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Louise Armandine Duval (1879-1940) who took the stage name Armande Cassive, was a popular comic actress of the French theater.
Raised in an Ursuline convent, she began her work on the stage in the late 19th century, and also appeared in film in later years. Below is a quote by critic Carl Van Vechten (writer, photographer, patron of the Harlem Renaissance, and long time friend of Gertrude Stein) from "The Merry-Go-Round," in which he heaps praise upon Mlle. Cassive, apparently considering her a very funny lady, indeed!
"I sometimes think that _"Occupe-toi d'Amelie"_ is the most satisfactory play I have ever seen; it is certainly the most delightful. I do not think you can see it in Paris again. The Nouveautes, where it was presented for over a year, has been torn down; an English translation would be an insult to Feydeau; nor will you find essays about it in the yellow volumes in which the French critics tenderly embalm their _feuilletons_; nor do I think Arthur Symons or George Moore, those indefatigable diggers in Parisian graveyards, have discovered it for their English readers. Reading the play is to miss half its pleasure; so you must take my word in the matter unless you have been lucky enough to see it yourself, in which case ten to one you will agree with me that one such play is worth a kettleful of boiled-over drama like _Le Voleur_, _Le Secret_, _Samson_, _La Vierge Folle_, _et cetera_, _et cetera_. In the pieces I have mentioned Feydeau, in representation, had the priceless assistance of a great comic artist, Armande Cassive. If we are to take Mr. Symons's assurance in regard to de Pachmann that he is the world's greatest pianist because he does one thing more perfectly than any one else, by a train of similar reasoning we might confidently assert that Mlle. Cassive is the world's greatest actress."
Van Vechten was writing about a play by that grandson of Moliere, Georges Feydeau, the famous French play-write, whose farces are acknowledged forerunners to the Surrealist, Dadaist, and Absurdist schools of French theater. The play to which he refers was produced in 1908, approximately 10 years before Feydeau contracted syphilis, and going slowly mad, died three years later, at age 58 ( alas, every now and then we receive a sharp reminder that la Belle Epoque was not all rose petals and laughter).
Feydeau's plays (he wrote at least 60 of them), were not terribly well respected by the literati of the time, but very popular nevertheless, and Van Vechten appears to have been ahead of his time yet again, since today, Feydeau is considered to be one of the finest play-writes of Belle Epoque France.
Mlle. Cassive first met Georges Feydeau when she was only 14, and refused a small part in one of his plays. Years later, in 1898, she accepted his offer for the lead in "The Lady from Maxim's," which she helped make a tremendous success.
Mlle. Cassive was to become one of Feydeau's favorite actresses, and appeared in many of his productions. She enjoyed great success for decades, but was possibly typecast, since following Feydeau's death, in 1921, her career flagged almost to nothing. in 1940, the year German forces marched into Paris, Armande Cassive ended her days sadly; dying in Paris, by all accounts unknown, alone, and in poverty.
A gorgeous card by Leopold Reutlinger, showing the young Cassive in happier times. Very nice condition too, with lovely hand-tinting, and only minor age tanning.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
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