The chaos caused by the Franco-Prussian War and the following siege of Paris led to the closing of Elie Courtet's rubber factory. Émile was transferred to the less-exclusive Ecole Turgot, but his lessons were soon forgotten as the teenager wandered the streets of Paris to watch history being made. He made two discoveries that in time that became the controlling elements of his life: "Guignol" puppet theater and political caricature. "Guignol" was a form of drama (usually involving love triangles), in which the characters were played by marionettes. A subtype of the "Guignol" was "Fantoche", a form of puppetry in which the puppeteer's head was stuck through a hole in a black sheet with a small puppet body underneath.