better emulate their dress and demeanor in her own performances. Buffet would combine these experiences to create her famous performances as la pierreuse (the streetwalker) and she debuted her character in an 1882 performance at La Cigale, a famous nightclub in the Quartier Pigalle of Paris. During performances Buffet wore a tattered apron and red scarf, a common costume of prostitutes at the time. Soon Buffet became a national celebrity – she performed at such famous cafés-concerts as the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse, the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Rochechouart, and Les Ambassadeurs. She also sang in less conventional locations such as the streets of the poorer neighbourhoods of Paris, and even at coal mines, in order to raise money for the poor and homeless. Buffet also performed daily at the Exposition Universelle of 1900, a world's fair held in Paris. In the early 1900s Buffet tried her hand at managing her own cafés-concerts: From 1902–1903 Buffet ran a cabaret in Montmartre called the Cabaret de la Purée (Down-on-Your-Luck Cabaret) and later in 1903 she ran an establishment called Folies-Pigalle (Pigalle Follies) which was closed down that same year by the police because it was "a meeting-place for right-wing enemies of the regime." In addition to performing in Paris, Buffet toured and performed for soldiers during World War I, she performed at the Royal Palace of Brussels and in the early 1920s she toured the United States, Morocco and the Antilles. The film score of the 1931 Jean Renoir film La Chienne included a turn-of-the-century recording of Buffet singing "Sois bonne ô ma belle inconnue" (Be good oh my beautiful unknown). Other works In 1927 Buffet appeared in the silent film Napoléon directed by French filmmaker Abel Gance; she played the role of Laetizia Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother. In 1930 Buffet published her ghostwritten memoir titled: Ma Vie, Mes Amours, Mes Aventures: Confidences recueillies par Maurice Hamel (My Life, My Loves, My Adventures: Confessions obtained by Maurice Hamel), published by writer, poet, journalist and editor Eugène Figuière. Death Suffering from illness as early as the late 1920s, Eugénie Buffet fell into poverty by the end of her life. She died in Paris in 1934. Portrayal in film Eugénie Buffet was said to have inspired the character of Mademoiselle Amy Jolly, Marlene Dietrich's role in the 1930 film Morocco. French signing icon Édith Piaf also portrayed Eugénie Buffet in the 1954 French musical film