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The next morning, I left discreetly because I wanted to find a room and some cabarets that would be interested in my songs. I did not find either and spent my second night in Paris in the subway with the tramps. I had not a penny left, and the next morning, I was starving. I spent my day dawdling and despairing of ever sorting anything out. But that evening I saw a man playing an accordion on a cafe terrace, and the customers were throwing him coins. I decided to try the same thing, and right from the start, it worked very well. I was saved. I lived like that for three years, often sleeping anywhere and eating a sandwich from time to time. But I made enormous progress, and one day I was hired by a small cabaret on the Left Bank. I made ten francs each night and needed fifteen for the taxi ride back to Montmartre, where I lived in a small room. Yet I had my name on the poster - although in small print! Already I was imagining my name high up on the poster in big letters, seeing the success I was having every night. One day I met the actor Jean-Pierre Darras who advised me to take acting classes to improve my stage presence. Since I did not have the means to pay for them, he kindly arranged for me to attend a course at the National Theatre of Paris free of charge. So for three months I took the Dullin course - and then gave it up because I did not feel at "W 1 1 1 I used to introduce myself at the time under the pseudonym of Claude Celler, which I had chosen as a tribute to the skier and champion racing driver, Tony Sailer. I modified the spelling so that my initials would become C C. - retaining my real first name. I began to win a lot of radio contests, and by singing in several cabarets, I was able to live reasonably well, and more importantly, to save up enough money to take my driving test at exactly eighteen, as planned. But that was not enough to become a racing driver. First I had to make a name for myself in the hope of being hired by a major company, and for that I needed to have a competition car, participate in some races independently and, if possible, win them. A racing car 131 My Lire UNTIL THE First ENCOUNTER - POETRY all attracted to the theatre.