Gésip Légitimus

Gésip Légitimus (full name: Victor-Hégésippe Légitimus ; born August 22, 1930 in Paris , † January 18, 2000 ibid) was a French actor and show producer who was in business from the 1960s. He was believed to be the first officially recognized and registered black television producer and the world's first black media personality.

He was a committed supporter of the association activities of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in France and Europe in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and a pan-Africanist .

family

Légitimus is the son of the French actress Darling Légitimus and grandson of the French MP Hégésippe Jean Légitimus from Guadeloupe . His father Étienne Légitimus was a co-founder of the Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) and the LICRA . He also founded the first Caribbean nightclub in Paris, which became a successful dance venue in the 1950s and 1960s. He founded the Solidarité Antillaise - a Caribbean association that aims to integrate people from the Caribbean into France and to achieve better living and working conditions for them.

He is a member of an important family from the Caribbean, from which artists and actors such as Pascal Légitimus , Samuel Légitimus , Diana Légitimus ( Diana Belkreir ) and David Légitimus emerged . His older brother Théo Légitimus (Pascal's father) is an actor and musician, and his brothers Gustave Légitimus and Clément Légitimus are both musicians. Some of his grandchildren are also involved in show business. In the 1960s he married the radio and press journalist Noéma Thomassine from Martinique. The couple have seven children together. Noéma Thomassine (stage name " NOÉMA , Noéma ") was fundamentally involved in promoting his career and was his fellow campaigner in the struggle for more black presence in the French media world. Gésip Legitimus has two other children, including Florence, a therapist & singer - better known in the English-speaking world as a chorister and solo singer under the stage name Belinda Parker and Billie Richardson.

Career

Movie

Gésip began his acting career in his early childhood. At the age of three months he appeared as a black baby in Sacha Guitry's first speech film: Le Blanc et le Noir ('The White and the Black'), with Raimu , Pauline Carton and Fernandel , for whom it was the first film appearance. As an actor, Gésip has appeared in more than 50 films. In 1960 he starred in Gala , a short film by Jean-Daniel Pollet and François Bel. He was co-producer of László Szabó's first film , Les Gants Blancs du Diable, with the actors Bernadette Lafont and Jean-Pierre Kalfon .

theatre

In the theater, where at the age of 8 he already appeared alongside Jean-Louis Barrault , Henri Rollan , Henri Crémieux and Lucien Coedel , he learned how to direct from 1948 by taking a position as assistant to director Raymond Rouleau at the Paris Théâtre Édouard VII for Tennessee Williams ' play Endstation Sehnsucht , with Arletty and the young Louis de Funès , Milly Mathis , Darling Légitimus and in 1952 at the Paris Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in " Witch Hunt " by Arthur Miller with Yves Montand , Simone Signoret , Nicole Courcel , Pierre Mondy and Darling Légitimus.

In 1960 he worked with Roger Blin at the Parisian Théâtre de Lutèce for the world premiere of the play " Les Nègres " by Jean Genet with the theater company "Les Griots". With the desire to promote all dark-skinned artists in Metropolitan France, where he was born and grew up, he founded la FANEF - Féderation des Artistes Noirs d 'Expression française (Federation of French-speaking Black Artists), which z. B. supported theater groups such as “Les Griots” and “Le Théâtre Noir” (both under the direction of his brother Théo). In 1966, during the first “The World Festival of Negro Arts” in Dakar , he was recognized at the same time as Joséphine Baker , the American actress Marpessa Dawn (“ Orfeu Negro ”) and the Caribbean singer Moune de Rivel for his commitment and commitment to promoting black people French-speaking artist awarded by Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor and by the Caribbean writer and mayor Aimé Césaire (Martinique). In 1979 he became director of the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris and founded the CICAF-Center International de Creations Artistiques Française (International Center for French-speaking Audiovisual Creation)

music

As a musician, member of the jazz and salsa orchestra “Legitimus”, under the direction of his younger brother Gustave, he played with his brothers Théo and Clément. From 1947 to 1969 he organized “Les Beaux Soirs du Tout Paris Exotique” dance events. During this time he met gifted musical personalities such as Sidney Bechet (whom he already knew from the Revue Nègre with Darling Légitimus and Josephine Baker ), Quincy Jones , Eddie Barclay , Henri Salvador , ... Gésip specialized in acquisition and organization of galas and dance events for several Parisian universities (“ Grandes écoles ”). He represented France together with the Caribbean band at the international festivals in Bari , Nice and La Rochelle from 1953 to 1959, where the band won a gold medal. Gésip organized more than 500 shows and events in Paris and in the province. His commitment earned him recognition from well-known salsa musicians of the era. And these, in turn, gained fame and success by playing with his band in front of a diverse audience across France. He founded the night club “La Savane” in Paris, a renowned jazz club that existed from 1957 to 1963.

journalism

He was co-editor of the newspaper “Le Correspondant Antillais”, as well as editor of various newspapers and magazines in the 70s: Bingo , Jeune Afrique , France Antilles . Together with his friend, African musician Manu Dibango , Gésip founded the newspaper Afro Music . In 1976 he founded, co-financed and directed, in collaboration with the African journalist Pierre Coula , BLACK HEBDO “The Newspaper of the Black World”, the first weekly magazine for the French-speaking African and Caribbean diaspora.

TV productions, record production, radio

From 1956 to 1958, Gésip was the only black student at what was then the "Center d'Etudes Supérieures de Radio Télévision" for radio and television, whose educational mandate was later taken over by the IDHEC and INA universities. He became a television producer and artistic director. Gésip Légitimus has significantly shaped the development of the media and the promotion of black artists in Europe. He helped numerous talented black artists from different continents to appear in front of the French TV audience and to be discovered: Gérard Laviny , Manu Dibango , Tânia Maria , Bonga , Clyde Wright , The Golden Gate Quartet , Martinho Da Vila , Tito Puente , Marius Cultier etc. .

In 1967 he created the TV show series called “PULSATIONS” from which Don Cornelius was inspired in the USA in 1971 to start his show series “SOUL TRAIN”. Also the show series “Sur Tous les Tons”, “Rythmes du Temps”, “Samsong” as well as giant TV shows with world stars like Sammy Davis Jr. , Miriam Makeba , Nina Simone (Olympia, Paris), Ray Charles and Thelonious Monk (in SALLE PLEYEL, Paris) and especially Duke Ellington's "70th Birthday-Celebration" in the Alcazar were his merit. He was in charge of the “anniversary celebrations for the 50th birthday of the arrival of jazz in France”, which lasted several weeks, and he produced 50 shows - some with Bruno Coquatrix , director of the Paris concert hall Olympia - and organized numerous concerts.

Professional and socio-political commitment

Gésip Légitimus was always interested and endeavored to develop, educate and promote the equality of the black diaspora. In 1981 he successfully lobbied for the creation of the National Society of Radio and Television Broadcasting Overseas called ( RFO ) - Radio France Outremer . In doing so, he made use of the new Loi Fillioud law passed in 1982 , a reform to introduce the “dual system” to abolish the state monopoly on television and radio on French territory, which encouraged the emergence of private broadcasters. In 1982 he founded the first radio station Tropiques FM in Paris . At the same time, he produced “Overseas Calendar” / “le Calendrier d'Outremer” for 10 years on RFO, a short weekly information broadcast and program information about current entertainment events and news for the overseas population and the Caribbean diaspora in France. Among the numerous presenters was his daughter Diana Belkreir -Légitimus, his last regular employees and advisers were his firstborn son Henri Légitimus radio presenter at Radio DOM, sur Tropic FM, (“Joker Time”) from the end of the 70s to the mid-80s and his daughter Mathilda Legitimus-Schleicher (bourgeois Mathilda Légitimus ) ("Dom-Tom Entrez", final gala Festival du Film d'Amiens 92 ...), as well as his other children Diana, Victor, Noéma, Samuel and David Légitimus - as well as his assistant Nathalie Bourset ( known as Nath Gen'Set).

For his pioneering work in the media and culture world of France, he was named Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang in the 1990s . Since July 2012, the public service Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) has been broadcasting 10 TV shows from the " Pulsations " series by Gésip Légitimus, which have not been broadcast worldwide for more than 40 years. LEGITIMUS family and the TV shows " Pulsations " u. a. are also mentioned in Pascal Blanchard's book " Noirs de France " and in the successful DVDs "Noirs de France" - 2 DVD's. Several of his children and grandchildren are active in show business or work full-time or part-time for socio-political associations, where they continue to work. a. Commit to the rights and promotion of black artists and generally to human rights in France, England, Germany and also in Ghana.

Web links

• Gésip Légitimus at Discogs (English)
• Gésip Légitimus in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Gésip Légitimus Video at ina.fr

literature

• Manu Dibango, Danielle Rouard & Beth G. Raps Three Kilos of Coffee: An Autobiography . Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1994, ISBN 0-226-14491-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jazz Icons: Jimmy Smith DVD. In: jazzicons.com. Retrieved November 23, 2018 .