Fanny Heldy

"The same seat is always reserved for him in the third row of the orchestra. Even before the performance, he will have sent a token of his thoughts to the great artist. When she enters her dressing room, she finds her vanity decorated with a garland of roses in graded tones by the florist Moreux. Before going on stage, she receives a bouquet of purple or white orchids. More than twenty years will pass, and nothing will change this ritual. To be sure of always being able to offer this variety with its ephemeral flowering, the admirer will install greenhouses on one of his properties. He will cultivate 5,000 plants from which, throughout the year, the favorite flowers of Fanny Heldy will bloom in turn."

"Boussac told me: “The most extraordinary impression of my life was seeing her on stage for the first time. Before knowing her, I admit, I had never set foot in the Opera. Since then, I have gone to see her sing as often as I could. It was a marvel for me.” The same seat is always reserved for him in the third row of the orchestra. Even before the performance, he will have sent a token of his thoughts to the great artist. When she enters her dressing room, she finds her vanity decorated with a garland of roses in graded tones by the florist Moreux. Before going on stage, she receives a bouquet of purple or white orchids. More than twenty years will pass, and nothing will change this ritual. To be sure of always being able to offer this variety with its ephemeral flowering, the admirer will install greenhouses on one of his properties. He will cultivate 5,000 plants from which, throughout the year, the favorite flowers of Fanny Heldy will bloom in turn. The wealthy industrialist has settled his divine singer in an apartment at 76y avenue du Bois, just a few meters from his own. Every morning, early, they go horseback riding together. “So passionate about this sport,” Boussac told me, “that she wanted to get her jockey’s license. I would not have wanted her to race. I was afraid for her safety.” This morning gallop is not enough to keep the young woman in shape: an hour of daily physical training maintains her perfect physique. She practices tennis, golf, rowing, and skiing with equal enthusiasm. Will one lifetime be enough for this fiery nature that innocently devours all the joys of the earth? The frenzy in sports, the dizziness of speed are quite a pleasure. But what exquisite nostalgia is not inspired in her by those walks in her dashing convertible, her idle victoria, or in her American car that she drives herself! The Bois de Boulogne, with its intricate meanders, once crisscrossed by carriages, the great parade ground, the meeting place of a lively and frivolous world, the kingdom of carefree wealthy idlers and young women — daredevils, courtesans — delighted to display their tastefully showy luxury, is now but a disenchanted shadow of its past. However, one can still glimpse a few ghostly riders and rare carriages, ghosts of the Belle Epoque, indifferent to the passage and the drabness of time. The great garden still sees Boni de Castellane in his ceremonious frock coat, the handsome Robert de Lesseps, who seems to have stepped out of an English engraving, and the Countess Pillet-Will playing Diana the huntress. And along Avenue des Acacias, which has remained the meeting place of regulars since the time it supplanted the tour of the lake, when Mlle Fanny Heldy parades in her brilliant carriage, one believes that for a moment the Bois of the time of hand-kisses and hat-tips, of subtle banter and charming encounters comes alive. What an attractive spectacle the sleek line of her convertible and her team is, with leader in boots with cuffs and a cape with silk tassels, whose richness and elegance are unrivaled while their passenger outshines any other beauty!"