ZAZA (1923)
For thirty years "Zaza" has remained one
of the great love stories of the theatre.
Rejane, Dusé, Leslie Carter, Farrar...
each in her time has created anew this beloved character -
always different... yet always Zaza!
And now another... a modern an tempestous Zaza...
the Zaza of today...
Within the old town of St. Esmé, a few miles from Paris...
The provincial music Hall come into sudden
prosperity through the discovery of a new star.
Even back stage, the other acts were of casual
importance so long as Zaza was on the bill.
Gloria Swanson as Zaza
Once a singing gamine of the streets, she had fought for whatever,
she had fought or whatever she had... and couldn't quite lose the habit.
Temper or temperament! They were one to Nathalie, her maid.
Yvonne Hughes.
"Tonnerre! Diable! Where's my dressing jacket?"
"You have it on, Ma'm'selle!"
"Idiot! Why didn't you leave it in my trunk where I could find it!"
Aunt Rosa had once taken Zaza under her wing...
and had been drinking over her ever since.
Lucille La Verne.
"Guess who's out front, ma petite?"
"Bernand Dufresne!"
"No! The Duke! He came with me just to see you!"
"But the Duck is so richs anda has such a wonderfull cellar."
"What an old wine-sack you are!"
Bernanr Dufresne, of the diplomatic corps,
had come to St. Esmé on a political mission...
but it was no longer the mission that delayed his return to Paris.
H. B. Warner.
Rigaul, Zaza manager and confidant. Rilley Hatch.
"Ah, Monsieur Dufresne! You always arrive just before Zaza's act...
and always leave directly after. I congratulate you on your taste, Monsieur."
Florianne has once been the favorite at the Odeon.
Mary Thurman.
The strong man of the acrobatic troupe.
"Ah, another curtain call for me!"
"That applause is for Zaza!"
"If I paid the waiters, I could get applause too!"
"Anyone catching Zaza's sliper, tonight...
will be rewarded by Mademoiselle herself.
The Duc de Brissac. Ferdinand Gottschalk.
"She only flirts with you... to make the old Duke jealous!"
"You wool-head... I'd have caught him with my slipper,
if you hadn't juggled me!"
When the curtain had fallen on Zaza's final act.
To Zaza, love had been like rouge, wearing off several kisses.
But with Dufresne... she hadn't even found courage to speak.
"One word more... and I'll knock you down again,"
"There's one man who doesn't fall for your nonsense!"
For two days, Dufresne avoided the Odeon, and well...
Zaza didn't inted to be avoided.
"If you'll only get Dufresne here tonight,
you can be my manager until Aunt Rosa goes dry."
For good luck!
"Dodge the black cats, and I'll buy you a new gold tooth."
"I've been called to a conference in Paris...
I'm leaving tonight."
"What is a conference... when a pretty woman is waiting?"
"If she were merely a pretty woman, Rigault, I'd stay".
"If I should see her again, Rigault... I might not go away."
"Would it be discreet, Monsieur, to pack this?"
"He has gone... to Paris!"
With an hour to spare before train time...
"Zaza! It's... Dufresne!"
For another week Dufresne delayed his departure...
The especialist that he brought from Paris
had saved Zaza from a being a cripple.
"The bones are knitting... but she needs rests,
freedom from worry, sympathy. Her nerves are shattered."
"Don't forget, Bernard, the Foreign Departament
is waiting for your return to Paris."
"Don't leave me, Bernard!
When you're here, the pain all goes away!"
In a peaceful little cottage at the edge of town,
love accomplished more than all the doctors.
"Don't tell him I am well, or he may not stay!"
There came wires from the Foreign Department...
even an offer to make him Chargé d'affaires in Washington...
yet Dufresne lingered on.
Dufresne's wife. Florence Faire
Madame Dufresne had always encouraged separation...
but she was ambitious.
" I hear you've received the appointment to Whashington."
"So it is to that, I owe the honor of this sudden interest in me?"
"If you choose to put it so blunty... yes. I've waited long for this sucess."
"Perhaps I shall refuse the post after all."
"Ah no, my friend, it is too late for that!
You owe it to me... and your family!"
"Perhaps you're right...
A few good-byes and I shall be ready to go."
"Wait till you see the wonderful contract Rigault has for you!"
Her life's ambition... A chance to sing in Paris!
"I'll build a theatre for you that will rival Bernhardt's."
"But he... he doesn't want me to go to Paris."
His favorite song... her favorite weapon.
"What's Wrong, Bernard?"
"I'm going away, Zaza, to America."
"You'll take me with you?"
"I'd give the world if I could take you... but I cannot... please, darling...
be reasonable."
"Reasonable! If I were reasonable I wouldn't love you so!"
The rumor of a mysterious arrival at Dufresne's lodgings
had brought shrewd old Rigault to observe for himself.
"May I inquire who is the lady?
"She occupes the position that some of you ladies at the Odeon give
yout eye-teeth for."
"If Zaza knew..."
"Remember... there's a good contract for you when she quits Dufresne!"
"What a silly song!"
"Quite a Don Juan this gentleman!"
"What a downy little nest he's fixes up for you!"
"He must have a dozen of them! I Just saw him leaving for
Paris with a charming creature!"
"You lie! there is no other woman... there can't be any other woman!"
"Why, you stupid little fool... he was only amusing himself here!"
"I'm going to Paris... and if I find him with another woman,
I'll give her worse than I gave Florianne!"
The Dufresne home in Paris is just off the fashionable Rue d'Alma.
"M'sieu Dufresne is not in."
"I said, M'sieu Dufresne is out!"
"I heard you!"
"Would you like to see Madame Dufresne?"
"So! She calls herself that, does she!"
"I'll see her as soon as I've finished this note."
"Who are you?"
"I am Lucille Dufresne."
"What is your... papa's name?"
"M'sieu Bernard Dufresne."
"You come to see my mamma?"
"Why are you crying, madame?"
"you love your papa... very much?"
"Oh, yes! Better than anyone in the world... except mamma!"
"this is my papa. He's been away a long, long time... but he's come back, now."
"Do you wish to see me?"
"No, Madame, I... I've made a mistake."
Zaza's abrupt trip to Paris had inspired a new conspiracy.
"Zaza my dear... I am going to give you a party tonight...
and I want you to wear these."
Just beyond St. Esmé is the Duke's historic chateau.
"The Duc de Brissac is giving her a grand party at his chateau!"
"Forgive me Florianne. You were right... there is another woman... he has a wife...
and a baby."
"And to think it was on his account... Oh, Zaza! That swing at the Odeon...
I cut it..."
"I wish to Heaven you had broken my neck!"
"If you ever have the choice between a broken neck and a broken heart...
take the broken neck!"
"Hang all men, Zaza! We'll play them for what they are."
"Dearest... I can't leave you!"
"You have no right to come back to me... you've a wife and child!"
"You didn't tell me... that's what hurts most... why didn't you tell me
the truth?"
"I tried not to love you... tried to go away until I could come to you free.
Then I found that nothing mattered... nothing but you!"
"Love! What is love to you, anyway, but lies and kisses
and lies!"
"Oh, shut up!"
"Why should I choose you when I'll soon be mistress of all this!"
"You love me, don't you, darling?"
"Monsieur Dufresne, perhaps you and your wife will call on us,
the Duke and Duchess of... whatever it is!"
"A toast to the future Duchesse de Brissac!"
"No... a toast to the little fool who thought she was in love...
a toast to the old Zaza!"
So ended Zaza's dream of love...
and so began the long years of forgetting.
I realize now what it cost you to show me the path of duty.
Here in America I have had time to to reason, to understand.
I will never forget. I will try only to be worthy, Bernard."
"You may sign the contract, Rigault. I'll not marry the Duke..."
In the seven years that passed, the world was shaken to its depths...
then settled down to clear its wreckage. New leaves crowded the pages of history...
New names appeared on the roll of fame.
And many who had gained honor in the war made the Paris
salon of Madame de Laumes their meeeting place.
Tragedy sobers, transforms... and years of contact with suffering,
of unceasing war work and charties, had borne their influence upon a
star loved by all Paris.
"Why, there's Mademoiselle Zaza! Papa has taken me night after night
to see her at the Opéra Comique."
Florianne had become her inseparable companion.
"You're a friend of mademoiselle Zaza?"
"Who are you?"
"I am Lucille Dufresne."
"It is good to meet you... again."
"I thought I could never care... again."
"Where may I find you, later? I want to talk with you... alone."
To Zaza, the little cottage at the edge of St. Esmé had always remained... home.
Florianne... in a little conspiracy of silence...
had not told Zaza of Lucille's confidences.
"If you ask my name, as you did before, I'll say... it's Lucille Dufresne."
"And if you ask my papa's name, I'll tell you... It's Bernard Dufresne.
"But I can't ask you again if you want to see mamma,
because she died... in America."
"Won't you sing... just for me?"