   mistinguett (5 april 1875 &ndash; 5 january 1956) was a french actress and singer, whose birth name was jeanne florentine bourgeois. she was at one time the best-paid female entertainer in the world. ==biography== the daughter of antoine bourgeois, a 30-year-old day-laborer, and jeannette debrÃ©e, a 21-year-old seamstress, jeanne bourgeois was born at 5 rue du chemin-de-fer (today rue george-israÃ«l), in enghien-les-bains, val-d'oise, Ãle-de-france, france. the family moved to soisy-sous-montmorency where she spent her childhood; her parents later worked as mattress-makers.town of soisy sous montmorency, "history of soisy"flanner, janet, paris journal, volume two, 1956â1964 (harcourt brace jovanovich, 1965), page 6 at an early age bourgeois aspired to be an entertainer. she began as a flower seller in a restaurant in her hometown, singing popular ballads as she sold blossoms. after taking classes in theatre and singing, she began her career as an entertainer in 1885. one day on the train to paris for a violin lesson, she met saint-marcel, who directed the revue at the casino de paris. he engaged her first as a stage-hand, and here she began to pursue her goal to become an entertainer, experimenting with various stage-names, being successively miss helyett, miss tinguette, mistinguette and, finally, mistinguett.regine reyne (2008) the eye behind the scenes; my years in the music-halls of paris, editions harmattan, paris isbn 978-2-296-06435-5 bourgeois made her debut as mistinguett at the casino de paris in 1895 and went on to appear in venues such as the folies bergÃ¨re, moulin rouge and eldorado. her risquÃ© routines captivated paris, and she went on to become the most popular french entertainer of her time and the highest paid female entertainer in the world, known for her flamboyance and a zest for the theatrical. in 1919 her legs were insured for 500,000 francs. though mistinguett never married, she had a son, lÃ©opoldo joÃ£o de lima e silva, by brazilian diplomat leopoldo de lima e silva (died 
1875_births 1956_deaths 19th-century_French_actresses 20th-century_French_actresses Cabaret_singers French_female_singers French_film_actresses French_silent_film_actresses French_stage_actresses French_vedettes People_from_Enghien-les-Bains