Monsieur Beaucaire

Monsieur Beaucaire is play by E.G. (Evelyn Greenleaf) Sutherland(1855-1908)[1] and Booth Tarkington (1869–1946)[2].

The original text

Based on the short novel about the barber of King Louis XV of France by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Booth Tarkington (first published in 1900), it was adapted as a play by Tarkington and Sutherland in 1904 and first performed starring Evelyn Millard and Lewis Waller, the play received a Royal Command Performance at Windsor Castle before Edward VII.

In 1924-25 it was a considerable West End success for Gerald Lawrence, who played the lead.

Translations and adaptations

Twice filmed, both times as Monsieur Beaucaire: As a "silent romantic historical drama film" in 1924, starring Rudolph Valentino, and as a 1946 comedy film, loosely based on the novel and starring Bob Hope.

Performed in South Africa

1904: Performed in the Cape Town Opera House by the Sass-Nelson Company in February, with a cast that included T.B. Thalberg and Katherine Pole.

1929: It was one of the plays performed by a West End theatre company from London, led by actor-manager Gerald Lawrence, which toured South Africa and Rhodesia, putting on a portfolio of five plays. The tour played in venues owned by African Theatres Ltd. and started in Johannesburg on 1st April 1929 and finished in Cape Town on 3rd October.

1939: Standard Theatre, Johannesburg.