Marcel Pagnol Signed Autograph Letter: Theatre, Cinema & Hard Times

  

Marcel Pagnol - Autograph letter signed - Theater, Cinema & hard times. Autograph letter signed to “Gaby” Gabriel Audisio?

, 2.5 pages in quarto, in green ink, circa 1956. Slight tears at the side folds. A fine letter from Pagnol speaking about dramatic art and its writers.

Invited by his correspondent to share his reflections on the crisis affecting dramatic art, Pagnol describes the artistic world and, with remarkable foresight, presents the profession’s shift toward cinema — not without the sharp wit for which he is known. Theater and its authors seem to be drawn in by cinema, which attracts these talents, while critics question their abilities and undermine the very cause they are supposed to support. A fine, lucid testimony from Pagnol, a successful writer who throughout his career combined theater and cinema.

Thank you for the drawing: it is delightful. But what can I tell you about your inquiry?

Is there a crisis in theater? In 2,500 years, dramatic art has not produced 2,500 masterpieces anywhere in the world.

Why should we have three or four per season?

Another point of view: the young people who are 25 years old today were nine in 1940. Have they been fed well enough, from the ages of nine to fifteen?

I know well that the main nourishment of great writers was always, they say, hard times. But those virulent steaks certainly contained more fat than rutabaga.

And then there is cinema. Almost all playwrights write for the movies.

In the meantime, they do not write comedies. Finally, there is criticism: it does not help writers, and its praise is as unjustified as its attacks are harsh. If we had a Sarcey, an Antoine, a Pawlowski, a Lucien Dubech, a Gabriel Boissy, no one would be talking about a crisis in theater.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.