And I'd Do It Again

by Crocker, Aimée;

  Even the scandals of that day were in better taste. They were amusing. Today they are morbid or vulgar or dull. Where has that wit gone, and why has that lightness of touch been allowed to fade? Does there exist today another gypsy violinist who could run away with a Prince de Chimay? Can one hear La Glu and feel her rich, full, earthy character blossoming in the Montmartre that is dead? Where is Nina-Patte-en-l’air? When did Madame Fromage die? Yvette Guilbert struggles on alone, still a noble, richly talented woman, but an old woman now. Yvonne Georges is dead. Phonograph records try to preserve the madness of her “P’tit Bossu” and the heartiness of her “Chant de Marin.”

  In New York, Sherry’s is forgotten, Reisenweber’s is a legend, Rector’s a tradition and the Gibson Girl a banality.

  But to these things I could add many more, and say that they are still alive to me, and still near-by. I am glad that I have lived.

  Well, here we are at the end.

  I look back over these pages and think that perhaps I was foolish to have written them. Some people who know me indifferently well, will believe that it is vanity. But no, my vanity died several birthdays ago. And yet I have been trying to find another reason for them besides that love of life which makes me feel that I would wish to live all this over and over and over again. Even the mistakes that I made were worth the making. I would make them again, too.

  So suppose we admit that there is no particular reason, and that the fun I have had in going over those dim details is the last fun I am likely to have in this life. For one of these days now, I am going to see the vision of a beautiful Hindu woman on my bed, so the Yogin told me, and I am going away where none of this matters very much.

  There is a little poem by Fernand Gregh which very few people know and which ends as I want this book to end:

  “… mais j’aurai bu ma joie au Grand Festin sacré

  Que voudrais-je de plus?

  J’aurai vécu

  Et je mourrai.”

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  About Aimée Crocker

  AIMÉE CROCKER was an American heiress, Bohemian, world traveler and author best known for her adventures in the Far East, her extravagant parties and her collections of husbands and lovers, adopted children, Buddhas, tattoos and snakes.

  HELEN LEDERER is a comedian, writer and actress best known for her role as Catriona in cult TV series Absolutely Fabulous. Her comedy novel Losing It was nominated for the P. G. Wodehouse Comedy Literary Award and the Edinburgh Book Festival First Book Award.

  Great Lives: Great Women’s Lives

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  First published in the UK in 2017 by Head of Zeus, Ltd.

  Copyright © Aimée Crocker 2017

  Foreword copyright © Helen Lederer, 2017

  The moral right of Aimée Crocker to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN (HB): 9781784979850

  ISBN (E): 9781784979843

  Cover Images: Shutterstock

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