Elsie de Wolfe’s French Bulldogs

Elsie de Wolfe, the Interior Design  profession’s leader of the pack, had a life-long love affair with Dogs.

The earliest records I have found on the members of Elsie de Wolfe’s pack are about her French Bulldogs.  How suitable for the Francophile who introduced America to the delicate beauty of eighteenth-century French furniture to have had Frenchies!

Elsie de Wolfe shared her life with French Bulldogs long before her career in Interior Design.  The image below, painted by the Belgian painter Jan Van Beers, shows a  young Elsie holding a French Bulldog.

Miss Elsie de Wolfe  Image: Jan van Beers, 1899

In April of 1899 The Critic noted:  

“Mr. van Beers can hardly be said to have done Miss de Wolfe justice in this portrait, but at the same time it has many of the characteristics of her face.”

Although the black Frenchie is not identified, it is most certainly Riquette or Fauvette (purchased in 1898).

Elsie participated in many Dogs Shows and even donated a silver loving cup trophy to the Ladies Kennel Association in 1901 for the “Best French Toy Bulldog” (not to exceed 15 pounds).

The Dog shows were of a different breed than those we know today. 

At the turn of the century, Dog Shows were social events that required sending out hundreds of engraved invitations.  The events were held in posh venues…luxurious hotel roof gardens or the Metropolitan Opera House.

The First French Bulldog Specialty held at the Waldorf-Astoria

Image:  The New York World Newspaper, February 1898. 

Via:  The French Bull Dog Club of America

In December of 1899, a “Pet Dog Show” held at the Metropolitan Opera House awarded  Elsie de Wolfe’s French Bulldog Riquette a silver clock for being “The Best Dog owned by an actress and not used on the stage.” 

The New York Times noted:

“Riquette failed to win a first prize in any of the Regular French Bulldog Classes, but as she was without competitors in this class, she had not much trouble in winning the clock.”

Elsie de Wolfe & her French Bulldogs Fauvette & Riquette

Image:  Alfred Ellis, 1901

Elsie purchased Fauvette in 1898 from M. Ruffier in Paris and this French Bulldog fared much better in the show ring, according to The Evening Standard: 

“This is Fauvette’s record:  she took 1st Prize two years ago at the Paris Dog Show. She took First Prize at the Paris Exhibition. She took three Prizes the New York Show two years ago.  And when James Gordon Bennet (owner of the New York Herald & a colorful dog fancier) offered 5000 francs for the most perfect French Toy Bulldog to weigh under 14 pounds, Fauvette lost by a quarter of a pound and won everything else.” 

Like Elsie, Fauvette was reported to be “the Best-dressed Dog anywhere.”  Fauvette, the French Bulldog  was also a star.   Her stage debut took place in Clyde Fitch’s The Way of the World at the Victoria Theatre in 1901. 

Elsie de Wolfe was the leading lady in the play in which the entire first act took place in an automobile with “the machine standing with whirling wheels while a panorama of the Central Park moved by.”  

Every evening when the curtain rose Fauvette was “lifted out of the automobile and called Fauvette out loud.”  She “is said to hypnotize everyone who sees her,” according to The Evening Standard, and “everyone in the wings of the Victoria Theatre waits to give her biscuits when she comes off stage.”

Elsie de Wolfe & Favuette, Image: The Evening Standard, 1901

Elsie spoiled her Dogs in the high style that one would expect from the tastemaker.  In The Evening Standard feature “The Most Exclusive of Dogs is Miss De Wolfe’s Pampered Fauvette,” it was reported that Fauvette’s lifestyle included:

• Jeweled collars
• A chinchilla bathrobe
• Brushes made of mother of pearl
• An ebony manicure set
• A silk rug
• A lace “nightie” 
• Blue satin blankets

Bow-WOW! 

The article went on to discuss her pedigree:

“Fauvette’s Father is Rabot who is as formidable an ancestor in dogs as Ethan Allen and William the Conqueror are in the matter of Men.  Fauvette is a haughty princess and Daughter of the Revolution and Colonial Dame among Dogs.” 

Image: Rabot de Beaubourg, 1890

Fauvette, the blue-blood French Bulldog with blue satin blankets had certainly won Miss Elsie de Wolfe’s heart.

After taking note of Fauvette at a Dog Show, the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia asked M. Ruffier to purchase Fauvette from her owner for $750. (In 1901, the average annual household income  was $750!)

Elsie de Wolfe’s reply was: 

“Tell him that there isn’t enough money in Russia to buy her.”

Later, I’ve got to let the Dog out,