Trivia

Famous for her 13 inch corsetted waist.

Her most successful period professionally was from the mid-1890s to the beginning of the Great War (First World War).

Talk of her figure and her lavish overdressing in fur coats and dazzling jewels preceded her appearances wherever she went.

Her first major appearance was in 1902, at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, in the title role of a play based on Colette's Claudine à Paris.

For her 1910 supposed "debut" in New York, she provocatively allowed herself to be billed in the advance publicity as "the ugliest woman in the world". When departing on a transatlantic liner, she was apparently accompanied by a "black slave".

A comedic actress, Polaire became one of the major celebrities of her day. Later, as cinema developed, she appeared in several films.

In September 1890 ran away from Algiers to rejoin her mother in France. Afraid of meeting her mother's partner, Borgia (whom she accuses in her memoirs of having tried to molest her), she first approached her brother Edmond. He had already gained some fame as a café-concert singer under the name of 'Dufleuve'. With his help Bouchard (= Polaire) at about age 17 auditioned successfully for her first job as a café singer.

Returning to America in 1913, she brought a diamond-collared pet pig, Mimi, and wore a nose-ring.

According to her memoirs she was one of eleven children. Only four - Émilie, her two brothers Edmond and Marcel, and a sister, Lucile - survived infancy. Their father died of typhoid fever when Émilie was five. Their widowed mother, unable to support the four children, temporarily placed them with their grandmother in Algiers.

She was notable for her wasp waist which, achieved through corsetry, reportedly measured less than 16 inches (41 cm). She was also known for her eccentric stage presence, which generated mixed receptions.

Polaire's career in the entertainment industry stretched from the early 1890s to the mid-1930s, and encompassed the range from music-hall singer to stage and film actress.

Her precise filmography is difficult to determine due to confusion between her and a younger Italian actress with the screen name "Pauline Polaire", who also featured in early films.

Crossing the Atlantic again, she returned to London to perform at the Coliseum Theatre. In 1915 Polaire made frequent appearances in London, and was involved in wartime fund-raising efforts.

Adopting the stage name Polaire ("Pole Star"),[5] she worked first as a music-hall singer and dancer.

At a time when tightlacing among women was in vogue, she was famous for her tiny, corsetted waist, which was reported to have a circumference no greater than 16 inches (41 cm). That accentuated her large bust, which was said to measure 38 inches (97 cm). She stood 165 centimetres (5 ft 5 in) tall.

She was a French singer and actress, who became internationally known. She performed also in the United States and London, and in films.

In 1910 she returned to the stage, appearing in London and later in New York. (1910 was the date of her first visit as a celebrity to the U.S.; publicity releases did not mention her earlier appearances in 1895.).

Her last film appearance was in 1935 in Arènes joyeuses, directed by Karl Anton.

One of her earliest hits was performing the French version of "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay". Having quickly made a name for herself - artist Toulouse-Lautrec portrayed her on a magazine cover in 1895 - Polaire briefly visited New York, appearing there as a chanteuse at various venues, but without achieving major success.

In 1909, Polaire was cast in her first silent-film role in Moines et guerriers (Monks and Warriors).

Polaire was skilled in using her appearance to attract attention. In her early days as a café singer in the 1890s, she wore very short skirts and also cropped her hair, fashions that did not become common in the rest of society until the 1920s.

She is quoted by the writer Georges Simenon in Maigret's First Investigation, 1913, published in 1949: "She had a waist as thin as Polaire and she was so petite that the mass of her hair seemed to compromise her balance.".

Miss Polaire " is cited by the Guinness Book of Records as joint holder (with the British Ethel Granger) of the record for the smallest waist, 33 cm. She herself states in her memoirs that she had several times allowed her waist to be surrounded "by a false collar of normal size, 41 or 42 .".

She also posed for the painters Antonio de La Gandara, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Leonetto Cappiello, Rupert Carabin and Jean Sala , who from 1893 became the portraitist of Parisian society.

Polaire's finances suffered from a series of actions by the French tax authorities, and she struggled to find stage or screen roles as she aged.