290 - JOUVET (Louis), 1887–1951.

JOUVET (Louis), 1887–1951. Autograph letter, “Louis Jouvet,” Paris, February 16, 1933, 2 pp., in-4, on letterhead of the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre Louis Jouvet, [to Jean COCTEAU] (large tears [with no loss of text], previously restored). An important letter to Jean Cocteau on the genesis of *La Machine infernale*, written in the midst of rehearsals for Giraudoux’s *Intermezzo*. A few days before the premiere of *Intermezzo*, Jouvet, overwhelmed by rehearsals, admits to being “very behind on Giraudoux” and struggling with his “specter,” while his anxiety is already merging with that which “the shadow of Laius” will cause him, his role in Cocteau’s upcoming *La Machine infernale*. Eleven days earlier, on February 5, 1933, Cocteau had given him a typewritten copy of his play, which Jouvet had asked to reread, paying particular attention to the third act. Here he eagerly awaits the “new third act” and offers a striking analysis of the play’s dramatic mechanics: “On ‘one’ and ‘two,’ the cartridges are slid into the barrel.—On ‘three,’ the hammers are cocked,” before “the firing on ‘four.’” Jouvet also mentions his recent meeting with Christian Bérard, who would be designing the sets and costumes for the play, and is already looking forward to their next collaboration. At the same time, he is concerned not to “frustrate” Jeanne Lanvin, whose fashion house had already worked on his productions, and suggests discussing the matter with Jean Labusquière, a close friend of Jouvet’s and a longtime collaborator of the fashion designer. The letter thus captures a particularly interesting moment: in February 1933, as Jouvet was finishing *Intermezzo*, the staging of *La Machine infernale* was already taking shape in his exchanges with Cocteau, Bérard, and the haute couture community—more than a year before its premiere in April 1934.