Lucien Dalsace，Gustave Louis Chalot, born in Chatou (near Paris) in 1893, was destined by his father for a job in the silk industry. But Chalot senior had overlooked something important: one of Gustave's great-aunts, Marie Bilhaut, had been a renowned resident at the Comédie-Française while one of his great-uncles had been an opera singer.