Galia Salimo - Quand j'étais petit garçon

2017, Alcazar, Carrousel, Coccinelle, French, Galia Salimo,

Original title: "Quand j'étais petit garçon" (When I was a little boy) by Galia.

Queen of Parisian nights (Carrousel, Palace, Alcazar, Queen), Galia tells for the first time her childhood... of a little boy like no other. This is the drama of Domino, a little boy with fine features born in Marseille in the fifties, and whose immoderate penchant for his mother's falbalas has a bad effect in the heart of Le Panier, a district where half-tones do not exist, where men must be taciturn and virile, and women more than sensual.

But he chose his clan. He does not like violent games, the warrior spirit of his comrades, preferring the company, the outfits, and the delicacy of the girls. The feminine universe fascinates him; He is convinced that it is his. But how to live it, admit it, say it? Can the ugly duckling become another creature? One of those black swans that his schoolmistress reveals to him one day?

Here is a true, tender, emotional story, a sincere testimony, never miserabilist or despairing, about the blossoming to what one really is deep inside. With love and humour, attention to detail and frankness, Galia, the queen of Parisian nights (Le Carrousel, Le Palace, l'Alcazar, le Queen, le Manko and recently Le 13), tells for the first time her childhood... of a little boy like no other.

Galia was born into a big family and was the eldest of sixteen children. Assigned a boy at birth, she would play with girls and didn't feel like a boy at all. She realized who she was when at the age of 5 or 6, she heard about the transition of Cocinelle, a transgender artist.

At the age of 17, Galia Salimo moved to Paris in 1966 to escape an environment where homosexuality was not accepted and where becoming transgender was impossible. She became a revue dancer at the Alcazar, where she gained fame. She then worked for many Parisian nightlife establishments as a nude dancer: the Carrousel, the Palace, Madame Arthur, and the Queen, then became an opener at Mathi's.

She is often described by the press as the "queen of Parisian nights". Upon her arrival in Paris, she modeled for the first French agency dedicated to African models, Golden Beauty, before being noticed by Jean-Marie Rivière, who hired her to play Joséphine Baker at the Alcazar. Hired by the Carrousel, she began international tours, the first of them in 1977 in Iran and then in Australia and Japan.

In 1980, she underwent a gender reassignment surgery. In 1982, she tried her hand at comedy by playing in the film La Balance with Nathalie Baye. After the closure of the Carrousel in 1985, a darker period began, including the appearance of AIDS. At that time, she decided to change the path of her career and was hired at the Aldo, a bar for transvestites. She then discovered this environment that she did not really know and which seemed harsh and excessive to her. She then worked for the Morroco bar and, in 1986, was recruited to run the smoking room of the famous Palace club.

In 2000, she released a record Welcome. In 2001, she hosted the television show Good as you on Canal Jimmy. In 2008, Galia made an appearance in the series Sous le soleil on TF1. In 2015, she returned to animation, this time on the radio, joining the show Les Grosses Têtes on RTL7. Her story inspired the play "Dans les chaussures d'un autre" by Fabio Marra.

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