RAIMU reprimands his friend Marcel PAGNOL for writing "César". 1935.

Jules MURAIRE known as RAIMU (1883.1946)

Autographed letter signed to Marcel Pagnol.

Two large quarto pages on paper with frayed edges and addressed to him.

Paris. October 9 [1935]

"After the success of Fanny and Marius, I'm afraid of failure..."

A formidable letter from the actor, in a friendly and directive tone, to his author Marcel Pagnol, scolding him for his laziness in finally completing César, the third installment of the Marseilles Trilogy after Marius and Fanny.

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" My dear Pagnol, upon [Henri] Alibert , I truly believed you would have been working on César. For don't forget, it's a play by the great Marcel Pagnol. And yet, something isn't quite right. Alibert still wants it performed. That's a mistake. For after the success of Fanny and Marius, I fear a failure, and I must say this because of you, because of your laziness."

We're rehearsing on Monday. But we'd all like you to either focus on your play or give orders and wait for you: believe me, Marcel, that's a big mistake. There's no connection between the scenes. The scenes are too short, and that's a job no one but you can do. Unless you take on an assistant, which would be impossible. Yours truly. Affectionately, Raimu.

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Unlike the first two theatrical installments of the Marseilles Trilogy , Marius (1929) and Fanny (1931), Pagnol chose to write César directly for the screen. Filmed in 1936, it was released on November 11 of that year, starring Raimu in the title role, Pierre Fresnay as Marius , and Orane Demazis as Fanny .

Pagnol himself indicates in the preface to César [Complete Works] that the cinematic approach was imposed upon him by the impossibility of reuniting the actors of the trilogy for more than two consecutive months in the theater: “Raimu’s absence and the successive departures of the originators of the other roles would have put us at great risk […] The Paris offices summoned the actors, who were immediately hired, for a date a little too soon for my liking: but because of the contracts that several had already signed for other films, I only had a month to write my work […] So I set to work with complete confidence, and I wrote the first sequences of the film without difficulty; but my work was constantly interrupted by the telephone, the bricklayers, the carpenters, the set designers, the prop men, who were already preparing for the production…”

The film was adapted for the stage by Pagnol ten years later, and the play premiered in 1946 at the Théâtre des Variétés. Henri Alibert replaced Pierre Fresnay in the role.