PARIS has two monuments," Jean Cocteau once remarked. "The Eiffel Tower and Maurice Chevalier." Last week, after Chevalier died in Paris at 83, only one was left.
Like De Gaulle, Maurice Chevalier was a French legend, but one inspiring love not awe; a legend in his own timefor half a century he was the best-known French entertainer on either side of the Atlantic. For Americans, Chevalier was synonymous with Gay Pareejoie de vivre; I'amour, toujours I'amour; English with a charming French accent. For the French he conjured up a different image. Maurice personified the...
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