Marius

“You should write a Marseille play set on the Vieux Port”: this suggestion from Pierre Blanchard, a friend of Pagnol’s and a jazz musician, gave rise to Marius, the first part of the Marius-Fanny-César trilogy. Pagnol, then living in exile in Paris, was struggling with the writing of Topaze, at the time still titled La Belle et la Bête.

In Marius, Pagnol created a Marseille more true to life than reality itself, using the southern French dialect to give his characters a natural, spontaneous tone, punctuated with Marseille expressions. Before conquering the world, however, Marius was turned down by the directors of the Théâtre de Paris, who feared launching a play “with an accent.” The success of Topaze finally persuaded Simone and Léon Volterra to accept it. The premiere, on 9 March 1929, was an immense success.

The work was later immortalized on screen in 1931, allowing the play to find its most fully realized form. Pagnol, the “theater man of French cinema,” who had worked with many directors of his time, achieved his aim: that cinema should become “canned theater,” as he put it. The “Marseille trilogy” was directed by Alexander Korda and Marcel Pagnol, with Raimu, Pierre Fresnay and Orane Demazis in the three title roles.

A fine copy in a contemporary binding, with a strictly contemporary inscription.