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Carry le Rouet-Fernandel drops anchor
The port of Carry le Rouet is forever associated with the actor Fernandel. The Marseilles-born music hall and cinema star fell for Carry le Rouet and had a villa built in 1939. He always returned here after trips away and filming on set.
It was a dream house, his haven by the sea. He called it his "Villa of a Thousand Roses". At the time, it was an estate of hollywoodesque grandeur, four hundred square metres (one acre) of Mediterranean trees, facing the rising sun over Marseilles and its islands.
The Roman called the spot In Carus Positio, meaning "anchorage in the quarry". It was certainly a place where Fernandel loved to drop anchor - a haven of calm in the midst of his hectic acting schedule.
From the left-hand side of the 'Thousand Roses' estate, there is a path leading to the moorings in Carry's harbour, and at the bottom of the steps was a tiny cove with crystal-clear waters, which the local's now call 'Fernandel's beach'.
The heraldic blazon describing the town's coat of arms might just as easily been referring to the villa: "azure, a square tower or (gold), over a sea of sable (sand)". But the tower in question dates from much earlier, when the 16th century Lords of Jarente built Carry's first chateau (today's Modern'Hotel).
Fernandel was always a good neighbour in Carry. Born Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin in Marseilles, in 1903, he would have been able to take a Sunday outing along the coast thanks to the Miramas train line that was opened in 1915. The rocky outcrops which had provided shelter for nomadic tribes in the last Ice Age, were now sheltering Marseilles families from the sun as they picnicked and sipped pastis.
Joseph Contandin was initiated into the world of thespians almost from birth. At a tender age, he acted in Marceau ou les Enfants de la Révolution, a historical drama about the revolution by Anicet Bourgeois. This early career was temporarily halted by his father's call-up in 1914, forcing the skinny young man to scrape by doing odd jobs.
But then came the Armistice and once again, the show must go on. His stage name came from his mother-in-law, who on meeting her daughter Henriette's beau, cried, "Voilà le Fernand d’Elle!" He was hired by the Odeon theatre in 1926 after its Parisian star had been booed out of the house. He was an immediate hit, and the work came pouring in, notably from Paramount theatres, where he provided interval entertainments. He went on to work for Bobino and the Pathé cinema chain. He moved to Paris with the family in 1930, where his second child was born. His schedule kept him busy, filming by day and singing for his supper. Twelve films went in the can in 1932 and eight in 1933!
Just before the War, he remembered his childhood haunts. He was now wealthy enough to build his dream villa by the seaside. Running water and electricity had just been provided in Carry le Rouet and the first plots of land were being sold off.
After the War, the film reels kept turning, faster and faster, churning out hits such as Naïs, Topaze and many more. He was now a celebrity, and the villa in Carry le Rouet had become his sanctuary. Fernandel and his family spent every summer here. He went out fishing in his little boat, which he named Camera in honour of the device that had made him famous. Fernandel was known in the village for bringing games of boules to life, followed by the obligatory rounds of pastis. He was loved by the locals as a good-natured, fun-loving neighbour.
Fernandel famously worked on almost all Marcel Pagnol's films, starting with the role of Saturnin in Un de Beaumugne. After the huge success of the film Angèle, he is quoted as saying, "I am indebted to Pagnol for allowing me to prove I was a real actor." He played larger-than -life characters like in Le Mouton à Cinq Pattes (1954) and La Vache et le Prisonnier (1959), or other more thoughtless as the priest in the Don Camillo series of films. However, by the 1960s, his output was consistently panned by the critics. His last film, Heureux qui comme Ulysse… came out in 1969.
Fernandel's life was a fitting voyage for a lover of the sea. But his odyssey did not bring him back to Carry. After his death in Paris, he was not able to be buried at his Villa of the Thousand Roses estate. All that is left of Fernandel in Carry le Rouet is a statue in front of the cultural centre that bears his name. The house was sold off by the family in the 1980s.
- Marilyn Beaufour et Christophe Naigeon
