Quadrille dansé par les étoiles du Moulin-Rouge 1,2&3 (1899–1902), France - produced by Pathé (3 episodes of 20 min)
An Evening at the Moulin Rouge (1981), Réalisé par David Niles, produced by HBO (length : 60 min)
Les Dessous du Moulin Rouge (2000), Réalisé par Nils Tavernier, produced by Little Bear (length : 52 min)
Coulisses d’une revue, le Moulin Rouge (2001), directed by par Philippe Pouchain and Yves Riou (length : 60 min)
Moulin Rouge Forever (2002), directed by Philippe Pouchain and Yves Riou (length : 55 min)
Moulin Rouge : la restauration and Une vie de passion au Moulin Rouge. Two documentaries available with the Moulin Rouge movie of John Huston.

Illustrated book about the Moulin Rouge

The Moulin Rouge (1989), by Jacques Pessis and Jacques Crépineau - Publisher: St Martins
The Moulin Rouge (2002), by Jacques Pessis and Jacques Crépineau - Publisher: Le Cherche-Midi
Moulin Rouge, Paris (2002), by Christophe Mirambeau - Publisher: Assouline
Flipbook Moulin Rouge Paris France 23h18, Paris (2003), by Jean-Luc Planche - Publisher: Youpeka

Books about the Moulin Rouge and its characters

Moulin Rouge, a novel based on the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1950), by Pierre La Mure - Publisher: Random House
Jane Avril of the Moulin Rouge (1954), by Jose Shercliff - Publisher : Macrae Smith Co
Le Pétomane 1857-1945 a tribute to the unique act which shook and shattered the Moulin-Rouge (1967), By Jean Nohain and François Caradec - Publisher : Souvenir Press
Toulouse-Lautrec : The Moulin Rouge And The City Of Light, Paris (2003), by Robert Burleigh - Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Legacy

The Moulin Rouge in Paris was a source of inspiration for the Moulin Rouge Hotel
Moulin Rouge Hotel
The Moulin Rouge Hotel was a hotel and casino located in the West Las Vegas neighborhood of Las Vegas, Nevada, that is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places...

in Las Vegas.
The film French Cancan
French Cancan
French Cancan is a 1954 French musical film written and directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin and María Félix.-Plot:Set in 1890s Paris, Henri Danglard is the owner of a cafe, which features his mistress, Lola, as a belly dancer...

(1955), directed by Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...

, is a fictionalised history of the Moulin Rouge.
A Night at the Moulin Rouge, a 1951 film (also circulated under the title Ding Dong!) of burlesque acts of the Moulin Rouge club in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

.
The music video for Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

, Pink
Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....

, Lil' Kim
Lil' Kim
Kimberly Denise Jones , better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and actress who was a member of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A.....

and Mýa
Mya
-A person:* Bo Mya , Chief Commander of the Karen National Union* Mýa , American R&B singer-songwriter and actress** Mýa , a 1998 album by Mýa-A code:* Burmese language, ISO 639-3 code is mya* Moruya Airport's IATA code...

's "Lady Marmalade
Lady Marmalade
"Lady Marmalade" was also covered by Italian pop star Sabrina. It was released in 1987 as the album's second single by Baby Records. In some countries, including France and the Netherlands, the song was known as "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? " and was released in 1988.-Track listings:7" maxi#...

" was set at the Moulin Rouge.
Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

and his concert film Sign o' the Times (1987) featured the Moulin Rouge as part of his stage venue and props.

External links

The Official Website of the Moulin Rouge (English, French)
The Official Moulin Rouge Store (English)

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