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May 07, 2008
"Marius" : Raimu's instinct. (2/3)
When he discussed the casting of « Marius » with Léon Volterra, Marcel Pagnol suggested Pierre Blanchar for the title role : the actor, who had partly inspired the play, had given his consent and, having lived in Marseilles, could speak with the local accent. Léon Volterra agreed.
The theatre owner planned to give Fanny’s part to Gaby Morlay, one hot young actress, whom he had under contract ; Pagnol refused : he wanted Orane Demazis.
Pagnol had met her in Paris. She had studied acting at Conservatoire national d’art dramatique, but it would not always show on screen. Her family was not from Marseilles but from Oran, in Algeria, i.e. France then : her stage first name, Orane, paid homage to her native city.
Marcel Pagnol had married in Marseilles, at the age of twenty one, when no longer needed his father’s consent. His wife, Simonne Colin, came from a religious Protestant family.
In Paris, Simonne had lost much of her seduction : Marcel Pagnol had been too busy trying to conquer the city to be bothered with his married life. Simonne and Marcel had soon stopped to live together. Orane had been his lover for several years.
The Volterras consented to Orane Demazis : « Topaze » success had put the former little teacher from Lycée Condorcet in the driver’s seat.
For Panisse, the well-off bourgeois who will marry Fanny, Pagnol and the Volterras immediately agreed on Raimu.
A native from Marseilles too, Raimu had long sung in local « café-concerts », where the audience sat at tables to drink and dine during the show, then had been hired by Mayol, another Marseillais, to play in Paris at Café Parisien, which the famous singer had just bought.
Raimu’s talent had since pushed him to the stage of legitimate theatre, but Panisse, on paper one of « Marius »’s three main characters, would be his major role to date.
Raimu read the play, but would not be Panisse : he wanted to be César, Marius’s father, apparently a lesser part. Why ? Call it instinct ; as Raimu put it : « The play takes place in César’s bar, I want to be César ».
The nearly illiterate actor got his way and quickly sympathised with the former teacher. Together, they worked out the rest of the cast.
The prerequisite for candidates was an accent from Marseilles. The community of « marseillais » actors in Paris filled all the parts with one major exception : Marius.
Further to a scheduling conflict, Pierre Blanchar had to drop out of the project.
As Pagnol and Raimu struggled to replace him and the play rehearsals neared, Léon Volterra made his move : Pierre Fresnay.
Raimu and Pagnol were appalled : Fresnay was Alsatian and Protestant, like Pagnol’s wife ; Raimu could not come to terms with the concept of a Lutheran son.
It turned out Pierre Fresnay had served his military service time at Aix-en-Provence and could, in theory, perfectly imitate the « marseillais » accent. The actor’s politeness and talent quickly won over both the author and his father on stage.
Raimu turned the play rehearsals into a show of his actor’s instinct : he thought the fifth and last act useless, it was removed ; he asked for a scene Pagnol had cut to be reintegrated into the play : it was the classic card game sequence -« You break my heart »-.
Raimu was not strong on articulate speech and analytical skills, but according to Fresnay, had tons of « bon sens » : « good » rather than « common sense », and all that was needed to make a play successful.
Was it Raimu’s « bon sens » ? Was « Topaze » success infectious ? : on March 9, 1929, as « Topaze » passed the one-hundred and fifty show mark at Théâtre des Variétés, « Marius » premiered to a triumph at Théâtre de Paris.
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