Roger Toziny

On 18 May 1917, released from military service, Roger Toziny joined in Paris with another chansonnier, Maurice Hallé, and a cartoonist, Jules Depaquit, to create a satirical four pages weekly entitled La Vache enragée,^[2] taking the name of a former carnival parade [fr]. With his two friends, he also participated in the creation of the free commune of Montmartre [fr] in April 1920.^[3][4]

In February 1921, Roger Toziny and Maurice Hallet founded a new cabaret in Montmartre, at 4 place Constantin-Pecqueur, and gave it the name of their review, La Vache enragée.^[5] There he met Pierre Dac, alias André Isaac, who he managed to convince, despite his shyness, to perform on stage, and for who he found his pseudonym "Dac".^[6] Other artists made their debut in the venue such as Raymond Souplex or Léo Malet.^[5] On 17 April 1921, Roger Toziny also organized the first "scabs fair" to help the needy painters.^[2]

When Jules Depaquit died in 1924, he succeeded him as mayor of the "free commune of Montmartre". He later became the boss of another cabaret, Le Caveau des oubliettes rouges, still in Montmartre.

During the 1930s, he played an actor in films, in particular in a feature film by Marie Epstein and Jean Benoît-Lévy Hélène.^[7] He is also the author of a collection of old songs of France, entitled Absence or Les chansons de mon âme.

• À l'heure la plus douce, plaquette de vers, illustrations by Germain Delatousche, 1921
• Montmartre et sa commune libre,^[8] photographs by Maurice Chabas, Éditions la Vache enragée, 1934
• De balades en ballades ou Les veillées^[9] de Montmartre,^[10] edited by Jacqueline Loussert-Toziny, 1990

Under the name Toziny:

• 1930: Chiqué by Pierre Colombier with Adrien Lamy
• 1932: Monsieur le docteur (short film) by Pablo Labor, with René-Paul Groffe

Under the name Roger Toziny:

• 1936: Hélène^[7] by Jean Benoît-Lévy and Marie Epstein, with Madeleine Renaud, Jean-Louis Barrault, Maurice Baquet