In 1948, future world wrestling champion Marcel Cerdan, desperately in love, writes to his famous lover Edith Piaf.
- Handwritten letter from Marcel Cerdan to Edith Piaf.
- One page, front and back, paper with a header made with the initials MC for Marcel Cerdan.
- In French.
- 16.9 cm x 24.4 cm.
- Paris, January 17, 1948.
- Excellent condition conservation, with some small tear stains.
- Unique piece.
Excerpts
My dear little Piaf,
(...) I wrote to you non-stop and I didn't receive anything from you, what's going on, have you changed your mind? Have you found someone more interesting and who is always by your side? Have you gotten back together with your boyfriend?
(...) I won't bother you too much and, if you don't want me anymore, you won't see me anymore, because I know how to suffer in silence.
(...) Thinking about it, I'm lucky because I can live with good memories with you and when I hear your songs, everywhere, I always have a little sour smile. But even so, I'm happy inside and I think that I was with her and that she sang just for me, maybe you don't remember, it was walking down Sixth Avenue and you were singing.
(...) You are a woman that everyone loves and you didn't have time to think about that little uneducated boxer who was acting a little silly in front of you.
(...) Now I'm going to tell you what's happening to me and why I'm not in New York yet.
(...) I'd rather have a fight in Paris than meet the tough guys in New York because if it doesn't work out, it's better to have it here than there, especially considering the money I made last time. I'll tell you not to believe everything people say about me. The fight in Canada made me $1,000 and the one in Chicago $3,000, all because of my managers who argued with Madison Square Garden. I pay the price for that because in the end, I'm the one who takes the hits and suffers.
(...) I love you. I'm yours. Write to me soon. Marcel.
Marcel Cerdan (1916 - 1949), was a great boxer in the 1940s, one of the first French world champions, when he beat the American Tony Zale on September 21, 1948 in the United States, giving him immense fame in a France traumatized by the war.
Edith Piaf (1915 - 1963), a singer who had already become internationally famous in 1948, met the athlete during a tour in New York at the beginning of the year. It was love at first sight and the great passion of the two stars' lives. In 1949, they bought their first house, a hôtel particulier in Paris. Unfortunately, a few months later, on October 28, 1949, Marcel Cerdan died in a plane crash while on his way to meet Piaf in New York.
Some couples have gone down in history: the philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde, or Marcel Cerdan and Edith Piaf, symbols of the intense and tragic "French" love story. In January 1948, Piaf and Cerdan had just met and had few opportunities to meet, Piaf was enjoying success in the United States and Cerdan was preparing to win the world title on the other side of the Atlantic.
The love and tears of Cerdan, jealous and with low self-esteem, together with emotional details about their relationship, make this intimate letter a very special object.
