Le Carrousel de Paris
# Le Carrousel de Paris

Le Carrousel de Paris was a Parisian cabaret most famous for its 1950s revues of cross-dressing and trans performers such as Coccinelle. It definitively ceased its dinner-show activity in 2016.

## History

In 1926, near Moulin Rouge, the impresario and alleged count Giuseppe "Pepito" Abatino, created the cabaret Chez Joséphine for his star Josephine Baker. Even before the house became a restaurant-show, it was frequented by guests such as Jean Cocteau, Robert Desnos, Colette, and René Clair. When it became a cabaret/café-théâtre, it hosted performers such as debutante Charles Trenet, Édith Piaf, Léo Ferré, as well as Gilbert Bécaud who worked there as pianist-accompanist.

Marcel Ouizman, already managing Madame Arthur, took over Le Carrousel de Paris in October 1947, moving it to a basement on 40 rue du Colisée, near the Champs-Élysées. Neighbors threatend legal action and forced Le Carrousel de Paris to close, with Ouizman reopening the cabaret only in 1951 on the street floor. 1947 – 1961 mark the golden years of Le Grande Carrousel, when the nightclub was one of the most expensive clubs in Paris. In 1952 Coccinelle became a star at Le Carrousel de Paris. The programmes at Le Carrousel usually included a head shot of the performer's male persona in the corner of the glamour photograph – even for trans women looking for transition surgery like Coccinelle and Bambi.

In 1954 the police made Le Carrousel de Paris close for three months, and banned Madame Arthur from male cross-dressing. Despite that, Tout-Paris would continue to admire the show of female impersonator troupe made up of Bambi, April Ashley, Péki d'Oslo, Capucine, Kiki Moustic, Les-Lee, Fétiche, Coco, Sonne Teal, Rita del Oro, Doriana, Chou Chou, and others. Around that time Ouizman opened another Carrousel in Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera, and went to court to object to the police regulations that made his business illegal, winning the case. However he was forced to close Le Carrousel de Paris 31 December 1961. Le Carrousel reopened less than a year later in a smaller place at 22 rue Vavin, between Montparnasse and the Jardin du Luxembourg. The cabaret was even further hurt when in 1966 Sonne Teal and four other members of the Le Carrousel Japanese tour died in a plane crash near Mount Fuji.

In 1985, Le Carrousel de Paris changed address, from rue Vavin to 40 rue Fontaine, opposite Place Blanche, replacing the former Embassy club. François Mitterrand unwillingly helped promote the club by opening Carrousel du Louvre, creating a confusion between two places among some tourists. The troupe of female impersonators of Madame Arthur moved to Carrousel de Paris, and in 1990, a new revue inspired by Paradis Latin premiered. Le Carrousel de Paris also started to host shows of comedians such as Olivier Lejeune [fr], Gérald Dahan [fr], Bernard Mabille [fr], Vincent Lagaf' and Michel Leeb [fr].

In 1996, Valério Berkovics bought Le Carrousel de Paris from the Madame Arthur group. He would run it for 12 years until 2008, when the cabaret changed hands again; it was bought in June 2010 by the company SNCP, under the direction of Simone Lumbroso. The Cabaret definitely ceased its activity in 2016, with plans to make it a cocktail bar sans live performances, that would still keep the name of Le Carrousel.

