Editing Maurice Chevalier (section)

==Paris and Hollywood==
[[File:Maurice chevalier001.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Chevalier in 1920]]
After the war, Chevalier went back to Paris and created several songs still known today, such as "[[Valentine (Maurice Chevalier song)|Valentine]]" (1924). He played in a few pictures, including Chaplin's ''[[A Woman of Paris]]'' (1923),<ref name="Larkin50"/> a rare drama for Chaplin, in which his character of [[The Tramp]] does not appear, and made an impression in the [[operetta]] ''[[Dédé (opérette)|Dédé]]''. He met the American composers [[George Gershwin]] and [[Irving Berlin]] and brought ''Dédé'' to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 1922. The same year he met [[Yvonne Vallée]], a young dancer, who became his wife in 1927.

When [[Douglas Fairbanks]] was on honeymoon in Paris in 1920, he offered him star billing with his new wife [[Mary Pickford]], but Chevalier doubted his own talent for silent movies (his previous ones had largely failed).<ref>''The Romantic Life of Maurice Chevalier'', 1937, William Boyer, Chapter 9.</ref> When sound arrived, he made his Hollywood debut in 1928. He signed a contract with [[Paramount Pictures]] and played his first American role in ''[[Innocents of Paris]]''.<ref name="Larkin50"/> In 1930, he was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] for his roles in ''[[The Love Parade]]'' (1929)<ref name="Larkin50"/> and ''[[The Big Pond]]'' (1930). ''The Big Pond'' gave Chevalier his first big American hit songs: "[[Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight]]" with words and music by [[Al Lewis (lyricist)|Al Lewis]] and [[Al Sherman]], plus "A New Kind of Love" (or "The Nightingales").<ref>{{cite book |author=Sherman, Robert B. |author-link=Sherman, Robert B. |title=[[Walt's Time: from before to beyond]] |location=[[Santa Clarita, California|Santa Clarita]] |publisher=Camphor Tree Publishers |year=1998}}</ref> He collaborated with [[film director]] [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. He appeared in Paramount's all-star revue film ''[[Paramount on Parade]]'' (1930).
[[File:Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier in Love Me Tonight.jpg|left|thumb|200px|With [[Jeanette MacDonald]] in ''[[Love Me Tonight]]'' (1932)]]
While Chevalier was under contract with Paramount, his name was so recognized that his passport was featured in the [[Marx Brothers]] film ''[[Monkey Business (1931 film)|Monkey Business]]'' (1931). In this sequence, each brother uses Chevalier's passport, and tries to sneak off the ocean liner where they were stowaways by claiming to be the singer—with unique renditions of "[[You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me]]" with its line "If the nightingales could sing like you". In 1931, Chevalier starred in a musical called ''[[The Smiling Lieutenant]]'' with [[Claudette Colbert]] and [[Miriam Hopkins]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> Despite the disdain audiences held for musicals in 1931,<ref name="kenrick">{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicals101.com/1930film.htm|title=Film 1930s I: Hip, Hooray & Ballyhoo|website=Musicals101.com|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> it proved a successful film.<ref>{{cite news |first=Eric |last=Pace |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/31/movies/claudette-colbert-unflappable-heroine-of-screwball-comedies-is-dead-at-92.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 |title=Claudette Colbert, Unflappable Heroine of Screwball Comedies, is Dead at 92 |date=July 31, 1996 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In 1932, he starred with [[Jeanette MacDonald]] in Paramount's film musical ''[[One Hour With You]]'',<ref name="Larkin50"/> which became a success and one of the films instrumental in making musicals popular again. Due to its popularity, Paramount starred Maurice Chevalier in another musical called ''[[Love Me Tonight]]'' (also 1932), and again co-starring Jeanette MacDonald.<ref name="Larkin50"/> It is about a tailor who falls in love with a princess when he goes to a castle to collect a debt and is mistaken for a baron. Featuring songs by [[Richard Rodgers]] and [[Lorenz Hart]], it was directed by [[Rouben Mamoulian]],<ref name="Larkin50"/> who, with the help of the songwriters, was able to put into the score his ideas of the integrated musical (a musical which blends songs and dialogue so the songs advance the plot).<ref name="Larkin50"/> It is considered one of the greatest film musicals of all time.<ref name="kenrick"/>

[[File:Maurice Chevalier 1934.JPG|right|200px|thumb|In ''The Merry Widow'' (1934)]]
In 1934, he starred in the first sound film of the [[Franz Lehár]] operetta ''[[The Merry Widow (1934 film)|The Merry Widow]]'', one of his best-known films,<ref name="Larkin50"/> though he felt his role was too narrow and repetitive. He then signed with MGM for ''[[Folies Bergère de Paris|The Man from the Folies Bergère]]'', his own favourite of his films. After a disagreement over his star-billing, he returned to France in 1935 to resume his music-hall career.

Even when he was the highest-paid star in Hollywood, Chevalier had a reputation as a penny-pincher. He later admitted that he was hesitant to spend money on things such as changing the blade of his razor as he had grown up in poverty, remarking that "poverty is a disease that can never be cured."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dhnet.be/archive/pas-de-fromage-apres-les-pates-51b7e29ce4b0de6db9941745|title=Pas de fromage après les pâtes|date=January 2012}}</ref>  When not playing around with young chorus-girls, he actually felt quite lonely, and sought the company of [[Adolphe Menjou]] and [[Charles Boyer]], also French, but both much better educated than Chevalier. Boyer in particular introduced him to art galleries and good literature, and Chevalier would try to copy him as the man of taste. But at other times, he would 'revert to type' as the bitter and impoverished street-kid he was at heart. When performing in English, he always put on a heavy French accent, although his normal spoken English was quite fluent and sounded more American.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/etonnez-moi-benoit/lucette-chevalier-niece-de-maurice-chevalier-le-gavroche-de-menilmontant-aux-soixante-dix-ans-de-carriere-23920|title = Lucette Chevalier, nièce de Maurice Chevalier " le gavroche de Ménilmontant " aux soixante-dix ans de carrière !| newspaper=France Musique | date=November 2, 2016 }}</ref>

In 1937, Chevalier married the dancer Nita Raya. He had several successes, such as his revue ''Paris en Joie'' in the Casino de Paris. A year later, he performed in ''Amours de Paris''. His songs remained big hits, such as "Prosper" (1935), "Ma Pomme" (1936) and "Ça fait d'excellents français" (1939).