Biography

Mac Orlan lived in Rouen and Paris as a young man, working at a variety of jobs and learning to play the accordion.

He fought in the war against Germany until wounded in 1916, after which he worked as a war correspondent.

Using his real name, Pierre Dumarchey, and various pseudonyms including: Docteur Fowler, Pierre du Bourdel, Pierre de Jusange, Sadie Blackeyes, Chevalier de X, and Sadinet, he was for several years a writer for Paris Sex-Appeal, and of pornographic novels, which frequently depicted flagellation and sado-masochism. These titles include: La Comtesse au fouet (1908), the story of a cruel dominatrix, Les Grandes Flagellées de l'histoire (1909), Lise Fessée (1910), Masochism in America (1910), Miss (1912), and Petite dactylo et autres textes de flagellation (1913). He told Pascal Pia that he used the Dumarchey name to upset an uncle of his who made his life hard.

He was also a prolific writer of chansons, many of which were recorded and popularized by French singers such as Juliette Gréco, Monique Morelli, Catherine Sauvage, Francesca Solleville, and Germaine Montero.

His novel Quai des Brumes was the source for Marcel Carné's 1938 film of the same name, starring Jean Gabin.