Marcel PAGNOL strives to have his son Jacques Murphy recognized.

Marcel PAGNOL (1895.1974)

Autograph letter signed to a minister.

Three pages in-4°. Cagnes. August 15, 1960.

“I have a boy of thirty years old, my eldest son, who is before the law an adulterous child, that is to say cursed. »

Marcel Pagnol strives to ensure that his adulterous son bears his surname.

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“Mr. Minister, I appeal to you, in memory of Boulevard Murat. I have a thirty-year-old boy, my eldest son, who is before the law an adulterous child, that is to say cursed. He is named after his mother, and is therefore called Jacques Murphy. He opted for France, and did his military service.

I do not claim to legitimize it, because the law is fiercely formal. But for years, I've been looking for a way to give it my name. It was explained to me, at the town hall of the 16th district, that if he were Jewish, the thing would not be impossible. He would only have to take the name Pagnol, with my consent and that of my wife. Can this privilege not be granted to a Christian? Which service should I go to, under your aegis? This issue is so serious for me that I am thinking of changing my boy's nationality, so that he can take my name.

It is in desperation that I am speaking to you , who nevertheless have much else to do. But maybe just one word from you would be enough? Please believe in my very old admiration, which dates from our youth… Marcel Pagnol. »

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Separated from Simonne Collin, his first wife, from whom he did not officially divorce until 1941, Pagnol met a young English dancer named Kitty Murphy in 1930. From their idyll a son, Jacques, was born. The latter would only be legally authorized to bear his father's name in July 1976, after a legal decision overturning the impossibility of recognizing a child of an adulterous relationship. It was thanks to the application of jurisprudence linked to the Picasso estate – recognizing his three adulterous children as legitimate heirs – that Jacques Murphy finally became Jacques Pagnol, thus granting his late father's ancient wish.