However, the farce failed to make it to the West End of London. Little Tich saw this as a snub and he refused to perform in the capital again. Instead, he travelled to South Shields, where he appeared briefly in a successful short play called Giddy Ostend before retreating to France. In 1898 he broke the Folies contract shortly before its expiry after being scouted by Joseph Oller, who hired him to perform at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris. Following the breach of contract, the Folies manager Édouard Marchand initiated legal action against the comedian, who settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. The theatrical manager C.B. Cochran who had seen the comedian perform during this period, described him as "a reincarnation of the dwarf court-jesters of the Middle Ages—the little English Don Antonio of Velasquez". By now, Little Tich had become frustrated with his English audiences. With Billy failing to reach London and the unequal level of success in the English capital compared to France made him shun the English variety theatre scene altogether in the final years of the century. He returned to the less-popular music halls as a result, where he remained for the rest of his career. 1900s Marriage troubles In September 1894, Little Tich and Laurie established the family home in the rue Lafayette, Paris. During 1897, while Little Tich was away on a tour of England, Germany and Austria, Laurie eloped to Berlin with the French actor François Marty, leaving her husband responsible for their young son Paul. Unable to care for Paul, Little Tich sent him to England to live with relatives. That year, Little Tich met the dancer Julia Recio during an engagement at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris and the two began a relationship. They moved to a flat in the boulevard Poissonnière, Paris, where they lived together, though keeping this a secret until after Laurie Relph's death in 1901. In 1900 Little Tich appeared in the French capital's Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre where he performed the Big-Boot Dance, which was recorded on film by the French director Clément-Maurice. Years later, the film-maker Jacques Tati called the piece "a foundation for everything that has been realised in comedy on the screen". In 1902, Little Tich starred in a special, one-off revue with Marie Lloyd at the Tivoli theatre called The Revue, which was staged to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII.