Pierre Decourcelle
Pierre Adrien Decourcelle was a French writer and playwright.
Life
Pierre Adrien Decourcelle was born in Paris on 25 January 1856.His father, Adrien Decourcelle, and his uncle, Adolphe d'Ennery, were both authors.
He attended the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris, and then worked as a merchant and stockbroker before starting to write plays.
Decourcelle's first effort, Le Grain de beauté premiered at the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell on 27 March 1880.
In 1882 he wrote the drama L'As de trèfle for Sarah Bernhardt, who performed it at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu.
From the 1880s onward he created many comedies, opera libretti and adaptations of novels for the stage.
Decourcelle and Léopold Lacour made a play from Paul Bourget's Mensonges, which was first performed on 18 April 1889.
Bourget also collaborated with Decourcelle in their adaptation of Idylle tragique for the stage.
In October 1897 Decourcelle's French version of William Gillette's play Secret Service was performed by the Théâtre Renaissance in Paris.
Decourcelle also worked as a journalist for Le Gaulois under the pseudonyms "Choufleuri" and "Valentin".
He was a prolific author, turning out cheap novels for the juvenile market.
Decourcelle's romans revanchards became popular.
These were nationalistic and conservative novels that called for revenge for the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
His novel Les Deux Gosses was his most successful.
It was adapted for the cinema by several directors.
In 1908 Decourcelle founded a company to adapt literary works to the screen, with Eugène Guggenheim.
The Société des Auteurs et des Gens de Lettres became respected for the quality of its productions.
Three American serials starring Pearl White were recut and re-arranged into a series called Les Mystères de New-York for French cinemas,
screened in Paris between December 1915 and May 1916.
While episodes of the silent ciné-roman series were being played in the theaters each week, Decourcelle's versions of the stories were published by Le Matin and the provincial papers.
In 1921 SCAGL produced an adaptation by André Antoine of Émile Zola's La Terre.
The depiction of brutalist morals in a farming environment were toned down considerably for the screen version.
Pierre Decourcelle died on 10 October 1926, aged seventy.
Works
Theater
Le Grain de beauté , comedy in one act, Paris, Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell, 27 March 1880L'As de trèfle , drama in five acts, Paris, Théâtre de l'Ambigu, 15 March 1883Le Fond du sac , comedy in three acts, Paris, Théâtre du Palais-Royal, 24 March 1883La Danseuse au couvent , comedy in one act, Paris, Théâtre du Gymnase-Dramatique, 23 September 1883La Charbonnière drama in five acts, collaboration with Hector Crémieux, Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin), 31 January 1884L'As de trèfle , drama in five acts and nine tableaux, Paris, Théâtre de l'Ambigu, 15 March 1883La Buveuse de larmes Le Mariage à la course , skit in one act, 1886Les Cinq doigts de Birouk , drama in five acts, seven tableaux, Paris, Théâtre de Paris, 18 December 1886L'Abbé Constantin , comedy in three acts, in collaboration with Hector Crémieux, after the novel by Ludovic Halévy, Paris, Théâtre du Gymnase, 4 November 1887Madame Cartouche, comic opera in three acts, in collaboration with William Busnach, music by Léon Vasseur, Paris, Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, 19 October 1886Le Dragon de la reine , comic opera in three acts, in collaboration with Frantz Beauvallet, music by Léopold de Wenzel, Paris, Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin), 31 March 1888Mensonges , comedy in for acts and five tableaux, in collaboration with Léopold Lacour, after the novel by Paul Bourget, Paris, Théâtre du Vaudeville, 18 April 1889Gigolette, drama in one prolog, five acts and eight tableaux, in collaboration with Edmond Tarbé des Sablons, Paris, Théâtre de l'Ambigu, 25 November 1893Le Collier de la reine, play in five acts and 13 tableaux, Paris, 31 January 1895, Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, Après le pardon by Mathilde Sérao and Pierre Decourcelle, Théâtre Réjane, 1907Le Roy sans royaume , historical mystery in three parts and seven tableaux, Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, 23 September 1909La Rue du Sentier, comedy in four acts by Pierre Decourcelle and André Maurel, Théâtre de l'Odéon, 16 April 1913Novels and stories
Le Chapeau gris , novel Les Deux Gosses , novel illustrated by H. Meyer, Jonnard, and others, in 3 volumes, published in Paris by Éditions Rouff. Later adapted to the theatre and the cinema.Fanfan, second volume of Les Deux Gosses La Chambre d'amour Mam'zelle Misère Brune et blonde Crime de femme Gigolette, novel derived from his play, La librairie illustrée, Paris, 1895La Baillonnée , novel in four parts, c. 1904Les Mystères de New-York - Les Romans-Cinémas, éditions Renaissance du LivreLes Fêtards de Paris- ''Le Curé du Moulin-Rouge ''