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Theatre · Opéra · 9e arrondissement

L'Olympia

The buildingRebuilt on the site
Getting inHours or admission
What's there nowStill the same

The institution survives, but this is not the hall in which Colette performed: the Olympia was demolished and rebuilt in 1997, a few metres from its original footprint.

The boulevard music hall where Colette played the title role in La Romanichelle in 1906, during her run as a professional performer.

Address
28 boulevard des Capucines, 75009 Paris
Years
1893–present
IllustrationThe Olympia façade and marquee in colour on boulevard des Capucines

The present-day hall; the building was rebuilt nearby in 1997, keeping the historic frontage.

Editorial illustration

The place, briefly

Colette appeared at the Olympia in the autumn of 1906, playing the title role in the pantomime La Romanichelle from 1 October to 2 November. It was one stop in the concentrated run of music-hall engagements that year — the Mathurins, the Marigny, and soon the Moulin Rouge — through which she supported herself as she separated her career from Willy's.

The Olympia had opened in 1893 under Joseph Oller, a co-founder of the Moulin Rouge, as the first of the great Parisian music halls. It still operates under its name on the boulevard des Capucines, but the present hall is a 1997 reconstruction built a few metres from the original: the auditorium Colette performed in no longer stands.

Key facts

Address
28 boulevard des Capucines, 9th arrondissement
Opened
1893, founded by Joseph Oller
Colette's connection
The title role in La Romanichelle, 1 October–2 November 1906
Today
Still operating, but rebuilt in 1997 near the original site

In images

The Olympia on boulevard des Capucines, where Colette played the title role in La Romanichelle in 1906.Editorial illustration
The present-day hall; the building was rebuilt nearby in 1997, keeping the historic frontage.Editorial illustration

Timeline

  1. 1893

    Joseph Oller opens the Olympia, Paris's first music hall.

  2. 1906

    Colette plays the title role in La Romanichelle, 1 October–2 November.

  3. 1997

    The hall is demolished and rebuilt a few metres away; the interior Colette knew is gone.

On the map

Writers who knew this place

Illustrated portrait of Colette

Colette

French · The French novelist who wrote the Claudine books under Willy’s name, earned her independence on the music-hall stage, and made women’s private lives a serious literary subject.

Performed here · 1906

Colette played the title role in the pantomime La Romanichelle at the Olympia, 1 October–2 November 1906.

— Société des amis de Colette — Chronology

People who knew this place

Illustrated portrait of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

American · Singer, Musician

Charles's first stand at the Olympia was a sold-out series in May 1962, later issued by Frémeaux as Live at the Olympia — Paris 1962. His Paris debut had come the previous October at the Palais des Sports.

Illustrated portrait of Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

American · Musician, Singer, Actor

Armstrong returned to the Olympia in April 1962 with the All Stars; the concert of 24 April was recorded and issued by Frémeaux & Associés as Live in Paris. It was one stop in a Paris concert history that had begun at the Salle Pleyel in November 1934.

Illustrated portrait of Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

American · Singer, Musician, Actor

Three engagements across thirty-four years. Calloway topped the bill from 22 May 1958, on a French variety programme and with a pick-up orchestra; the run was announced through 9 June and cut short, because Paris that month was consumed by the Algerian crisis that ended the Fourth Republic and, as the Afro-American reported, the King of Hi-de-Ho played to many empty seats. He returned on 20 July 1987, and again on 8 July 1992 — his last performance in France.

Within walking distance

Colour photorealistic view of the former Nadar studio beneath a bright blue sky

Office · Opéra (2nd)

Nadar's studio, 35 boulevard des Capucines

The photographer Nadar's former studio, where thirty artists mounted the independent exhibition of April 1874 that got them the name Impressionists.

Visit the place
Present-day color view of the pale-stone Hôtel Scribe beneath a bright blue sky

Hotel · Opéra (behind the Palais Garnier)

Hôtel Scribe

A grand hotel behind the Opéra, on the rue Scribe. In Down and Out in Paris and London it is the good job that keeps slipping away — where Boris earned a hundred francs a day in tips before he fell ill, and where he and George Orwell stood on the pavement for an hour hoping the manager would come out and hire them.

Visit the place
Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris in warm evening light — candles on the low tables, brass lamps over the counter, green leather and dark wood

Bar · Place Vendôme

Bar Hemingway

A 25-seat cocktail bar at the rue Cambon end of the Ritz Paris, opened under Ernest Hemingway's name in 1994 in the former Le Petit Bar.

Visit the place
The Hôtel Ritz façade in color in late golden light, white awnings and topiary along the Place Vendôme arcade

Hotel · Place Vendôme

Hôtel Ritz

César Ritz's palace on the Place Vendôme — the fixed point of Right Bank luxury, where F. Scott Fitzgerald's bar legend, Tender Is the Night's longest bender, and Ernest Hemingway's two best Ritz stories all check in.

Visit the place
References

References

The sources below include histories, archival materials, scholarly research, and official records that informed this page. They document L'Olympia, the people connected to it, and its place in Paris.

  1. 1Société des amis de Colette — Chronology

    Website
    Used for

    Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the L'Olympia page.

    View source

  2. 2L'Olympia, temple du music-hall

    Archive
    Institut national de l'audiovisuel
    Used for

    The audiovisual archive's account of the hall: opened on 12 April 1893 on the boulevard des Capucines with two thousand seats, on the site of a fairground attraction.

    View source

  1. 3Olympia — question écrite n° 4517 et réponse du ministre de la Culture

    Official record
    Assemblée nationale, Journal officiel, 1993
    Used for

    The parliamentary question and the culture ministry's reply on the hall's fate: placed under instance de classement on 4 February 1993 while its owner planned the redevelopment of the quarter.

    View source

  2. 4OpenStreetMap

    Map data
    Used for

    Map data used to verify addresses, geographic coordinates, and the placement associated with L'Olympia.

    View source
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Why these sources are here

These references provide the documented foundation for this page's history and context. Claim-level citations remain attached to the specific claims they support.

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