[CÉLINE] Anonymous

[CÉLINE] Anonymous

Two period contact sheets
[Meudon?, March 1955], approx. 18.2 x 11.8 cm each, on Léonard paper, twelve prints in total
Fine contrasts, slightly irregular margins
Blue ink stamp on the verso: « Ex Collectis Paul Chambrillon »

Céline immortalized alongside Michel Simon and Arletty for the recording of a reading of Voyage au bout de la nuit and Mort à crédit

These photographs document a recording session organized in early 1955 on the initiative of Paul Chambrillon, during which Louis-Ferdinand Céline is photographed in the company of Michel Simon and Arletty. Paul Chambrillon can be made out in the third photograph of the first sheet. A second recording was scheduled for autumn 1955.
The meeting was cut onto a 33 rpm Uriana record. Side 1: Mort à crédit, two fragments read by Arletty, and Au nœud coulant sung by Céline; side 2: Règlement sung by Céline and Voyage au bout de la nuit, fragments read by Michel Simon.
Here we see a beaming Céline, an attitude rarely found in his iconography, alongside his two friends. In a letter to Augustin Tuset dated 14 April 1956, the writer makes no secret of his enthusiasm for the result of this recording: « I hope you like this record! I hope it entertains you! There are not so many pleasant moments! » (Lettres, no. 56-3).