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May 05, 2008
"Marius" : "Topaze" push. (1/3)
Orane Demazis and Pierre Fresnay miscast in « Marius » ? It could have been worse : no « Marius ».
Marcel Pagnol « climbed » to Paris from Marseilles in 1922 : he had been posted to Lycée Condorcet to teach English.
He was twenty seven, with the ambition to be a playwright, but none to tell stories from its home city.
Marcel Pagnol pinned his hopes on « Catulle », a work in verse about the eponymous Latin poet, for which he targeted no less than « Comédie Française ».
Years went by, success did not come and his teacher’s pay was quick to go.
Under an alias -Castro-, Marcel Pagnol had co-written a low-brow comedy, « Tonton ou Joseph veut rester pur ». It had opened in Marseilles and flopped after a handful of shows ; his share of authors’ rights nevertheless brought him four times his monthly pay at Lycée Condorcet.
Marcel Pagnol was inspired to pen « Marius » by the lure of a quick buck, after an evening reminiscing about Marseilles with a young actor, Pierre Blanchar, who had lived there.
Meanwhile, his hopes for genuine artistic recognition had moved from « Catulle » to « Topaze », a social satire set in the teaching world and written in prose.
Pagnol meant « Topaze » for a top Paris theatre, if not « Comédie-Française », « Marius » to be played in Marseilles, under an alias, in Avignon or Toulon, if it were successful : nobody should ever know in Paris he had written it.
On October 9, 1928, Marcel Pagnol’s persistence struck gold : « Topaze » premiered at Théâtre des Variétés. Its instant success triggered « Marius »’s.
Against his initial plan, Pagnol had given a copy of the play to a theatre owner who had shown interest in « Topaze » before Pagnol went for Théâtre des Variétés.
From its initial recipient, the play travelled to the desk of Simonne and Léon Volterra, an immensely rich couple of theatre owners, whose properties also included Luna Park, a popular entertainment park on the outskirts of Paris.
The Volterras had expressed interest in the work, but taken no practical step to produce it. When they noticed the play had been written by the new toast of Paris, their interest suddenly revived and staging « Marius » became one of their priorities.
By then, Pagnol no longer needed a quick buck : beyond fame and recognition, « Topaze » had given him financial ease, he had taken an open-ended leave from Education Nationale.
He would never return to teaching. His students may not have suffered too much : there is no doubt Pagnol spoke excellent English -he would later write a new translation of « Hamlet »-, there is also no doubt he spoke even French with a strong Marseilles accent.
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