Paul Misraki

Born in Constantinople in 1908, Paul Misraki composed from the age of 7 years a waltz his mother notes on music paper. He completed his studies at the "Lycée Janson de Sailly" where he met Ray Ventura who already created a small amateur jazz band. Paul Misraki consolidates his musical knowledge with Charles Koechlin and soon joined his fellow Ray Ventura who, with "Les Collégiens" begins an original career as a conductor where skits and entertainment interpreted by the musicians themselves to succeed a breakneck pace. He joined the company as second pianist and especially as composer and arranger-orchestrator.

In 1935 he composed the famous song "Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise". Follow "Ca vaut mieux que d'attraper la scarlatine", "Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux", "Comme tout le monde", "Insensiblement" and "Sur deux notes".

If a first operetta youth, "Amandine", has remained in a drawer, the second, "Normandie" (1936), was a great success at the Bouffes-Parisiens. During the years of occupation, Paul Misraki, born into a family of Jewish origin, emigrates to South America and then to Hollywood, where he tries to popularize the French song.

The composer wrote many songs for Ray Ventura, including those of several musical films starring the "Collégiens" : "Feu de joie" (1938), "Tourbillon de Paris" (1941), "Mademoiselle s'amuse" (1947), "Nous irons à Paris" (1949) and "Nous irons à Monte-Carlo" (1951).

In 1942, in Rio de Janeiro, he wrote incidental music for a new presentation of "On ne badine pas avec l'amour" that asks Louis Jouvet while on tour in South America. The following year, he composed "Si Eva se hubiese vestido", a musical that gets a big impact in Argentina, where it is created. When peace returned, Paul Misraki found France where he soon composed the music for "Chevalier Bayard," operetta which brings particular Yves Montand, Ludmilla Tchérina, Félix Oudart and Henri Salvador. The texts are Bruno Coquatrix and André Hornez. Yet this beautiful production does not take long poster showing the Alhambra theater. It's like film music composer melodic gifts Paul Misraki did wonders. He was responsible for the music of more than 160 feature films for more great directors. Paul Misraki also has to its credit an important literary work to which he devoted all his time in recent years of its existence.

On April 28, 1958, he was one of the seven composers invited to the TV show Trente-Six Chandelles: Les grandes familles de Trente-Six Chandelles : la chanson (1958) hosted by Jean Nohain which was devoted to the successes of the Chanson Française between 1945 and 1955. The composers have played the melody of their favorite song on the piano : Henri Betti for "C'est si Bon" (1947), Louiguy for "La Vie en Rose" (1946), Paul Durand for "Boléro" (1948), Joseph Kosma for "Les Feuilles Mortes" (1946), Louis Ferrari for "Domino" (1949), Paul Misraki for "Tu n'peux pas t'Figurer" (1950) and André Popp for "Les Lavandières du Portugal" (1954).