Lys Gauty "Monstre Sacre" ~ Vulture of Virtuosity", descriptions bestowed on Lys by Cocteau. Whenever she set foot on a stage, be it a humble cabaret or the grand music houses of Europe, everyone knew that Lys would advance on her audience to take them by force with a ravenous smile on her face, realizing that she was about to burn up the boards and set the stage on fire with her strange personality, spell binding vibrato growl, and her heart breaking songs.
Alice Gauthier came from humble beginnings. Her father was a garage mechanic and she was a shop girl, but one who saved her money to pay for singing lessons. Lys studied classical music intending to be an opera performer but she ended up much more famous and successful as a cabaret star. She married her agent, Swiss Gaston Groeuer. He took her to Bruxxelles where she made her first first recordings in '27. Fame came fast and she was soon star of the Paris music halls, - Olympia, Alcazar, ABC, Empire. Her signature song was "Le Chaland qui passé". She featured in the first recordings of Kurt Weil's Three Penny Opera for which she won a Gran Prix du Disque and Weill continued to write songs for her.
Gauty was finishing a world tour of South America when France became occupied by the Nazis. She was arrested upon her return to Paris and questioned about her Jewish husband and Polish grandmother. Under Nazi threat, she agreed to tour Germany. When the end of the war came, she fled to Monaco to escape the murderous follies of the Liberation when collaborators were hunted down. She barely escaped an assassination attempt and kept the bullet by her bedside as a reminder. During the early days of the war, she was one of the few who had the courage to support the Jews in anti Semitic France singing Israel va-t-en, a powerful lament. Because she had been a Jewish supporter and had also toured Germany her career in France was over. She took over the casino at Luchon, operated a singing school in Nice and was a real estate agent/investor in Monaco.
Wal-Berg (Voldemar Rosenberg) was a Russian born French conductor and composer. He studied piano at the Berlin Conservatory and Conducting and Composing at the Conservatoire de Paris. From 1932-36 he was musical director at Polydor and composed the main songs for Marlene Dietrich. From '37 at Pathe Marconi, he participated in the recording of discs of Jean Sablon, Josephine Baker, Charles Trenet, Leo Marjane, and Damia while also writing film music. During WWII, he launched the Jazz Symphony in Monaco. In all, Wal-Berg composed over 300 pieces for symphony and music for 40 films. His works have been played by all the major European Orchestras. As an opera director he led Fiddler on the Roof at Theatre Marigny and Barbe Bleu de Jacques Offenbach at the Paris Theatre.
Lys Gauty, Espoir, Orchestra Wal-Berg, Polydor Records, 1936.
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