European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 27, 1963, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The most tragic figure in show business today my very Well to o Little Frizzle haired woman struggling Kin As she has struggled interminably and doggedly for years to maintain afraid health that will allow her to sing. For Edith plan singing i life. It i Stop singing she has said again and again. Til  physical health has been Only one of Many seeming unattainable for which this tiny Plain woman with the unforgettable voice has struggled All her life. Her time of happiness have been rare. Her heartbreaks and disappointments Many in French Slang Piaf Means Sparrow of the streets the Paris streets from which she come. She began life 47 years ago As the unwanted child of a Street acrobat and a cafe Singer entering the world in a slum behind Montmartre. Tafs life has been tortured by illness heartbreaks accidents operations and an appalling childhood that left her search ing for a Man s love to it a father s or  Hospital scorecard alone is grim 1951, injured in two automobile Acci dents 1954, an abdominal operation 1938. Fainted on stage in Stockholm and was operated on for gallbladder trouble. The same year another Auto Accident 1959, operated on twice in new York for bleed ing ulcers once in Paris for pancreas trouble. On a comeback tour in France she collapsed on stage and was rushed to Paris for Twilight sleep cure 1960, several Hospital trips for jaundice and cirrhosis of the liver and nearly died 1961, two serious operations for a blocked intestine 1963, Back to a clinic for bronchitis blood transfusions and a rays. The tortured life that caused or aggravated these Hospital ordeals rivals the most tragic film plot. Soon after her birth by Aline Mosby up staff writer on nov. 19, 1913, she was abandoned by her parents and sent to live with her grandmother. The Little girl with brow hair and big Blue eyes never knew a family life or love of parents. She became Blind but regained her sight at 8, an event she attributed in later Ufa to her prayers to St. The Crest. At 9, her father named Louis Masslon returned to claim her and put her in his sidewalk act. She has told friends he was cold and rough to her and that always her worried thought was what could she do to please daddy one Day to Calm a heckling crowd inthe Village of forges Les Eaux she Span Tan Cousley Sang the French National an them. Her father excited by the Strong sure tones that poured from the a Etc peaked child quickly taught her two More songs. She has recalled that after that first song and always thereafter when she Sang he would hug her. It was the Only affection she knew. The Only time she saw her Mother again was when she and her father happened Tobe in a bar frequented by theatrical pc pie and her Mother came in. She embraced the child then vanished once More. As a Young girl Edith wondered through the streets of Paris singing on Corners. In cheap bars playing an accordion picking up Nous pennies As she could. At 18, a cabaret owner named Louis Eplee heard her sing on a Corner near the Arch of Triumph and gave her a Chance. It was Eplee who named her plan or Sparrow of the streets and tote name stuck. Opening night in Leplace s place the Wise Tough Street Urchin with crooked Teeth was frightened to fare the ladies and Gen i if men in diamonds and Black ties. She Hud knitted a Black dress to Wear but lint no Thad time to finish the sleeves. She covered her arms with a White Scarf. At the end of her act the Tom Ltd Little Sparrow was so excited by the roars a applause she dropped the Scarf revealing her half finished dress. Nobody laughed. They were too bus agreeing with Maurice Chevalier in the audience who stood up to predict her Fame. The former Street Singer acquired a ban account a Secretary and a second father in Eplee. But things could not go smoothly forthe Sparrow. One Day she arrived at her sponsor s apartment to find him dead mysteriously murdered. Plan continued to sing and Sang on to Fame. Her Wistful songs of lonely women waiting for dream princes of Angulot Hedlie and unhappy love became hits on records and in vaudeville and Heaters. She did not have to fake the tragic love songs. Always needing love she always sought it. She had a child named Marcelle. And the baby died of meningitis at the tic of 18  deepest relationship was with world middleweight boxing Champion Marcel cer dim. That too came to disaster. One Darin 1949, when she was singing in new York he flew across the Atlantic to see her reportedly to say he was ready to divorce his wife to marry her. The plane crashed and Cordan was killed. Before and after Cerdan Pius s name was linked with Many Young men including Yves Montand then a Marseille Dock worker whom she helped launch Asa Singer in 1946, in 1952, she was married for the first time to another unknown Singer Jacques pills she was then at the height of her Fame from the song la vie in Rose null proudly written in memory of , wearing a traditional Long White dress was wed in a Church a Crois around her  Good Friend Marlene Dietrich at tended the Bride. But the marriage ended in divorce four years later. Then began the collapse of plans nerves and the con stunt trips to the Hospital. Her breakdowns and illnesses were interspersed with tearful comebacks on Paris stages her usual Block dress hanging loosely on her frail body her hands clasped expressively her eyes dramatic. Piaf lived by night and slept by Day her nine room apartment on Boulevard Lynnes in purls filled with friends an handsome Young men. Often she would leave stacks of Money on the table say ing help  Rode in her White Mercedes timidly with the air of someone who preferred the subway. List summer plat told her friends she was in love very much in love again. And on oct. 8 in a mayor s office she wed thro sir no a greek Barber turned Singer and 24 years her Junior. He never has Bee far from her Side since and during her last Hoalt fill at Ion slept in a nearby room. Pint almost surely will sing again As she always has after leaving hospitals. In the audience somewhere there might be someone who loves her for her Tonga someone to hug her even if Only unthought As her father did on Grimy Paris Street Corners 38 years ago. Monday May 17, 1963 the stars and stripes Page 11