Jacques Hébertot

Jacques Hébertot (January 28, 1886, Rouen - June 19, 1970, Paris) was the pseudonym of André Daviel. He was a French theater director, poet, journalist and publisher. The Théâtre Hébertot in Paris has been named after him since 1940.

The family of André Daviel counted among his ancestors the Jacques Daviel, a doctor, known not only for having been the friend of Denis Diderot, but also for being the surgeon of Louis XV of France, and for having practiced the operation of the cataract; another ancestor was Alfred Daviel, lawyer and magistrate, Minister of Justice in 1851, senator of the Empire, first honorary president of the Court of Appeal of Rouen, specialist of Norman customary law.

The young André Daviel was born in Rouen and studied at the catholic college Join-Lambert in the same city, and then in various colleges in Paris.

Resolutely anti-conformist, Jacques Hébertot frequented the theaters of Paris and mingled with young people of the artistic circles and the poets of the time. His artistic and literary ambitions worried his father who feared for the good name of the family. This is why, in 1903, when he was 17 years old, André Daviel changed his name to Jacques Hébertot; Jacques for his ancestor, Jacques Daviel, and Hébertot, because he liked the name of this small village close to the family property located in the hamlet of Beaumoucel a short distance from Beuzeville.

He received his first successes with Ballade for the purchase of the house of Pierre Corneille which was awarded by the Revue Picarde et Normande. During this period he wrote several plays, was the editor-in-chief of La Revue Mauve, founded the magazine L'Âme Normande, published Poèmes de mon pays, and founded the "Théâtre d'Art Régional Normand".

In 1909, at 19 years old, he became a member of the Société des Auteurs. After his military service in 1911, he was engaged as a dramatic critic by the magazine Gil Blas. In 1912, he gave lectures on Scandinavian dance at the Alliance Française. From now on he was linked to the avant-garde artistic movement, and he frequented the dîners de Passy where he met his young friend Guillaume Apollinaire, as well as Max Jacob, Oscar Milosz, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, and Fernand Léger.

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