Léo Daniderff

Léo Daniderff (born Gaston-Ferdinand Niquet in Angers, France 16 February 1878; died Rosny-sous-Bois, France 24 October 1943)^[1] was a French composer of the pre-World War II area.

His 1917 comical song, Je cherche après Titine (lyrics by Louis Mauban and Marcel Bertal), became world-famous due to Charlie Chaplin singing it in gibberish in Modern Times (1936), especially because it was the first time his character ever spoke in the movies. The title means I am looking for Titine, and Titine is the diminutive of some feminine first names like Martine and Clémentine.

A few years later, in 1939, the song was (again) adapted into Wąsik, ach ten wąsik (Oh, what a moustache!) Polish cabaret number, performed by Ludwik Sempoliński and which tried to "decide" who was funnier and who brought more to the world, Chaplin or Hitler. After the outbreak of WWII, Gestapo tried to locate both Sempoliński and the lyricist, who was either Julian Tuwim or Marian Hemar, but failed for both.

Chaplin, in his film The Great Dictator (1940), decided to parody Hitler himself.

Around 1964 Jacques Brel also wrote a song named Titine, incorporating fragments of the melody and referencing both Daniderff's song and Chaplin.

Other singers were Georgette Plana and Yves Montand.

The song was parodied by Gary Muller in 1982 as "My Name Is Not Merv Griffin".

The song's copyright belongs or belonged to Editions Léon Agel and Les Nouvelles Editions Méridian.

Daniderff other hit song "Sur la Riviera" was used as theme for Jean Renoir's Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932).

References

1. ^ Bertoldi, Sylvain and Olivier Gallard, L'Anjou, confluences d'histoire Angers : Gal'art éd., 2001. ISBN 9782914752008

External links

• Léo Daniderff at the Internet Movie Database
• Source for birth/death dates (French)

Persondata
Name	Daniderff, Leo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	16 February 1878
Place of birth
Date of death	24 October 1943
Place of death