On the opening night at The Playhouse, 48th St New York, she performed to a stunned audience who expected the Parisien sophistication they were familiar with, not this tiny, black-clad creature singing songs they couldn't understand. Les Compagnons however, were able to charm them with their simple songs and wonderful harmonies. Another misinterpretation was almost the final straw - the closing song, Les Trois Cloches, in which Edith joined Les Compagnons was given riotous applause, cheering, foot-stamping and whistling: the latter two were abject insults in Edith's experience in France!  It was only her dogged determination - and one optimistic newspaper critic who attempted to "explain" Edith Piaf to the American population - that stopped her from taking the sail-passage booking she had asked her U.S. agent Clifford Fischer to make. She started by taking English lessons and made more effort to sing translated songs. Initially her songs were introduced by a Master of Ceremonies who gave a synopsis of what the audience was about to hear. As soon as she could, she removed him. Gradually, she began to warm to her task as the Americans did to her. The jewel in her crown was a short booking at The Versailles, East 50th St. She, and Les Compagnons, were so popular that they extended it to five months! Her social life soared, she associated with major celebrities including Orson Welles, Judy Garland and her to-become good friend, Marlene Dietrich. She met Albert Einstein, and a previous acquaintance named Marcel Cerdan, the "Moroccan Bomber", a boxer.

Marcel - The Scent of Roses: Shortly after she opened at the Versailles, she received a phone call from Marcel Cerdan, inviting her to dinner. It was not quite what she had been expecting - pastrami, salt beef and beer at a corner drugstore, but it heralded the start of a romance lasting almost two years; and a grief which haunted her for most of the remainder of her life. His situation did not make life easy for either of them. He was married; his wife and three children lived in Casablanca where he visited them regularly, and his work commitments were such that she was forbidden to see him whilst he was in training; rumour has it that she resorted to being smuggled into the training camp to be with him, risking his disqualification if caught. America was not France - their relationship was frowned upon by the boxing fraternity, press and public alike. Even Momone, Edith's alleged half-sister tried to sabotage the romance by offering Cerdan's wife a bundle of letters she had purloined - but only at a price, then threatened to tell the press the truth behind the facade of the "just good friends" image they tried to project. Edith adored him. In mid 1948 she bought a house, 5 rue Gambetta, Bois de Boulogne, so they could spend more time together and ensured it had a room big enough to fit a gymnasium. She attempted to bring him into her world - introducing him to serious literature, and decking him out in expensive clothes and jewelry, but was also eager to involve herself in his. Whenever possible; her own bookings aside, she would go to his fights - cheering him on, terrified he would lose and praying for miracles; she was so distraught that she even fainted during the show, but nothing would stop her - this was her farewell to the man she loved.  She described her experience of praying to St Therese before Cerdan's fight against the American Tony Zale for the World Championship in September 1948. She said she knew her prayer had been heard when the briefly overwhelming perfume of roses filled her room - a sign she recognised from her childhood in Normandy. In March 1949 Cerdan fought at Earl's Court. Edith came with him. They stayed at the Mayfair Hotel, but sadly she never sang in the United Kingdom. Despite Edith being considered to be bad luck for him, Cerdan's career seemed to be flying higher and higher - so was hers. One memorable experience for her was singing for the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip at Carrere's, Champs Elysees. She was performing at the A.B.C. during the time of their visit to Paris in 1948,and was specially invited to sing for them. It was memorable to her more as an ordeal than a pleasure - she was petrified of making a blunder! Booking after booking followed. She was working almost constantly between Paris and New York, yet still had the time and energy to promote new talent such as Charles Aznavour who was responsible for the songs Il Pleut and "Il y Avait", amongst others. Little did she realise that, once again, at the height of her fame, more tragedy was around the corner. On the 27th October 1949, Marcel Cerdan died in an aeroplane crash in the Azores - on the way from Paris to join Edith in New York - along with the other passengers; one of whom was Ginette Neveu, the violinist and friend of Edith. Continues next