84 - PAGNOL (Marcel). Signed autograph letter TO LOUIS JOUVET. No place, [1946–1947]. One half page, folio size.

PAGNOL (Marcel). Signed autograph letter TO LOUIS JOUVET. No place, [1946–1947]. One half page, folio size. “Louis, don’t worry: it’s not a play, it’s a movie. I conceived it with enthusiasm; I don’t know if I executed it well. There will be plenty of special effects! I’ll shoot those separately. FOR THE ACTUAL FILM, WOULD YOU LIKE TO DIRECT IT AND PLAY THE ROLE OF THE TRIBE’S FATHER? For the Pale Man, we could cast Fresnay, and for the Girl, Jacqueline Bouvier. For the others, I don’t have any preconceived ideas. We’d shoot two weeks in winter, two in spring, and two in summer. In any case, even if you don’t care, read this. You can tell me what you think because I’ve started another one that’s, naturally, a thousand times better so far. It’s a shame to have friends like you and never see them. You know, YOU ARE A TRULY GREAT MAN OF THE DRAMATIC ARTS, AND EVERYTHING YOU DO GROWS AS IT DRIFTS AWAY. Hugs, Marcel” Based on a screenplay conceived as early as 1934, Marcel Pagnol planned to make a film titled “First Love,” which would dramatize—with a happy ending—the emergence of monogamy in human history: a couple in prehistoric times defies the opposition of their tribe and the harshness of the natural world to live out an exclusive love. In 1946, Marcel Pagnol initially envisioned a cast featuring Louis Jouvet and Luis Mariano, then Pierre Fresnay; later, with the intention of producing it in Canada in 1947, he envisioned a cast with Alain Cuny and Gérard Philippe. This project would never come to fruition.