(5 Sep 1997) T/I: 10:33:20
The French suburb of Belleville was traditionally the home of
the `atelier', the small workplace of the craftsman. Over the
years, small shops have been bought out by supermarkets, and
the old craftsmen and women have moved on or died out.
But one man still survives here, carrying out his trade of
'Maitre Bottier', a Master Shoemaker, purveyor of hand-made
shoes and boots to a small and privileged clientele.
He is Maurice Arnoult, born in 1906, and who still works at 83
Rue de Belleville.
Orphaned and illiterate, Arnoult arrived in Paris at the age of 15 to serve as an apprentice shoemaker. He was the student of an Italian master, at a time when Belleville was one of the main European centres for women's shoes and boots.
Maurice Arnoult tells his own story.
SHOWS:
PARIS, RECENT:
Arnoult walking along Belleville street
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT:'My name is Maurice Arnoult, I was born in 1906 in a little village south of Fontainebleau..'
Arnoult enters his 'atelier'
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'I was an orphan, the 1918 war had killed my father and my mother was dead too, so my grandmother took care of me'
No. 83 building, and atelier yard
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'I am aged 15 at the time. She says: What can we do with Maurice? Well, we can send him to Paris, we will give him his chance'.
Arnoult arrives in the yard and enters workshop
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: '(They said) Stupid as he is, he could be a shoemaker! So it was decided, I will be a shoemaker!'
Arnoult working in his workshop on shoes
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'I arrive in Paris, I am sent to a Monsieur called Ricci, an Italian migrant who knew his job very well, and I stayed with him as a student'
Hammer on desk
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'In the atelier everybody used to say "tu" to each other. But Monsieur Ricci was the "Monsieur". We called him Ernest, but in this Ernest there was the "Monsieur" and the respect'
Hands working
Maurice working
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'As a "plus", as I learned the job as I had not been to school, I had to learn how to read and write. I learned first in cafes and afterwards in my room in the hotel'
Hotel de la Poste
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'I used to live at the Hotel de la Poste'
Wooden shoe casts in atelier; high heel shoes and tools;
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'I always learnt with the idea to have my own
atelier, and it happened one day, it was about 1937. Women's
high-heeled shoes and boots were the speciality'
Maurice working and talking
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'At this time in Belleville, there were 300 shoemakers. The important thing was "la chaussure", we used to sell not only in France but also in America; the majority of the population here were migrants'
Le Mistral cafe, and Maurice seated
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'Belleville was and still is a welcoming place'
People walking in street, passing in front of Edith Piaf
building
sign 'Edith Piaf was born here'
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'On the street corners, there were people who used to sell songs. There, I saw Edith Piaf, an 11-year-old child, singing such songs in the street'
Maurice working and singing
FRENCHSOT ARNOULT: 'I was always singing a love song "Valencia", in accents from Spain, China, the Orient - "Night of China, night of cuddles, night of love". It couldn't have been a different night, of course!'
14. Maurice working at his bench;
RUNS: 4.02
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17 окт 2024
