Mr. Demettre, members of the Delangle family, ladies and gentlemen: I am extremely proud to represent the University of Houston and the International Motorsports History Section of the Society of Automotive Historians at this remarkable event. I thank Mr. Louis De Jean, Mr. Bruno Perrin, and all those who have contributed so much time and energy to its production, and I thank you, the audience, for your acknowledgment of Hellé Nice.
We come together to honor Hellé Nice in death not only by restoring her identity here in Ste Mesme, but also by celebrating her life. We celebrate especially her racing life, which she proudly carried out for the honor of France—and for the sake of adventure. It is appropriate to this celebration, therefore, that I and my colleagues tell the stories of how our lives became entwined with Hellé Nice’s and how she became an adventure for all of us.
As a professor of literature, for whom reading, writing, and talking are the primary motions, I would seem to have no natural connection to the daring young woman who raced Bugattis and Alfas. But it so happens that I found a soul mate in Hellé Nice—for some happy and some sad shared experiences. I started out life as a dancer (but not a cabaret dancer!), and I always loved cars, fast cars. My father loaned me cars, but I never had enough money to race, which is a very expensive sport. I also loved literature, a much less expensive pursuit, and because of the influence of beloved teachers and some family discord, I decided to become a literature professor far away from home.
My doctoral dissertation was a study of the American novelist and francophile, Willa Cather, and my greater literary specialty is Americans in Paris. I kept my enthusiasm for motorsports quiet, for I learned quickly at the University of Houston that fast cars were not appropriate vehicles or interests for lady English professors. Once I got a little older and wiser and braver, however, I began to campaign for a Woman’s Studies program at the university. I determined to reveal and express my passion for auto racing as well. Neither project was at all popular with the university, so I did have to engage in a bit of daring. First, I joined the Society of Automotive Historians and eventually founded the International Motorsports History chapter. In 2000, the Society of Automotive Engineers asked me to present an essay on the history of women in motorsports at the annual SAE World Congress in Detroit, Michigan. At this time, I discovered Parisian Camille du Gast, Czech Elisabeth Junek, and Hellé Nice. I also happily discovered that Mme. Junek and Mlle. Nice fit into the period of literature that I most love, the 1920s and 1930s. But Hellé Nice was the first woman, as far as I could determine, who had to make a living in auto racing without the support of personal wealth such as Elisabeth Junek enjoyed.
Then I discovered Miranda Seymour, whose literary biographies I had already known about. It delighted me that she was writing on Hellé Nice, and I was curious to know how she diverted her interests from literature to racing. After a long exchange of emails, we met finally at a Retromobile, and she began sharing her ideas, her research, and her manuscript with me. When I read the first chapter of Bugatti Queen and learned that the elderly Hellé Nice, after so remarkable career, was left impoverished, abandoned by her family, and forced to give away her beloved cat Minette, I knew I had to make her part of my ongoing study of women as well as of interwar racing.
And then I met Sheryl Greene, who had likewise been inspired by Miranda’s story of Hellé Nice, and so inspired that she established a foundation in the lady’s honor. From the moment I met her, she has been speaking and writing about her plan to create a marker for Hellé Nice’s grave. Now we are all together to witness the fulfillment of that plan, that dream.
Vive la France! Vive l’esprit Hellé Nice!
Speech by Robert Delangle, 4th September, 2010,
for the inauguration of the memorial headstone for Hellé Nice
(née Mariette Delangle), at her tomb in St Mesme, on the outskirts of Paris.
If today I bear witness to our illustrious ancestor, it’s simply because I am the sole member of the family to have known her. The memory I have of Mariette, as she was known to us in the family, is one of a very elegant lady, wearing a lovely floral patterned dress, as was fashionable in the 1940’s, arriving unexpectedly one day at the family farm, accompanied by her sister Solange – I can’t give an exact date, but it must have been at the end of 1942 or early in 1943. I was busy with my school homework when she came into the living room, and I remember, that she touched my cheek as she asked if Marguerite, my mother, was there. Moved by the presence of such a beautiful lady, I ran to the cowshed where my mother was busy milking the cows, and, out of breath, I said “Quick Mummy, come home, Mariette and Solange are here!”.
When my mother came in, she was embarassed by her own workaday appearance in front of those two Parisian ladies in their Sunday best. Mariette exchanged a few pleasantries with her, and then asked if the farmyard hens had been laying well. They must have been, because my mother immediately wrapped up a dozen fresh eggs in newspaper. After an exchange of family news, our two cousins left, and I can tell you that since that impromptu visit by Mariette to the Delangle family home at Levesville-La-Chenard, we had no further news of her.
The reason I was so excited about Mariette’s visit to our home was that I knew that she was a great champion of motor car racing, although I was unaware of the details of her exploits. It has to be said that, in the 30’s and 40’s, in our small village, we received little external news. Television didn’t exist, and we didn’t yet have a radio. The regional newspaper provided the only source of information, but, let’s be honest, this was fairly limited. If we learned of Mariette’s successes, it was thanks to our cousin Pierre Lasne, who one day arrived at our home with an automobile racing magazine in which Mariette appeared at the steering wheel of a racing car. I couldn’t tell you where he found this article, which was absolutely extra-ordinary for us.
What is certain is that our family always had good relations with hers, as I distinctly remember the visits for her mother, Estelle, and above all, those of her sister Solange. Now and then her brother Henri arrived at our house in a sports car similar to those that Mariette drove, indeed perhaps one of her former racing cars.
To summarise now how we re-discovered our illustrious cousin’s history, I must mention that it was our cousin Lucie, present here today, who told me that the Mairie of Aunay-sous-Auneau had information concerning her, information that the mayor of this village, birth place of Mariette, kindly passed on to me, and which included a map which showed a street in the village named in her honour. Following this, Sophie, our “Irish” daughter, with whom I had by sheer chance spoken of Mariette’s story, then worked tenaciously on the subject and found very interesting material via the internet. In fact she became the co-ordinator of the different aspects of the research. Our daughter Caroline also contributed to the research and distribution of related information.
That is what I wanted to say in the name of the entire Delangle family, but now I would like to express our special and heartfelt thanks to Madame Miranda Seymour for the enormous amount of work she carried out, extremely difficult research developed over a very long period of time. I would also like to express our gratitude to Madame Sheryl Greene, instigator of the foundation dedicated to recognising the achievement and honouring the name of Hellé Nice, which was her adopted name as a champion racing car driver. And it’s also thanks to Madame Sheryl Greene that we have the pleasure of participating today in this extraordinary celebration. Thank you, Madame, thanks again.
With the inauguration of this plaque, today represents a magnificent and indisputable recognition of Mariette-Hélène Delangle, Hellé Nice, for all posterity. A thousand thanks, ladies, for everything you have done for the honour and glory of our cousin, the great French champion of automobile racing.
September 19, 2010
