[A meeting to be found in the winter issue of têtu magazine, available at your newsstands or delivered to you by subscription.] A cabaret star, a pioneer of trans identity in France with her friends Coccinelle and Bambi, Fétiche has celebrated, like the latter, her 90th birthday. The occasion to publish her memoirs.
“You can ask me any questions you want, nothing bothers me.” Fétiche begins our interview as she likes to approach life: head-on. In her apartment in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, which she has inhabited for fifty years, the red velvet drapes, the wall of mirrors, and the neatly arranged dresser recall her life on stage, whose memories still fresh continue to make her eyes sparkle.
Born in 1935 in Wattrelos, at the Belgian border of the Lille metropolitan area, Marie-Pierre Vancallement endured a difficult childhood, a victim of a violent father and of rape at the age of 15 by her first employer. She arrives in Paris in the mid-1950s, a letter of emancipation signed by her mother in hand, with the will to make the stage her profession. At 19, she soon performs in singing tours in gay clubs across the capital, not yet understanding what transitioning would mean.
Chosen Sisters
It is a meeting at the Festival, a private club on Rue du Colisée, that will determine what comes next. “Two pin-ups arrive in mink fur and in a low-cut dress into the show room”—she recalls. Curious, she asks for their identities at the bar, who reply: “Those two pretty stars, as you say, are boys.” The information rocks her, as she recounts in her autobiography: “A real tsunami swept over me. I was fascinated, seized by an indescribable vertigo, as if the world were tilting around me. At 20, I understood that a part of me was in the shadow, that I lived with two selves, and that one of them had to fade away and disappear.”
The two women, who noticed his glances, invite her to their table. And introduce themselves: Bambi, Coccinelle. They are the two stars of the famous cabaret Madame Arthur, the drag cabaret. “You are not meant to work here, you should come with us,” they urge her. “I feel like they already knew who I really was”, recalls Fétiche. There she is, in 1956, joining the troupe, where she continues to showcase her talents as a singer. In the privacy of the dressing rooms, she also becomes familiar with hormone therapy, supported by Coccinelle. “I wanted to be as beautiful as Bambi, she smiles. This is where it all began.” Her stage name, her new friends would find it during a window-shopping session in the streets of Pigalle, plastered on the sign of a shop: “Fétiche.”
“The Fairy”, as she is now nicknamed, also learns the harsh realities of the era, particularly the police persecution faced by those who dare to transgress gender. Fétiche does not count the hours spent in custody. “I know perfectly the twenty police stations of the capital!” she jokes today. But like her comrades, more is needed to extinguish such a resolve.
Thanks, Mom
When the director of the Carrousel de Paris seeks a replacement for Dany Dan to present her show, Fétiche takes a chance, inventing herself a reputation in cabarets of the North. Her audacity is rewarded: she becomes the mistress of ceremonies at the cabaret on Rue du Colisée where bourgeoisie come to indulge in sexy exoticism.
But the Algerian War rages on, and Fétiche is still a boy in the eyes of the administration. Ordered to enlist, she is forced to return to the village where she was born, where she encounters, for the first time since the start of her hormone therapy, her mother. She then receives an unconditional act of love: “I said ‘hello mom’ to her, and she took me into her arms. I felt saved,” she recalls, still moved. At the barracks, she simply explains that she is “a case of nature, half-and-half“: “They had never seen that, I was discharged from service!”
Back at the Carrousel de Paris, Fétiche captivates with her taste for show and costume: 53 numbers to present? No problem, she will wear 53 outfits! All of Paris knows her name, and she rubs shoulders with the greatest stars: Marlène Dietrich, Gloria Swanson, Kim Novak, Joséphine Baker, and even Marlon Brando. No longer optional, the young artist travels the world and undertakes several tours in Asia. She would keep her position at the Carrousel until the cabaret moved in 1985.
New Start
The enthusiast of French chanson meets a certain Pascal Sevran, who is already presenting La Chance aux chansons on television. Sharing many points of reference and an admiration for the singer Lucienne Delyle, the two quickly become friends. Under the name Marie-Pierre Vancallement, she becomes artistic coordinator and production assistant for the legendary music show. The television adventure lasts ten years, until 1999.
One quarter of a century later, after overcoming two cancers, Marie-Pierre keeps all her poise and her taste for sharing. “Beyond nostalgia, there remains the beauty of memories, the nobility of the path traveled and the pride of having been part of that adventure. So, no question of ending on a sad note!” she whispers to us, before raising a cider in a toast.
