Maria Poiret

She was born in the family of a fencing and gymnastics teacher Yakov Viktorovich Poiret (1826–1877) and the daughter of a cloth manufacturer Yulia Andreevna Tarasenkova (1830–1871).

Her elder brother Emmanuel emigrated to France in his youth and became a well-known cartoonist under the pseudonym Caran d'Ache.

In 1880–1890, she participated in Lentovsky's projects, performed in operettas and vaudeville, often playing male roles (Caprice in Le voyage dans la lune by Jacques Offenbach, etc.

Lentovsky himself considered Maria a gypsy by nature, according to him, this was indicated by "her ability to enjoy freedom, her carelessness, indifference to things, her readiness for a nomadic life".

In 1915 she was arrested, being accused by her husband of unfaithfulness, as a result of which consent was obtained for marriage, feigning pregnancy and trying to pass off someone else's newborn child as her own.