- Alfred Edwards (journalist)
Alfred Charles Edwards (
10 July 1856 ,Constantinople -10 March 1914 ) was a journalist and magnate of the French press.Life
The son of Charles Edwards (an English doctor posted to the Orient, and the personal physician to
Fuad Pacha inCairo ) and his French wife Emilie Caporal (fromMontauban ), Alfred Edwards studied inParis before beginning his press career with "Le Figaro " in 1876. There he became known for his reports and, three years later, he moved to "Le Gaulois " as an editor, then becoming chief editor of 'échos' (short articles devoted to a famous figure or events in a famous figure's life). On both these papers he nurtured relationships and built up a valuable network of contacts. In 1881, he edited "Le Clairon " and married the daughter of the famous doctorJean-Martin Charcot , whose other daughter re-married toPierre Waldeck-Rousseau , future president of the Conseil. Edwards was contacted a few months later by a group of American financiers, Chamberlain & Co, who asked him to take control of the creation of "Le Matin", a French adaptation of the British daily newspaper "The Morning News"."Le Matin" 's first issue came out on
26 February 1884 , but Edwards quickly became opposed to the financiers' aims for the paper and so decided to form his own newspaper, "Le Matin Français ". Three months later, Edwards' new paper was outselling "Le Matin", and so he bought "Le Matin" from its owners and merged the two papers. Undertaking modernisation of the resulting paper, he began using modern technologies such as thetelegraph and signing great writers such asJules Vallès and the députéArthur Ranc ."Le Matin" 's political line reflected Edwards' own convictions, which favoured moderate republicans and opposed
Boulangisme andsocialist ideas. The new press magnate mixed in the highest circles, obtaining theLégion d'honneur , but also with dubious politicians. He used his paper to support those circles and to defend those politicians, until his implication in thePanama scandals came to light. In 1895 he sold "Le Matin " to the bankerHenri Poidatz and launched new projects, financing the illustrated journal "Le Petit Bleu de Paris " and creating "Le Petit Sou " for his own political ends.A millionaire personality known to all Paris, he bought
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's hermitage at Montmorency as well as theThéâtre de Paris and its adjoining casino. He even wrote short comedies and operettas himself, such as "Par Ricochet", presented at theThéâtre des Capucines in 1906, or other pieces intended for theGrand Guignol . He was also highly thought of among women of the time, marrying in succession Miss Drouart,Hélène Bailly ,Jeanne Charcot and then, in 1905,Misia Godebska , the "queen of Paris".He accepted an offer to run the conservative paper "
Le Soir " in 1910, bought back in 1873 from the baronGeorges de Soubeyran . In 1909, he had married his fifth wife, the actress Ginette Lantelme, who mysteriously fell from Edwards' yacht and drowned in a river cruise on theRhine on25 July 1911 . A few months after Lantelme's death, Edwards married another actress,Gabrielle Colonna-Romano , at that time a young "pensionnaire" of theComédie Française .He died in March 1914 of a severe case of
influenza .ources and bibliography
* Michael Palmer, "Des petits journaux aux grandes agences. Naissance du journalisme moderne", Aubier-Montaigne, 1983
* René Le Cholleux, "Revue biographique des notabilités françaises contemporaines", tome 3, Paris, 1892, pp.332-333
* Alex-Ceslas Rzewuski, "La Double tragédie de Misia Sert", 2006, Editions du Cerf
* [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/tybalt/LesGendelettres/biographies/EdwardsAlfred.htm Biography of Alfred Edwards]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9507E1DD163AE633A25752C1A9659C946596D6CF&oref=slogin Article in the New York Times, 11 March 1914]ee also
*
Le Matin (France)
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