Magali Noël, a Guiffray from Smyrna

Mavi Boncuk |Magali Noël (born Magali Noëlle Guiffray[1]; June 27, 1932) is a Turkish-French actress and singer. Originally from Izmir, she emigrated from Turkey to France in 1951, and her acting career began soon thereafter. She acted in multilingual cinema chiefly from 1951 to 1980, doing several films in Italian with renowned director Federico Fellini, for whom she was a favourite subject. She also acted in films directed by such well-known names as Costa Gavras, Jean Renoir, and Jules Dassin. Her career extended to television movies from roughly 1980 to 2002.

Her recording career began in France in 1956, and her most famous song was Fais-moi mal, Johnny (Hurt me Johnny), written by Boris Vian. This song was one of the first rock'n'roll songs with French lyrics. It has been forbidden on the radio during a long time due to its risqué lyrics describing - with a great sense of humour and derision - a sadomasochistic episode.

In this video she sings the song with her daughter in 1990.

Magali Noël "Fais-moi mal" de vian

[1] There were separate British, French, Dutch, and Italian chambers of commerce in Smyrna. Some Greeks were active in these chambers. Xenopoulos was active in the French chamber, whereas Papadimitiou and Diamantides were active in the British one. In the first decade of the 20th century, Haci Davud Farkoh, who had a major house in Boudjah, was the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Smyrna until the mid-1910s. The Farkoh family were Syriac Orthodox, but Davud Farkoh also had American citizenship. Thanks to this connection, he remained chairman for a long time. It is certain that he was not living in Smyrna after the fire, and most probably migrated to America before the fire. From 1919 to 1922, Mesrop Simonyan [Armenian] continued this duty. Mesrop Simonyan, Misak Morakyan [Armenian], Eusthatios Iliadis, Xenophon Mpodoroglou [both Greek], Bohor Benevada [Jewish], Eliezer Gifre [Guiffray – French Levantine], Hristaki Atnasole, and Diogenes Kasapoglou [both Greek] were the active non-Muslim members of the chamber until 1922. Source: Levantine Testimony 31

Excerpt from Cultural Contributions of the Levantines in Izmir

Inci Kuyulu Ersoy [*]

New privileges given by Ottoman authorities to the Levantine communities -for instance the right to buy and own land and buildings- led to increased investments. Priority was given to the purchasing of land and/or to the building of institutions and their management, which would serve as the infrastructure of the city9. According to D. Goffman, in the 1620’s, Christians had isolated themselves from the local population and they were not willing to contribute to the defence and embellishment of the city10. However, in the 19th century this reluctantness had completely vanished and Levantine investments now resulted in beautiful buildings with the best infrastructure. An important milestone was reached with the reconstruction of the harbour waterfront with Napoli stones by the French Gifre Company in 1867. This waterfront was, and still is, known as the ‘Kordon’11. The Kordon area eventually became the centre of Levantine socio-cultural activities. Cafes, clubs, cinemas, theatres, hotels and consulates in this area gave shape to the Levantine landscape, which was completed with horse-drawn tramways12.

9 - The investments of the foreigners were mostly on railways, ports, water, coal gas, street lamps, tram, electricity and mines. see G.Ökçün, “1885 Öncesi Osmanlı Ekonomisine Genel Bir Bakış”, 1885-1985 Türkiye Ekonomisinin 100 Yılı ve İzmir ve İzmir Ticaret Odası Sempozyumu, 21-23 Kasım 1985 İzmir, p.1-15.; For İzmir port see M.S.Kütükoğlu, “İzmir Rıhtımı İnşaatı ve İşletme İmtiyazı”, Tarih Dergisi, 32 (1979), p.495-558.; For the railways in Izmir see Ç.Atay, “İzmir’e İlişkin Demiryolu Önerileri ve Gerçekleşen Hatların Kent Yapısına Etkileri”, II.Uluslararası İzmir Sempozyumu, Tebliğler, İzmir 1998, p.159-177.
10- D.Goffman, ibid., p.121.
11- M.Kıray, Örgütlenemeyen Kent, Ankara 1972, s.51.; M.Çadırcı, Tanzimat Döneminde Anadolu Kentleri’nin Sosyal ve Ekonomik Yapıları, Ankara 1991, p.361.
12- M. Buch who visited İzmir in 1859 and 1864 tells tha the coast consist of houses and consulate buildings were spoilt by the warehouses, docks and houses with boats. see. İ.Pınar, Gezginlerin Gözüyle İzmir XIX Yüzyıl II, İzmir 1996, p.79.

[*]Prof. Dr. İnci Kuyulu Ersoy is Head of Western and Contemporary Art, Department of Art History, Faculty of Letters, Ege University, Izmir. She was born in Nazilli, Turkey, in 1957. She graduated from TED Ankara College in 1976 and from Hacettepe University, Social and Management Sciences Faculty, Department of History of Art in 1980. She received her MA in 1982 and her Ph.D. in 1989 from Ankara University, Faculty of Linguistics and History-Geography, Department of Art History.
She was appointed as research assistant to the Department of Art History, Ege University. She became assistant professor in 1989, associate professor in 1994 and full professor in 2000 at the same university. She is also Head of Turkish Art History at the Institute for Research on the Turkic World. She has researched and published widely on Turkish art.