Musical Storytelling by Maggie Paxson: Songs from 1910s – 1930s

Inspired by the French community she describes in her book, The Plateau (published in French as On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur), Maggie Paxson will lead a performance showcasing popular music of the interwar period and Second World War.

The songs Maggie shares—made famous by singers like Lucienne Boyard, Fréhel, Edith Piaf, Lucienne Delyle, Josephine Baker, Jean Sablon and more—are about how to find hope, love, meaning, and even laughter during troubled times. With their melodies and lyrics—which Maggie distributes to audiences ahead of time—the songs invite everyone to join in and share an homage to a past, at times painful, at times joyous, and to the resilience of those in our families who survived the war. You are not obligated to sing! Enjoy the performance and be transported to a bygone era through tunes that evoke history in the present.

About Maggie Paxson

Maggie has performed such singalongs in private venues, a debut at the Albertine Bookstore in New York, and has appeared on stage in venues such as Joe's Pub in lower Manhattan and the Dryden Theatre of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY.

In 2024 she was featured in Georgetown University's long-running Friday Music Series. Maggie continues to develop partnerships with civic groups, museums, and religious organizations such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Defiant Requiem Foundation. She has also performed in France and, depending on the audience, sprinkles her set list with songs in French, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish, German, and Russian.

We hope you can join us learn from the past through timeless musical melodies!