Simon David better known as Louis Davids was a Dutch cabaretier and revueartist and is widely considered one of the Netherlands biggest names in performing arts
Background
Louis Davids was born in Rotterdam as son of the comedian and café owner Levie David and Francina Terveen (deceased in 1927) in a poor Jewish family of eight children. After an argument with his father he left for England to be an assistant to a Magician.
Career
Returning to Rotterdam a year later, returning home with a lot more experience in variety theater. He furthered his success in revue in 1909 working with Henri ter Hall. After Rika married English magician John Weil and moved to England she parted from the successful duo.
The second Davids duo was a success once more.
The husband of Heiintje, Philip Pinkhof, wrote the roles that Davids and his ster would play. Up until 1922 Louis and Maggie formed the duo "He, She and the piano", where Maggie would take on the role as composer.
The comedic repertoire soon becomes known across the land as what is now known as the genre Levenslied. A famous song from this period is De Jantjes which was also released as a silent film in 1922, and as a full motion picture in 1934.
Between 1922 and 1926 Davids was the director of the Casino Theater in Rotterdam, but the job of a director does not hold his attention for lougitude
In 1929 Louis Davids appeared in the revue Lach en vergeet with the song which would prpbably become his most popular title De kleine manitoba lieutenant was written by Jacques van Tol, with whom Davids would work closely until his death in 1939. Him and Van Tol agreed that Tol would remain anonymous as songwriter after 1929.
Despite Davids being from Rotterdam, he was a popular performer of the Amsterdam Jordan repertoire.
In 1937 Louis Davids had to give up his work at the Kurhaus of Scheveningen-cabaret due to asthma. His early passing at the age of 55 was largely due to asthma.
Davids was cremated in Driehuis. His ashes were interred in the columbarium of the crematorium.
In 2010 the Netherlands Comedy Theater performed a play about Davids titled Liedjes van Louis Davids.