“I have a thirty-year-old son, my eldest, who is considered by law to be an illegitimate child, that is to say, cursed. […] I do not claim to legitimize him, because the law is fiercely formal. But for years, I have been looking for a way to give him my name. I was told at the town hall of the sixteenth arrondissement that if he were Jewish, it would not be impossible.”
Sold
Marcel Pagnol (1895.1974)
Autographed letter signed to a minister.
Three pages in quarto. Cagnes. August 15, 1960.
"I have a thirty-year-old son, my eldest, who is considered by law to be an illegitimate child, that is to say, cursed."
Marcel Pagnol went to great lengths to ensure that his illegitimate son would bear his surname.
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"Mr. Minister, I am appealing to you, in remembrance of Boulevard Murat. I have a thirty-year-old son, my eldest, who is, in the eyes of the law, an illegitimate child, that is to say, cursed. He bears his mother's name, and is therefore called Jacques Murphy. He opted for France, and he did his military service."
I don't claim to legitimize it, because the law is fiercely formal. But for years, I've been searching for a way to give him my name. I was told at the town hall of the 16th arrondissement that if he were Jewish, it wouldn't be impossible. He would simply have to take the name Pagnol, with my consent and that of my wife. Can't this privilege be granted to a Christian? Which department should I contact, under your guidance? This matter is so serious to me that I'm considering changing my son's nationality so that he can take my name.
It is in desperation that I address you , who surely have other things to do. But perhaps a single word from you would suffice? Please accept my long-standing admiration, which dates back to our youth… Marcel Pagnol.
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Separated from Simonne Collin, his first wife, from whom he would not officially divorce until 1941, Pagnol met a young English dancer named Kitty Murphy in 1930. Their affair produced a son, Jacques. He was not legally permitted to bear his father's name until July 1976, following a court ruling that overturned the previous law preventing the recognition of a child born out of wedlock. It was thanks to the application of the legal precedent set by the Picasso estate—which recognized his three illegitimate children as legitimate heirs—that Jacques Murphy finally became Jacques Pagnol, thus fulfilling his late father's long-held wish.