Music: The Girl from Montmartre

There was once a sweetly pensive French popsy named Irma-la-Douce, who plied her trade on the streets of Montmartre but reserved her true love for a handsome young pimp named Nestor-le-Fripé. Because he returned her love, Nestor put on a false beard and booked Irma by the week. After an interlude on Devil's Island, Nestor returned to "Coulaincourt, where stroll the filles d'amour," to settle down in unmarried bliss with his Irma. This curdled romantic idyl furnishes the plot for Irma-la-Douce, Paris' most popular long-run musical; it is also the vehicle that launched...

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