Fifi D'Orsay

Although she made her career playing the quintessential Parisian coquette, Fifi D'Orsay was actually a Canadian. She was born Yvonne Lussier in Montreal, Québec, in 1904. At the age of 20 she arrived in New York, determined to become an actress. She was met by Helen Morgan, whom she knew from Montreal. Morgan put up the young Yvonne and taught her the ropes about finding jobs. She was soon hired to appear in The Greenwich Village Follies after an audition in which she sang "Yes! We Have No Bananas" in French and told the director that she was an ex-Follies Bèrgere showgirl from Paris. The director renamed her Mademoiselle Fifi". During the run she became involved with vaudeville veteran Edward Gallagher (who, with Al Shean, formed the hit comedy act "Gallagher and Shean"), who was 37 years her senior. He taught her "all the little tricks of the business". She said, "I wanted to learn everything about show business and he taught me - believe me!" She and Gallagher put together a vaudevi