During the 15-20 years immediately following WWII, Jacques Canetti was the most powerful music business executive in France and was responsible for the professional careers of scores of artists. Like many of the players in the “chanson” story, Jacques Canetti (1909-1997) was a Jewish immigrant (Sephardic) from Eastern Europe. Canetti was born in Bulgaria and after 1911 lived in England, Austria, Germany and Switzerland before moving to France in 1926. One of his brothers was Elias Canetti, 1981 Nobel Laureate in literature, and the other brother (Georges) was a researcher at the Pasteur Institute.
Jacques Canetti developed an enthusiasm for jazz and worked in Paris as artistic director at the Polydor record company and at Philips. During the 1930s, he organized “jazz hot” tours of musicians to French towns, including visits by Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. Canetti spent four wartime years (1942-1946) in Algiers, sheltered from anti-Jewish laws in German-occupied France. During this time, he organized a musical cooperative “Troupe des Trois Ânes” (Troup of Three Asses) that travelled across North Africa raising money for the Gaullist Movement Combat. While in Algiers, he also met his wife-to-be singer Lucienne Vernay (née Torres) who became a right-hand person in his subsequent career. She also became a much-admired singer of children’s songs along with the groupe Les Quatre Barbus.
After his return to France in 1946, serendipity entered the mix when Canetti happened upon a rundown dance hall on the corner of Rue Coustou and Blvd de Clichy in Montmartre. He rented and remodeled it into a small theater with 247 red velvet seats and named it nostalgically Les Trois Baudets (The Three Donkeys). [Geek alert: The practical reason for naming the theater after donkeys rather than asses was not some etymological rationale but to avoid confusion with a nearby existing performing arts venue named Les Deux Ânes].
Jacques Canetti developed an enthusiasm for jazz and worked in Paris as artistic director at the Polydor record company and at Philips. During the 1930s, he organized “jazz hot” tours of musicians to French towns, including visits by Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. Canetti spent four wartime years (1942-1946) in Algiers, sheltered from anti-Jewish laws in German-occupied France. During this time, he organized a musical cooperative “Troupe des Trois Ânes” (Troup of Three Asses) that travelled across North Africa raising money for the Gaullist Movement Combat. While in Algiers, he also met his wife-to-be singer Lucienne Vernay (née Torres) who became a right-hand person in his subsequent career. She also became a much-admired singer of children’s songs along with the groupe Les Quatre Barbus.
After his return to France in 1946, serendipity entered the mix when Canetti happened upon a rundown dance hall on the corner of Rue Coustou and Blvd de Clichy in Montmartre. He rented and remodeled it into a small theater with 247 red velvet seats and named it nostalgically Les Trois Baudets (The Three Donkeys). [Geek alert: The practical reason for naming the theater after donkeys rather than asses was not some etymological rationale but to avoid confusion with a nearby existing performing arts venue named Les Deux Ânes].
Théatre 3 Baudets
Beginning December 1947, the Trois Baudets became an incubator of “chanson” talent, a home where a stable of auteurs-compositeurs-interprètes could develop their offerings, experiment with them before an audience, sally forth on tours throughout France, and record their repertoire on vinyl. Every night, 10-15 artists appeared on stage to strut their stuff. Appropriately characterized as the “Christopher Columbus of French chanson,” Jacques Canetti was a “talent midwife,” adept at discovering and developing promising talent. Specifically, his strategy was to combine in a single package for his mentees three theretofore distinct facets of musical careers: stage, recording, and tours. Some artists disliked the long tours in the countryside and the provincial performance venues or chafed at the financial arrangements. A few viewed Canetti as a “slave driver.”
The roster of talent that hatched at Les Trois Baudets included many names included on this website and many others. In 1962, Canetti left Philips and founded the first independent “chanson” label Disques Canetti. That year, he passed the management of Les Trois Baudets to a successor until it closed in 1967 for financial reasons. In following years, the theater relapsed into an erotic attraction until the city of Paris redeveloped it in 2009 as a music venue. Canetti himself continued at Les Productions Jacques Canetti to focus on identifying talent and producing albums that allowed “the time it takes an artist to express a part of his inner self.” Upon Jacque’s death in 1997, the management of Productions Canetti fell to his daughter Françoise.
The roster of talent that hatched at Les Trois Baudets included many names included on this website and many others. In 1962, Canetti left Philips and founded the first independent “chanson” label Disques Canetti. That year, he passed the management of Les Trois Baudets to a successor until it closed in 1967 for financial reasons. In following years, the theater relapsed into an erotic attraction until the city of Paris redeveloped it in 2009 as a music venue. Canetti himself continued at Les Productions Jacques Canetti to focus on identifying talent and producing albums that allowed “the time it takes an artist to express a part of his inner self.” Upon Jacque’s death in 1997, the management of Productions Canetti fell to his daughter Françoise.