SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Antoine de Villejoie wrote a book entitled, Les Dessous de la Guerre
des Miss (The Story Behind the Miss France Wars) that talks about the history of beauty queens,
of committees, and of
the ongoing feud between the original organizers of the Comité Miss France (founded
and presided by Guy Rinaldo in 1954) and expelled member Geneviève Mulmann and
her husband, Louis Poirot de Fontenay. Two years ago, de Villejoie lashed out
again with a second book, La Vérité tirée du chapeau (Pulling the Truth Out of the Hat) - this time - the author
includes an enormous amount of documentation that reflects the authenticity of
Rinaldo's organization and depicts the de Fontenay couple as sinister and manipulative
characters. My article is an indirect translation of some of the most significant
passages from Vérité and an attempt to explain the origins of the Miss
France controversy to an English-speaking audience. I had originally wanted to interview de Fontenay and had thought of presenting
a rather positive image of this woman who is just as famous as her hats, but I suppose it was pure destiny that I discovered and
write about Antoine de Villejoie's book instead. Communicating with de Fontenay was
a bit distressing; every message or request had to be screened first by her official
fan club that also transmitted her replies back to me. However, communicating with de Villejoie via e-mail was a breeze. Even though I did not
communicate directly with the president, I had satisfactory and pleasant e-mail exchanges with
Michel Le Parmentier, de Villejoie's right-hand man and the president of l'Association
Internationale des Concours de Beauté pour les Pays Francophones which is based in Montreal.
I wish to thank Mr. Le Parmentier for taking the time to respond to my questions.
THE HISTORY OF THE MISS FRANCE COMMITTEE
Beauty pageants of all sorts were already attracting a lot of attention in France
between two World Wars. These contests were usually organized by celebrities, sports
clubs or various organizations and lacked structure. A newspaper would solicit
photographs from female readers and select the most beautiful; a jury composing
of friends would designate a beautiful girl; or guests would pick the belle of
the ball. There was not yet an official Miss France organization. Even though
certain "presidents" of these sports clubs claimed to have history, it was already
known that Guy RINALDO founded and created Comité Miss France (CMF) as it was declared on October
21, 1954 and announced in the Journal Officiel* of November 14, 1954. (*a
respected newspaper that publishes legal matters)
Rinaldo himself did not start out as a connoisseur of beauty; he was a musical composer
who enjoyed the friendships of musicians Stéphane Grapelly and Django Reinhardt.
He even created his own orchestra called "Swing Club of France". Between two
World Wars, he would conduct numerous beauty pageants - one of which was "Miss
Cinema Swing 40." These pageants were sponsored by different organizations such
as the "Fédération Internationale des Miss," "Swing Club de France," a certain
"Société Miss France", and even a "Comité Miss France." But Rinaldo was the first
after the war to have organized the first election of Miss France which was held
in 1947 at Palais de Chaillot.
In 1954, Rinaldo wrote and submitted the statutes of
"Comité Miss France-Miss Europe-Miss Univers" - the official Miss France organization
which would be a non-profit group and devoted to the promotion of French beauty and
elegance worldwide. It was only a matter of time that Rinaldo's CMF would become
popular and that his success would trigger the envy of certain individuals from his
own organization.
ENTER GENEVIEVE MULMANN: POIROT'S TROJAN HORSE
One of the members of CMF, Louis POIROT (left), introduced to Rinaldo as his Secretary-General
a beautician with whom Poirot had fallen in love during a "gala" in the province.
This is how Geneviève MULMANN made her entry in CMF, becoming Poirot's Trojan horse
of some sort. The Poirot-Mulmann "couple" proposed to Rinaldo to move
the committee headquarters inside a building in Saint Cloud that Poirot had
"appropriated" despite protests from the owner - a poor Spanish woman refugee
who did not have the means to defend herself. Rinaldo did not have any clue which
trap he had fallen into.
In the beginning, the galas and the coronations took place without any hitch.
Rinaldo was the president, even though Poirot was already plotting to overthrow
him. Eventually, the relationship between the two men deteriorated, and Poirot
quickly took advantage of this situation by manipulating Rinaldo and his committee.
Poirot and his accomplice, Geneviève Mulmann, started to distance themselves from
Rinaldo and to spread the rumor that Poirot was now the new president of CMF,
unbeknownst to Rinaldo who had not suspected anything since any change would
have to be discussed in a meeting that he himself would convene. There was no
reason Rinaldo would suspect the Poirot-Mulmann plot. In October 1972, he organized
the twentieth "Miss Automobile" pageant in cooperation with the magazine l'Auto-Journal;
the Poirot-Mulmann couple attended the event and had their picture taken by Villarejo,
the official photographer of CMF. Everything seemed normal as usual, except that the
Poirot-Mulmann couple had become the DE FONTENAY couple by the will of Poirot who
wanted an aristocratic image.
But things turned out ugly when Poirot sought to claim Rinaldo's job. How exactly did
Poirot succeed in "overthrowing" Rinaldo? On September 25, 1956, a fake document
showed that a certain Gilkin de Waleffe was the new president; this document was
signed by the Secretary-General, Geneviève Mulmann, before she changed her last
name to de Fontenay. However, Poirot was not content and he wanted more. A second
fake document was produced on March 9, 1966 which showed Poirot as the President and Director
and signed simply "Fontenay" and "G. Mulmann" as the Secretary-General. It is interesting
to note that Gilkin de Waleffe, who was supposed to have been the president for
over ten years, never did participate in any of CMF's activities. There was hardly
any trace at all of this "ghost" president!
De Villejoie stated in his first book, Les Dessous de la Guerre des Miss how and
why he got fed up with Poirot's dirty tricks that he decided to stop attending events
organized by Poirot and to attend only those of Rinaldo. In order to get contracts
that would be more profitable for CMF, Poirot would offer CMF's services under
false pretenses, signing contracts under his name without Rinaldo's authorization.
Receipts of these contracts would be submitted to the Prefecture without being
properly verified by an employee. The more Poirot would show up at the Prefecture,
the more its employees began to recognize him as CMF's president under the name of Monsieur de Fontenay.
De Villejoie discovered the false documents and showed them to Rinaldo who finally
realized why some organizers kept telling him that he was no longer president
and that they had seen the "document." Rinaldo sued, the trial was lengthy, and
Poirot and his lawyers did everything in their power to twist the truth. Poirot
even had the audacity to accuse De Villejoie as the mastermind behind the fake
documents which, by the way, only showed the "new" members. The battle between
Rinaldo and the de Fontenays continued for a long time, and while the battle
was going on, the de Fontenays pursued their agenda while fudging the issue.
