Louis Leplée

Louis Leplée (7 April 1883 – April 6, 1936) was a French nightclub owner who discovered French entertainer Édith Piaf singing on a Paris street corner in 1935. Leplée starred Piaf at the popular Parisian nightspot Le Gerny's as "La Môme Piaf" (The Little Sparrow) and helped start her career.

In Paris, Leplée operated several nightclubs. His first successful club was Liberty's Bar, but he decided to leave and open a restaurant to take a break from the extravagances of entertainment. After this short break, he returned to the Parisian night life with Le Gerny's where he later employed Piaf as a singer. Leplée also maintained links to the Parisian underworld and was active in Paris's homosexual culture.

Leplée was murdered in his apartment in Paris, on 6 April 1936. Piaf was questioned extensively by the police before being cleared of wrongdoing. The case has never been solved, and there has been speculation and theories of mob involvement in Leplée's death.

Early and personal life Leplée was born on 7 April 1883 in Bayonne, located in southwestern France near the Pyrenees. He served in the French army during World War I. In the fighting, he was wounded in his left leg, leaving him limping for the rest of his life.

In Leplée's personal life, he was characterised by his casualness and showiness. On vacations, he often visited the beach. Leplée had a good sense of humour and excelled in organising parties. Leplée was also known to be homosexual, and he did not conceal that. Particularly, he was attracted to young men and was described as a hebephile (sexual preference for 11-14 years olds) by Luc Dornain when writing in Le Nouveau Détective.

Career

Entertainer When Leplée first worked in Paris, he was a salesman of women's novelties and was helped by his uncle Polin, a comic trouper, to enter the entertainment industry. Leplée performed as an entertainer singing at the Casino de Paris alongside Maurice Chevalier. However, his singing abilities deteriorated with age and his voice could not reach as far as he used to. Once Leplée had enough wealth, he established Liberty's Bar in Place Blanche. It proved successful and included cabaret shows. Leplée often sang whilst dressed as a woman at the bar. His partner at the Liberty's Bar, Robert Giguet, also dressed as a woman when greeting customers. When Leplée grew tired with Montmartre, he handed ownership of the bar to Giguet. She had been making a living from singing on Parisian streets since she was 15 years old and by 1935 was performing around Pigalle in Paris's caberet area. Leplée stopped to watch her sing before offering her a job as resident singer at Le Gerny's. Her nervousness and short statue at led Leplée to give her the stage name La Môme Piaf (The Little Sparrow). Under Leplée, Piaf was taught about stage presence and told to wear a black dress that later became her trademark apparel. Piaf's singing proved beneficial for Leplée's business, and helped Piaf make a name for herself and connect with other leading French artists. In 1936, he helped her record her first 78 rpm single, "Les Mômes de la cloche". After a few hours of interrogation, she was released due to a lack of evidence. Leplée's death was traumatic for Piaf, who had grown close to him, and she became the centre of attention for the French media in the case.