Pierre Decourcelle
| Pierre Decourcelle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Pierre Adrien Decourcelle 25 January 1856 Paris |
| Died | 10 October 1926 (aged 70) Paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Writer and playwright |
Pierre Adrien Decourcelle (25 January 1856 - 10 October 1926) was a French writer and playwright.
Pierre Adrien Decourcelle was born in Paris on 25 January 1856. His father, Adrien Decourcelle, and his uncle, Adolphe d'Ennery, were both authors. He attended the Lycée Henri-IV, then worked as a merchant and stockbroker before starting to write plays.
Decourcelle's first effort, Le Grain de beauté (The Beauty Mark) premiered at the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell on 27 March 1880. In 1882 He wrote the drama L'As de trèfle (The Ace of Clubs) for Sarah Bernhardt, who performed it at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu. From the 1880s onward he created many comedies, opera libretti and adaptations of novels for the stage. Decourcelle and Léopold Lacour made a play from Paul Bourget's Mensonges, which was first performed on 18 April 1889. Bourget also collaborated with Decourcelle in their adaptation of Idylle tragique for the stage. In October 1897 Decourcelle's French version of William Gillette's play Secret Service was put on by the Theatre Renaissance in Paris.
Decourcelle also worked as a journalist for Le Gaulois under the pseudonyms "Choufleuri" and "Valentin". He was a prolific author, turning out cheap novels for the juvenile market. Decourcelle's romans revanchard became popular. These were nationalistic and conservative novels that called for revenge for the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. His novel Les Deux Gosses (1880) was his most successful. It was adapted for the cinema by several directors.
In 1908 Decourcelle founded a company to adapt literary works to the screen, with Eugène Guggenheim. The Société des Auteurs et des Gens de Lettres (SCAGL) became respected for the quality of its productions. Three American serials starring Pearl White were recut and re-arranged into a series called Les Mystères de New-York for French cinemas, screened in Paris between December 1915 and May 1916. While episodes of the silent ciné-roman series were being played in the theaters each week, Decourcelle's versions of the stories were published by Le Matin and the provincial papers. In 1921 SCAGL produced an adaptation by André Antoine of Émile Zola's La Terre. The depiction of brutist morals in a farming environment were toned down considerably for the screen version.
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