RENE GAILLARD COCAINE

61x45 1/4 inches.
Condition A. Framed.
A sallow-eyed woman in a red dress is swaying to the music of a red-lipped jazz band, while a gleeful green monster (the spectre of cocaine) watches over the hill of Montmartre, a moulin rougue at his elbow; against a gray background. Although little is known about this play, from the image, it was seemingly a warning along the lines of America's Reefer Madness, not a glorification of the drug, which was legal in Paris through the 1920s. The clear resemblance of the characters to Edith Piaf, Harpo Marx and Al Jolson further suggest that this morality tale was celebrity based. One can only wait for a modern revival...