French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Lucien Guitry as Chantecler, Le coq (The Rooster) in the stage play 'Chantecler' by Edmond Rostand.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Félix Galipaux as Le Merle (The Blackbird) in the stage play 'Chantecler' by Edmond Rostand. French actor, playwright, and humorist Galipaux (1860-1931) was known for his comic stage monologues, such as 'Communication Téléphonique' (1906). A few of these monologues were recorded.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Mme Simone as La Faisane (The Pheasant) in the stage play 'Chantecler' (1910), written by Edmond Rostand. French actress and writer Pauline Benda (1877-1985), known as Madame Simone or simply Simone, made her debut in the theatre in 1902. She acted in plays by Luigi Pirandello and Henry Bataille, among others.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Léontine Bouchetal as La vieille Poule et les Poussins (The Old Hen and the Chicks) in the stage play 'Chantecler' (1910), written by Edmond Rostand. French stage actress Léontine Bouchetal (1872-1932) played the role of mère Marguerite in the premiere of 'Cyrano de Bergerac' in 1897. At her wedding in January 1904, the witnesses were Coquelin aîné, Jean Coquelin and the police prefect Louis Lépine.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Jean Coquelin as the farmyard dog Patou in the stage play 'Chantecler' (1910), written by Edmond Rostand. Jean Coquelin (1865-1944) was the son of the famous stage actor Benoit Constant Coquelin. He played Raigoné in Edmond Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac', the major play in which his father had performed. Coquelin and his father played together in the stage play 'La Dame de Monsoreau' (1860), after a novel by Alexandre Dumas. Between 1925 and 1943 he also appeared in several films.
The laughing stock of all domestic and wild animals
The Disney studio based the idea for Chanticleer on the stage play 'Chantecler'. Famous French auteur Edmond Rostand wrote this play in four acts in 1910. 'Chantecler' was first performed on 7 February 1910 at the Porte-Saint-Martin theatre. The lead roles were played by Lucien Guitry, Jean Coquelin, Félix Galipaux and Madame Simone.
Lucien Guitry starred as the rooster Chantecler. Guitry was considered the preeminent French actor of his day. For many years, he played opposite Sarah Bernhardt. He also appeared in silent films like Tosca (1908) and Ceux de chez nous (1915). He was married to Jeanne Desclois and Renée de Pont-Jest, and his son was the well-known actor-writer-director Sacha Guitry.
Chantecler is a coquerel who reigns over a barnyard. He is so convinced of his importance that he imagines his crowing will make the sun rise. But the arrival of a pheasant hen turns his life upside down. Love is revealed to him in such a way that he forgets to crow. So when the sun comes out, Chantecler becomes the laughingstock of all domestic and wild animals.
Especially the owls, the creatures of the night, hate him and force him to accept a public fight with another cock. The fight takes place in the guinea fowl's literary salon. After a near-death experience, Chantecler defends the barnyard against the threats of a sparrowhawk, thereby regaining some of his prestige. Unjustly neglected, but understanding that vanity is stronger than love in the cock, the pheasant nevertheless sacrifices herself for him and goes to meet a hunter in his place. A shot is fired, but it is the golden-voiced nightingale who is mortally wounded. The rooster's hoarse crow alone will continue to celebrate the dawn.
Opposite the proud cockerel Chantecler, there is the vile Merl. He represents the cynical city slicker, intrigue, jealousy and cowardry. Then there are the presumptuous Guinea Fowl, the loyal and friendly dog Patou, the Pheasant, representing female Beauty and the Modern Woman, the vain and stupid Peacock, the fragile and magic Nightingale, and the creatures of the night like the Toads (ugly and powerless, a critique by Rostand of theatre critics) and the Night Birds like the Owls, who hate the cockerel as they can only live during the night and he disturbs this.
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley), no. 88. Caption: L'auteur de 'Chantecler' (the author of Chantecler - Edmond Rostand).
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley), no. 84. Jean Coquelin as the farmyard dog Patou in 'Chantecler' (1910), a play by Edmond Rostand.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley), no. 85. Mme Simone in the French stage play 'Chantecler' (1910), written by Edmond Rostand.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley), no. 86. Lucien Guitry was the title character in the French stage play 'Chantecler' (1910), written by Edmond Rostand.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley), no. 87. Félix Galipaux in the French stage play 'Chantecler' (1910), written by Edmond Rostand.
Very high expectations
After his successes with 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and 'L'Aiglon', the expectations for Edmond Rostand's next play were very high. Rostand took years to finish 'Chanticler' which involved over 70 characters and 195 costumes. The author himself designed all the sets and costumes and he almost crashed during the preparations of his gigantic enterprise. The play finally premiered on 7 February 1910 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with a star cast including Lucien Guitry as Chantecler and Jean Coquelin as Patou.
The premiere audience was deluded and even felt insulted, as Rostand sharply criticised the hypocrisy, jealousy, intrigues, and presumptuousness of life in the city, as opposed to the countryside. Moreover, audiences were not accustomed to seeing the famous actors dressed up as animals, and some felt Guitry's performance was not his best. A revival in 1927, with Victor Francen as Chantecler, was better received. Afterwards, the play would be revived in and outside of France several times, while the Broadway version already took place in 1911, with Maud Adams starring.
Wikipedia offers the curious afterlife of the play: "In June 1960, Disney told the Los Angeles Times that, following the release of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, two animated projects were in development, which were Chanticleer and The Sword in the Stone. Around that same time, Disney's elder brother Roy O. Disney attempted to persuade him to discontinue their feature animation division, as enough films remained to make successful re-releases. The younger Disney refused, but, because of his plans to build another theme park in the United States, he would approve only one animated film to be released every four years.
Chanticleer was developed by Ken Anderson and Marc Davis, who aimed to produce a feature animated film in a more contemporary setting. They visited the Disney archives and decided to work on adapting the satirical tale after glancing at earlier conceptions dating back to the 1940s. Anderson, Davis, Milt Kahl, and director Wolfgang Reitherman spent months preparing elaborate storyboards for Chanticleer. Following a silent response to one pitch presentation, a voice from the back of the room said, "You can't make a personality out of a chicken!" When the time came to approve either Chanticleer or The Sword in the Stone, Disney remarked that the problem with making a rooster a protagonist was, "[you] don't feel like picking a rooster up and petting it."
In 1992, Edmond Rostand's story of Chantecler was loosely adapted into the American animated film Rock-a-Doodle (Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, Dan Kuenster, 1992) and set in Tennessee in 1957. Here the Grand Duke of Owls concocts to have Chanticleer ridiculed as he forgets to crow at the rising sun after a fierce battle, so the rooster leaves for town to become a singer. Meanwhile, the night birds set their hungry eyes on the farm birds... Glen Campbell gave his voice to Chanticleer and Christopher Plummer dubbed the Grand Duke of Owls. The film was neither a critical success nor a box office hit. However, it would be more successful during its home video release.
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act I, with Lucien Guitry as the Rooster. Caption: L'Hymne au Soleil (Anthem to the Sun).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act I, with Lucien Guitry as The Rooster. Caption: Chantecler et ses Poules (Chantecler and his hens).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act I. Caption: L'Arrivée de la Faisane (The arrival of the pheasant).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act II, with Lucien Guitry in the title role and Mme Simone as the Pheasant. Caption: Le Matin du Coq (The Morning of the Rooster).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act II. Caption: Les Nocturnes - L'Ode à la Nuit (Nocturnes - Ode to the Night).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Photo Bert. Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act III Caption: Le jour de la Pintade (The Day of the Guinea Fowl). Left to right: The Blackbird (Felix Galipaux), The Rooster (Lucien Guitry), The Old Hen & the Chicks (Léontine Bouchetal), and far right, The Pheasant (Mme Simone).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Photo Bert. Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act IV. Caption: Les Crapauds (The Toads).
French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Photo Bert. Scene from the stage play 'Chantecler', Act IV. Caption: La Nuit du Rossignol (The Night of the Nightingale). In the foreground, Lucien Guitry as Chantecler and Mme Simone as The Pheasant.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Dorival as Le Grand Duc (Grand Duke of Owls) in 'Chantecler' (1910).
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Augustine Leriche as La Pintade (The Guineafowl) in 'Chantecler' (1910). French stage actress and singer Augustine Leriche (1856-1938) performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique, Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, Théâtre du Châtelet, Gaîté-Lyrique, Théâtre de l'Athénée, and Théâtre du Palais-Royal. At the Porte-Saint-Martin, she created the role of the guinea fowl in 'Chantecler'.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Henri Harment as Le Dindon (The Turkey) in 'Chantecler' (1910). In the 1910s, French stage actor Henri / Henry/ Harry Harment (1878-19..) alternated between the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique and the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in plays such as 'La Flambée' by Henry Kistemaeckers, 'Le Mystère de la chambre jaune' by Gaston Leroux, and 'Les Flambeaux' by Henry Bataille. Onscreen, Harment debuted in La petite fonctionnaire (Georges Denola, 1912). He acted as Louis XVI opposite Diana Karenne as Marie-Antoinette in Le collier de la reine (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929). In the early 1930s, Harment also had supporting parts in Delphine (Roger Capellani, 1931) and in Une nuit à l'hôtel (Leo Mittler, 1932). Afterwards, he also scripted the Yvette Lebon vehicle Les mariages de Mademoiselle Lévy (André Hugon, 1936) and C'est lui que je veux (André Royet, 1937) - in the latter, he also acted.
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Carmen Deraisy as La Poule Blanche (The White Chicken) in 'Chantecler' (1910). French stage and screen actress Carmen Deraisy aka Carmen de Raisy (1883-1954) played the femme fatale Gioconda Danti in Gabriele D'Annunzio's play 'La Gioconda' (1905). After that, she did several performances at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique. In 1910 she started at the company Éclair to act in such films as La jolie dame de Narbonne (Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, 1910) in which she had the lead right away. In 1911 she stepped over to Pathé, where she could be seen in La fiancée du château maudit (Albert Capellani, 1911), a Horror film about a bride who gets trapped in a room with a skeleton. Between 1911 and 1914, she acted in eight more Pathé films. She would return to the film set only once more, as a fortuneteller in the Harry Baur film Péchés de jeunesse (Maurice Tourneur, 1941).
French postcard by ELD (Ed. Le Deley) / GPL. Photo: Bert. Paulette Lorsy and Madeleine Deréval as La Poule Grise and La Poule Houdan in 'Chantecler' (1910). French theatre and silent film actress Paulette Lorsy (1881-1929) performed in Paris's leading theatres, including the Porte-Saint-Martin, the Gymnase, the Ambigu, the Sarah-Bernardt and the Athénée, as well as in the provinces and abroad. She played in vaudeville and prose comedies, but also in such dramas as 'Cyrano de Bergerac. Lorsy started to act in film farces at Pathé Frères in 1909. She was matched with comedian Max Linder in 1910 and acted in numerous of his comedies. She also acted in the comedies with Rigadin (Prince), directed by Georges Denola. From 1915 to 1917, she acted in many short comedies directed by Henri Gambart.
Sources: Wikipedia (English and French) and IMDb.
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