Above: "Among Rachel-Léonie Dorange's favorite places is the wide, bustling Place de l'Étoile in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe."
Source: Neue Berner Zeitung, November 21, 1959, p. 3. Swiss National Library (via e-newspaperachives.ch)

Above: "Almost half of Paris's fiacre drivers can be found at lunchtime at the Rond-point [roundabout] des Champs-Élysées. They wait there patiently in the shade of the trees for their customers."
Source: Same source

Above: Cartoon of a Paris fiacre illustrating "What pedestrians need to know."
Source: Construire, April 11, 1962, p. 5. Swiss National Library (via e-newspaperachives.ch)

Above: Rex North and his Daily Mirror column.
Source: Daily Mirror, November 2, 1964, p. 15. British Library (via British Newspaper Archive). Subscription required for full text.

22. Twilight

After 1956 newspaper coverage of Rachel diminishes considerably, although she was sought out and interviewed whenever horse cabs became newsworthy. Unfortunately, now the focus of interest for journalists was the horse cab's imminent extinction.

This report on the state of the Paris horse cab business in 1959 is from the Swiss newspaper Neue Berner Zeitung:

"Tourists strolling curiously along the Champs-Elysées will, if they are lucky, suddenly spot a horse-drawn carriage pulled by a powerful horse in the middle of the stream of traffic, with an attractive female driver sitting on the box. The woman, dressed in distinctly sporty attire, wearing a gray round hat and high riding boots, with an energetic look on her face, is well known to Parisians....

"When I spoke to her on her coach box, she thought I was one of the usual tourists who bore her with their cameras. But when she realized she was dealing with a journalist, Mademoiselle Dorange soon became talkative, and I learned some remarkable episodes from her eventful and colorful life....

"Rachel-Léonie Dorange is the only female coach driver in Paris. But even male coach drivers are few and far between these days. A total of 17 male 'cochers' are still active today....

"The 17 remaining horse-drawn carriage drivers in Paris are men in their mid-fifties who are passionate about their profession and look down on their gasoline-powered competitors. Their shiny black bowler hats and smart dark suits clearly distinguish them from taxi drivers. They are the last Mohicans of the romantic era of horse-drawn carriages, along with Rachel Léonie Dorange, 'la femme cocher,' the famous female coach driver from the Étoile...."

In 1962 another Swiss newspaper, Construire, published a short guide to transportation options in Paris, including this note on horse cabs:

"Horse-drawn carriages: there are eight 'cochers' left in Paris, including one woman: Rachel Dorange. They are the last ones: horse-drawn carriage driving licenses are no longer being issued. The carriages are all parked at the Champs-Elysées roundabout. Fare: 30 NF per hour.".

In 1962 there were a little under 5 new francs (NF) to a U.S. dollar, so the hourly fare was about $6. By comparison, the hourly fare for a taxi was 4.50 NF or a little over one dollar U.S., plus a pickup charge.

In 1963 yet another Swiss newspaper, FAN L'Express, reported on the Paris cab business:

"Autumn will chase them from the streets of Paris until spring, these last survivors of the Belle Époque, the only eight horse-drawn carriages left in Paris. In 1900, there were 12,000; in 1923, there were still 300; in 1939, there were about forty, and this summer there were eight on the streets of Paris. How many will remain in 1964? Perhaps half, due to a lack of coachmen.

"The average age of those who have remained faithful to this anachronistic profession rather than becoming taxi drivers is over 65. The oldest driver wonders whether he will don his gray top hat, ribboned whip, and plaid blanket to protect his legs again next spring. He is 72 years old. The youngest is 56, but he hesitates to continue because the profession no longer provides enough income to support himself or his horse.

"Apart from the First Communion season, when a few working-class families remain loyal to horse-drawn carriage rides, Parisian cochers don't do much business: foreigners who are amused by these 'vestiges of a bygone era,' a couple of lovers here and there, elderly people who relive pleasant and distant memories on a ride in the Bois de Boulogne, and sometimes a few days – well paid, incidentally – as extras in a film.

"So it is not surprising that the police headquarters has not seen a single applicant for a carriage driver's license in twenty-eight years. While horses can still be found even in Paris, carriages are nowhere to be found; they are already 'real museum pieces.' There are no more manufacturers, and good luck finding a wheelwright in the capital! Or a farrier!

"Carriage drivers can only work from March to mid-October, and even during the season, fares are rare, two or three a day when all goes well, and even then they have to spend the whole day on the street. Some coachmen arrive at their favorite spot near the Champs-Élysées as early as 8 a.m. and don't return to the suburbs (because where can they find stables?) until late at night. It is often around midnight that they do their best business, thanks to night owls out on the town or foreign tourists.

"The rates charged by Parisian coachmen are flexible and often very high. In fact, it is a luxury means of transport in the age of the metro, buses, and taxis. These survivors have high costs: in winter, they have to send their horses to the countryside and pay for their boarding. And they only work for about six months of the year.

"Parisian coachmen have retained an old-fashioned style; bowler hats are de rigueur, some wear black, others gray; most are now greenish like old things. Many have remained faithful to the thick, bushy moustache. Their luxury? The whip, which they hold like a scepter or crack to amuse children. Their vanity? The colorful covers that hide the worn moleskin or frayed velvet of the seats. The object of all their care? The carriage, which is scrubbed, polished, and lovingly maintained, with gleaming brass – chrome is for cars. They must be well maintained because they are no longer available.

"The horses are well cared for, but some are already almost as old as their owners. The youngest is already 10 years old and the oldest is 26. Some have a past: 'Pirate,' the youngest, was born in Texas; 'Jimmy' and 'Nestor' sometimes forget to trot and start dancing instead. That was their job in the circus where they came from. 'Pony' raced at Vincennes in harness trotting events ten years ago under a different name.

"In the past, coachmen were from Auvergne or Savoy, and there was even a 'coachman school' in Paris: classes lasted a month before the exam was taken in front of specialists from the police headquarters.

"In the past, carriage drivers were all men. Today, one of the eight Parisian carriages is driven by a woman, Mademoiselle Rachel Dorange, a horse lover who had her moment of fame as an equestrian and in horse rallies. Lightly made up, her hair tightly pulled back under a gray bowler hat, sitting upright in her red riding coat, riding breeches, and tan boots, impeccable and smiling, she is a Parisian attraction in her own right.

"Although she now has to drive a cab for a living instead of riding for pleasure, she does not really belong to the guild of coachmen who survived the Belle ├ëpoque with its 12,000 cabs. She is in a league of her own, and her male colleagues claim that she 'snubs' them and scoops up all the good deals. If there is soon only one carriage left in Paris, it will probably be Rachel Dorange's, because ‐ look at her go – she enjoys it!"

In fact though, Rachel announced her retirement from cab driving in November of 1964 (although according to Dr. Hervé Ménager she continued driving until 1966). Her announcement was noted in newspapers inside and outside France, including in the U.S. and Canada. The reports usually included garbled references to her background.

For example, Daily Mirror columnist Rex North added a couple of new elements to Rachel's mythology:

"Once she was one of France's wealthy heiresses and a celebrated horsewoman. She had a magnificent house and large stables. Then the war came and she lost everything except two of her beloved horses and the family buggy (a fiacre).

"She started life anew, ferrying tourists around the sights of Paris. The traffic couldn't beat her – but economics eventually did. Rachel, now in her mid-fifties, found she could barely afford to feed her horse.

"President de Gaulle, she decided, would help. He was bound to step in and save her. So she drove 200 miles to his home at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. De Gaulle refused to see her. Rachel yesterday started the long drive home. Her horse will be sold. She will give up her job. Paris will be the poorer for it."

Soon after Rachel's retirement the horse cab disappeared from Paris streets. It was not until 40 years later, in 2006, that it made a return (see Postscript)