Shadow Theatre at the Chat Noir cabaret

Now take rueVictor Massé. Number 12 was where Rodolphe Salis transferred in 1885 his famous cabaret Le Chat Noir which was initially located at 84 Boulevard Rochechouart. He was joined by poet Emile Goudeau, founder of the Hydropathes club for whom the sight of water was considered unbearable! Famous singer Aristide Bruant, who had purchased from Salis the original Chat Noir, made it into his own cabaret, the Mirliton, immortalized by the poster by Toulouse Lautrec.

Order form for 60 litres of absinthe for the Chat Noir in 1885

Baudelaire regularly attended the literary dinners held Sundays at number 4 rue Frochot by the beautiful Apollonie Sabatier, a demi-mondaine of modest origins called « la Présidente ». Apollonie Sabatier whohad been noticed by Count Alfred Mosselman, became his mistress and lived in the first floor apartment.

At the Count's request, the sculptor Clesinger did a moulding of Apollonie's body and made the statue “Woman Bitten by a Serpent” which created a scandal at the 1847 Salon Baudelaire was also in love with Apollonie and sent her, anonymously for five years, his most beautiful love poems. At Apollonie's dinners, Baudelaire met many other artists and writers including Delacroix, Berlioz, Dumas father and son, and Alfred de Musset.

De Musset, a chess player and absinthe drinker, was a member of the prestigious Académie Française. The remark was made to the secretary of the Académie that Musset missed the dictionary sessions rather often. The secretary replied, “ You mean to say that he is often absinthe!”