I found yours and will fetch them in the library this week, they look interesting to say the least!
This is a translation of the rest of the french text:
To 8.15g (0.045 mole) of phenyl magnesium bromide in ether, add 2.56 g (0.045 mole) of N-methyl-ethylene-imine. After the evaporation of the ether and reflux for 2h in xylene, we hydrolyse and separate the phenylethyl-methylamine by distillation. Yield=0.2g (4%) bp 170-210°C (litt=205°C). The HCl salt melt at 152-155°C (litt=157°C)
With ethyleneimine they have got nothing at all!
So it must be protected with the bromobenzene derivative like in your ref.