Louis-François-Marie Nicolaïe (28 January 1811^[1] – 8 February 1879^[2]), better known as Clairville, was a 19th-century French comedian, poet, chansonnier, goguettier and playwright.

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Clairville
Caricature of Clairville published in Le Trombinosocope of Touchatout, 1874
Born	28 January 1811 Lyon
Died	9 February 1879(1879-02-09) (aged 68) Paris
Occupation(s)	Comedian Poet Chansonnier

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Son of the Lyonese playwright and stage manager Alexandre-Henri Nicolaïe dit Clairville (died 1832),^[3] he began in 1821 in Paris at the Luxembourg Theater as actor with Madame Saqui, then as stage manager and finally, from 1837, exclusively as playwright.^[4] He later joined the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique, playing small roles and developed his craft as a playwright, finding that to be his true vocation.^{[citation needed]} He first conceived a revue titled 1836 dans la lune, the success of which would launch his career.^{[citation needed]} His plays included comedies, serious plays, revues, féeries, satires and parodies.^{[citation needed]}

He is credited with at least 230 miscellaneous pieces of which 50 have reached one hundred representations followed.^[5] He was particularly known for his comédies en vaudeville.^{[citation needed]} He was assisted, from the beginning of his career, by his friend Edward Miot. His group of his collaborators grew to include Dumanoir, Dennery, Nicot and Cordier.^{[citation needed]} They drew inspiration from the news of the day.^{[citation needed]} Clairville collaborated with other authors, including the Cogniard brothers, Lambert-Thiboust, Paul Siraudin, Victor Koning, Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru, Édouard Plouvier, Alfred Delacour for plays and operettas.^{[citation needed]}

Clairville was an active member of the fourth Société du Caveau, of which he was president in 1871.^{[citation needed]}

"Clarville doesn't not compose, he makes ... kind of literary thrift store, where old threadbare words and buried puns are dressed to the nine," wrote Henri Rochefort; but he added, "not an administrative measure, not a weird ad, not a new invention that Mr. Clarville has not set in a script or turned into couplets. This is the man of the review and parody par excellence."^{[citation needed]}

In 1853, he published Chansons et Poésies, a collection of rhymes, from the ribald songs, "which are sung in the desert" according to Albert Blanquet, to the touching simplicity of the poems.^{[citation needed]} He was awarded the cross of Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1857.^{[citation needed]}

In 1870, he composed the song Les Deux Canailles,^[6] in response to the song^[7] La Canaille by Alexis Bouvier. In 1871, he wrote at least two anti-communard songs: L'Internationale^[8] where he gave his vision of the "Internationale ouvrière" as a collection of bandits,^{[citation needed]} and La Commune^[9] in which he called for the massacre of Communards.^{[citation needed]}

Clairville died of pneumonia on 8 February 1879.^[10][11][12] After the funeral at Église Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile in Paris on 10 February, he was buried at Montmartre Cemetery.^[13]

Clairville had two sons. The composer Édouard-François Nicolaïe, known as Clairville fils (1854–1904) was from his marriage with Angélique Gabrielle Pagès. Charles-Albert Nicolaïe, known as "Clairvoyance" (1833–1892), an employee at the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris, was born of an affair with Augustine Philippon.^{[citation needed]} Claiville was the uncle of the playwright and librettist Charles-Victor Nicolaïe, known as Charles Clairville (1855-1927).^{[citation needed]}

Clairville's plays written in collaboration with leading playwrights of his time or that continue to be presented, include the following: