Pierre Adrien Decourcelle (25 January 1856 - 10 October 1926) 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 (The Beauty Mark) premiered at the
Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell on 27 March 1880.
In 1882 he wrote the drama L'As de trèfle (The Ace of Clubs) 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.[citation needed]
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.[1]
In October 1897 Decourcelle's French version of
William Gillette's play Secret Service was performed by the Théâtre Renaissance in Paris.[2]
Decourcelle also worked as a journalist for Le Gaulois under the pseudonyms "Choufleuri" and "Valentin".[citation needed]
He was a prolific author, turning out cheap novels for the juvenile market.[3]
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.[4]
His novel Les Deux Gosses (1880) was his most successful.[5]
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.[6]
The Société des Auteurs et des Gens de Lettres (SCAGL) became respected for the quality of its productions.[7]
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.[8]
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.[6]
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.[9]
Pierre Decourcelle died on 10 October 1926, aged seventy.
L'As de trèfle (The Ace of Clubs), drama in five acts and nine tableaux, Paris,
Théâtre de l'Ambigu, 15 March 1883
La Buveuse de larmes (The Drinker of Tears) (1885)
Le Mariage à la course (Marriage on the run), skit in one act, 1886
Les Cinq doigts de Birouk (The Five Fingers of Birouk), drama in five acts, seven tableaux, Paris,
Théâtre de Paris, 18 December 1886
L'Abbé Constantin (The Abbé Constantin), comedy in three acts, in collaboration with Hector Crémieux, after the novel by
Ludovic Halévy, Paris,
Théâtre du Gymnase, 4 November 1887
Le Dragon de la reine (The queen's dragon), comic opera in three acts, in collaboration with Frantz Beauvallet, music by Léopold de Wenzel, Paris,
Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin), 31 March 1888
Après le pardon (After the pardon) by Mathilde Sérao and Pierre Decourcelle,
Théâtre Réjane, 1907
Le Roy sans royaume (The King without a kingdom), historical mystery in three parts and seven tableaux,
Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, 23 September 1909
La Rue du Sentier, comedy in four acts by Pierre Decourcelle and André Maurel,
Théâtre de l'Odéon, 16 April 1913
Les Deux Gosses (The two kids) (1880), 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.