Thirty years of Félix Mayol's Café-Concert

We are writing from Toulon:

On Sunday morning, at the Mayol stadium and in the evening at the Casino, we celebrated thirty years of Félix Mayol's café-concert, the generous artist whom the "popular" rightly nicknamed the king of French song. Born at Pont-du-Las, rue d'Isly, on November 17, 1872, his mother, Miss Joséphine Potin, married, in February 1862, M. Anne-Félix Mayol, second master gunner of the fleet, in Brest. Félix Mayo! was first a "kitchen boy" at the restaurant de la Paix, at Mr. Blanc's, place d'Armes.

But, while stirring sauces and peeling vegetables, Mayo! dreamed of other laurels. In front of the fires of the stoves, he thought with delight of those of the footlights, and, driven by an irresistible vocation, he followed his destiny. He began to sing in society concerts, then at the Rampin theater, then on more important stages, under the name of "Petit Ludovic". His genre pleased; success smiled on him; he was launched. From then on, it was up to the directors of Paris or the provinces to hire him. And he took up this name of Mayol that he was to carry to the pinnacle.

He loves his land. During the war, he distributed without counting the viaticum of his songs to the sick and wounded. For humanitarian works, he is a benefactor; for sports societies, he is a Patron. He is the creator of a stadium in Toulon; he dreams of providing his city with a Theater of Nature. And he knows how to combine the kindness of intention with the discreet grace of gesture.

The celebrations in honor of his thirty years of "caf-conc'" offered his fellow citizens the desired opportunity to show the popular artist all their recognition and admiration.