# Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans

Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans is a three-act comedy play written in 1910 by the Belgian playwrights Frantz Fonson and Fernand Wicheler. It is a bourgeois situation comedy of manners and character, and a satire on the aspirations and issues of the lower middle class that emerged in Brussels in the early twentieth-century.
Combining French with the dialect and particular humour of Brussels, the play was an instant success both in its home country and abroad, and has continued to enjoy revivals and been met with a positive audience. Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans is widely regarded nowadays as an integral piece of Brussels folklore, known for its people's good-natured cockiness, and endures as part of the Belgian heritage.

## Summary

The play is set in the city of Brussels, where Mademoiselle Suzanne Beulemans, the daughter of a prosperous brewer, is betrothed to Séraphin Meulemeester, the son of a rival in the same profession. This union, however, is not founded on matters of the heart, but rather upon the material inducement of the dowry, which greatly motivates the young Séraphin and his calculating father.
Yet, there is a rival to this unromantic match in the person of Albert Delpierre, a young Frenchman of amiable disposition, placed under Ferdinand Beulemans' tutelage for instruction in the art of brewing. Albert, deeply enamoured of the fair Suzanne, learns of a serious indiscretion on the part of his rival: Séraphin maintains a clandestine attachment to a working woman, by whom he has already fathered a child. Though Albert, in an act of honour, swears to preserve this awkward secret, fate intercedes; for Suzanne, through the revelations of her maid Isabelle, is soon apprised of the affair.
With resolute spirit, Suzanne breaks off the engagement with Séraphin, urging him instead to right his wrongs by acknowledging his true affections and assuming the responsibilities of a father. This dissolution of the engagement, however, does not merely sever hearts, but also sparks fresh discord between the elder brewers, who now strive with acrimonious zeal for the coveted position of honorary president of the brewers' society.
In the end, the virtuous Suzanne and her devoted Albert use their wit and influence to secure the election of Beulemans, an act that earns the young suitor the heartfelt gratitude of his intended's father, bringing the play to a lively and satisfying conclusion.

## Cast

Original cast members throughout the first Belgian and French runs featured:
* Lucienne Roger as Suzanne Beulemans, the only Beulemans daughter
* Alfred-Louis Jacque as Ferdinand Beulemans, Brussels brewer, Suzanne's father
* Vara as Hortense Beulemans, Suzanne's mother
* Jules Berry as Albert Delpierre, young Frenchman employed by Beulemans
* Frémont as Monsieur Delpierre, French shopkeeper, Albert's father and acquaintance of Beulemans
* Merin as Séraphin Meulemeester, Suzanne's fiancé
* Ambreville as Monsieur Meulemeester, Séraphin's father
* Vitry as Isabelle, Maid
* Mylo as Mostinckx, committee president
* Marmont as Verduren, committee secretary
* Daix as Baron, committee treasurer
* Duro, Delferrière, Nobel, Lennac, Cerrébos as committee members
* Cilly as Octavie, waitress
The production crew included Frantz Fonson as stage director and Albert Dubosq as scenographer.

## History

Most likely inspired by both his own familial heritage and the vivid portrayals of Brussels life found in the works of Belgian novelist Léopold Courouble, whose depiction of the Kaekebroeck family's manners proved to be of particular note, Frantz Fonson, in partnership with his fellow dramatist Fernand Wicheler, set about crafting Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans.
This comedy play was conceived in response to the unexpected cancellation of a Parisian theatre company's eagerly anticipated engagement at Brussels' Théâtre de l'Olympia in the spring of 1910, a void which Fonson and Wicheler, with some style, were eager to fill.

### Premieres

The play premiered at Brussels' Théâtre de l'Olympia on March 18, 1910, and went on to Paris with the original cast, at Théâtre de la Renaissance on June 7, 1910. It had its first Swiss staging in Geneva the same year.
During the year 1911, while he was undertaking his first tour across South America with the Régnier-Tarride theatre company, Lucien Guitry directed the play's first stage performance outside Europe and interpreted Ferdinand Beulemans' role. It premiered at Rio de Janeiro's Theatro Municipal on 9 July. Members of the original French cast included Guitry's wife, Jeanne Desclos, in the role of Suzanne Beulemans, Louis Sance as Albert Delpierre and Gabriel Signoret as M. Meulemeester. An amateur production of the play was simultaneously staged for the first time in Argentina at Buenos Aires by Julian Jaraczewski on behalf of the Belgian photographic association.
Produced by Charles Frohman, the London premiere of the play took place in 1911, at the Globe Theatre on 16 September. It was performed in French by the original cast of the Bouffes-Parisiens including Alfred Jacque, Jules Berry and Gilberte Legrand. Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans lasted for sixteen performances at the Globe Theatre and enjoyed some success with London audiences.
In 1912, French producer and actor Paul Derval mounted a tour across former French Algeria. Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans premiered for the first time in Africa at Algiers' Kursaal on 27 September. Belgian actor Balthus performed the role of Ferdinand Beulemans with Belgian actress Yvonne Talbrys in the title role, and entertained French-speaking audiences in various performance halls throughout Algerian cities.

### Sequels

In the wake of the play's success, the authors wrote an operetta-like sequel, in three acts and four scenes, entitled: Beulemans marie sa fille. The music was composed by Arthur van Oost. The operetta was first seen in Brussels at Théâtre royal des Galeries on October 18, 1912, with Yvonne Gay, Alfred Jacque, Berthe Charmal, Georges Foix, Emile Mylo and Nicolas d'Ambreville in major roles.

### Tribute

The success of the play with audiences outside Belgium, despiste its strong local colour, strengthened Marcel Pagnol's will to write his Marseillian trilogy Marius, Fanny, and César. On the fiftieth anniversary of the play, the French academician met Lucien Fonson and told him how deeply his work was indebted to Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans. The text of his statement is curated at Brussel's Théâtre royal des Galeries, and remained as the tribute of renown to Fonson and Wicheler's masterpiece.

## Adaptations
### Settings in French

In 1927, French film director Julien Duvivier adapted the play for the cinema as a silent film, which starred French film actress Andrée Brabant in the lead role, using the same title. This first screen adaptation premiered the same year at Paris' Electric-Palace-Aubert on 23 September. The play was also adapted to the screen in 1932 by Jean Choux, and in 1950 by André Cerf, who both titled their film just as their predecessor did in 1927.
Pierre Brive adapted the play, to which he gave the same title, for radio, and this version was broadcast on April 9, 1943, as part of the national evening program on Radio Paris.
The French-language division of the Belgian public broadcaster produced and broadcast several television adaptations; with the following casts:
* 1967: Christiane Lenain (Suzanne), Jacques Lippe (M. Beulemans), Irène Vernal (Mme Beulemans), Jean-Pierre Loriot (Séraphin), Alain Robert (Albert), Marcel Roels (M. Meulemeester)
* 1978: Ania Guédroitz (Suzanne), Jacques Lippe (M. Beulemans), Christiane Lenain (Mme Beulemans), Olivier Monneret (Séraphin), Leonil Mc Cormick (Albert), Robert Roanne (M. Meulemeester)
* 1998: Cécile Florin (Suzanne), Raymond Pradel (M. Beulemans), Anne Deroever (Mme Beulemans), Pierre Pigeolet (Séraphin), Damien Gillard (Albert), Robert Roanne (M. Meulemeester) – Production by Théâtre de Montreux (Swiss)
* 2004: Cécile Florin (Suzanne), Daniel Hanssens (M. Beulemans), Pascale Vyvère (Mme Beulemans), Pierre Pigeolet (Séraphin), Damien Gillard (Albert), Robert Roanne (M. Meulemeester) Claudie Rion (Isabelle)
* 2014: Wendy Piette (Suzanne), Daniel Hanssens (M.Beulemans), Manuel Servais (Mme Beulemans), Denis Carpenters (Seraphin), Damien De Dobbeleer (M Albert), Laure Godisiabois (Isabelle), Pascal Racan (M Delpierre), Michel Poncelet (M Meulemeester), Bernard Lefranc (president), Jean-Paul Clerbois (secretary)
* 2014, featured a cast of Belgian television presenters: Caroline Veyt (Suzanne), Guy Lemaire (M. Beulemans), Marie-Hélène Vanderborght (Mme Beulemans), Adrien Devyver (Séraphin), Stéphane Jobert (Albert), Hubert Mestrez (M. Meulemeester), Sara de Paduwa (Isabelle)

### Settings in Flemish

The play was adapted into an Antwerpian context by Belgian writer Antoon de Graef and published in Antwerp as Fientje Beulemans. This version of the play was first performed at Antwerp's Koninklijke Nederlandsche Schouwburg at the end of December, 1910. Mmes Bertryn and Ruysbroek, and Messrs Gobau, Laroche and Van Ryn were cast for the leading roles. Some critics felt like Fonson and Wicheler's play was poorly adapted despite the cast's efforts to liven the performance up. Nonetheless, de Graef's adaptation had a greater appeal for the local audience and enjoyed successful revivals.
In the months that followed the outbreak of the First World War, Fientje Beulemans was staged at various Dutch theatres, with the exiled Flemish theatre troupe of the Antwerp's Koninklijke Vlaamsche Schouwburg. The adapted play, which starred Belgian actress Magda Janssens in the title role, was a runaway success with audiences across the Netherlands and lasted several months during wartime exile. The one hundredth performance of Fientje Beulemans was staged at Amsterdam's Flora Schouwburg in March 1916. De Graef's adaptation also enjoyed several revivals in Belgium and in the Netherlands over the years, including a 1952 Rotterdam production with Mieke Verstraete and Kees Brusse.
It was subsequently adapted for television by Belgian director Anton Peters with Chris Lomme performing the role of Fientje, produced by the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep and aired on March 14, 1974.
In 2002 Roger van de Voorde, stage director for the Brussels Volkstejoêter company, in collaboration with translator Claude Lammens, rewrote the play into Brussels dialect for the Flemish-speaking audiences. The rewritten play, now titled De Traafiest van Mademoiselle Beulemans, was staged partially on a grant from the Flemish Parliament by the Brussels Volkstejoêter company, and premiered at Brussels' Kaaitheater on February 8, 2003. More than 13,000 spectators came to see the thirty-eight performances of the play.

### Settings in English

In 1910, Fonson and Wicheler's play was for the first time translated into American English as Suzanne by Charles Haddon Chambers, without any particular adaptation to any singular place and cultural background. It was mounted at the Lyceum in New York by Charles Frohman, with Billie Burke performing the role of Suzanne Beulemans, and received its premiere on 26 December of the same year. The play lasted sixty-four performances.
In 1912, Sydney Blow and Douglas Hoare wrote a new English translation and stage adaptation of the Belgian comedy set in the Welsh town of Carmarthen as Little Miss Llewelyn. The play, which starred Hilda Trevelyan in the title role, was produced at the Vaudeville Theatre in London's West End by Norman McKinnel and ran from August 31, 1912, to February 20, 1913, for a total of one hundred and eighty-six performances and achieved popular success.
In 1996, American playwright and translator David Willinger revisited the play, within its original time period, and set the plot in Brooklyn's Yiddish-speaking community. He published this new American English adaptation under the title of Miss Bullberg's Marriage. The play is still to be staged.

### Settings in other languages

Besides inspiring two English adaptations in the authors' lifetime, the play has also been adapted, altered or translated and performed across different countries, and born several editions.
It was almost immediately translated by Hungarian writer Heltai Jenő and published at Budapest in 1910 as Beulemans Kisasszony házassága. It premiered on 5 October of the same year at the Vígszínház, Budapest's grand comedy theatre.
The play was presented and first staged with Galli theatre company in an Italian translation in Rome at the Teatro Valle on January 11, 1911, under the title Il matrimonio della signorina Beulemans.
A Czech version by Luděk Frič was mounted at Prague's National Theatre, the Národní divadlo, and premiered on September 15, 1911, as Vdavky slečny Beulemansovy.
A translated version of the play entitled Susanne verlobt sich, by German writer Theodor Ferdinand Bock, was produced at Berlin in 1911.
In 1912, Auguste Carton translated the play into Walloon under the name of L'mariatche delle fie Beulemance, or El mariâdje dèl fîye Beulemans, and his version of the play was staged the same year at Charleroi's Théâtre des Variétés, which he directed for several years.
The play was adapted to the Danish stage by Danish writer Johannes Anker Larsen in collaboration with Danish screenwriter Paul Sarauw for the Folketeatret of Copenhagen as Anne-Maries giftermaal, or Annemaries giftermaal, and premiered on November 3, 1912.
A Brazilian Portuguese version entitled O casamento da senhorita Beulemans was published at Rio de Janeiro following its premiere at the Cinema Rio in August 1913, as translated by Brazilian writer Renato de Castro.
The play, which had its first performance in German in Berlin in 1911, was likewise mounted in German for the Austrian stage at Vienna's Lustspieltheater at the end of 1913 in an adaptation entitled Schwechater Lager.
The play was translated into Finnish as Kunnia-esimies Beulemans and premiered on May 20, 1914, at the Suomen Kansallisteatteri, in Helsinki.
On the evening of April 10, 1915, at Lisbon's Teatro da Avenida, the first performance in Portugal was given of Fonson and Wicheler's play, translated by Portuguese writer Accacio Antunes, under the title of O casamento da menina Beulemans.
Turkish writer Hüseyin Suâd Yalçın translated and altered the play in collaboration with Münir Nigâr as Kayseri Gülleri. It premiered at Istanbul's Tepebaşı Theatre on March 23, 1918, and was first published in Ottoman Turkish in 1920. This version was given in modern Turkish transcription by Atabey Kılıç, and published in April 2016.
The play was adapted in Sweden by Swedish writer Algot Sandberg as Ann-Sofis giftermål and premiered at Stockholm's Södra Teatern on September 24, 1921.
In 1933, the play was adapted into an Alsatian context by bilingual poet, playwright and composer Victor Schmidt as D'Hochzitt vo d'r Mamsell Martischang, and premiered for the first time in Alsace at Colmar in the vernacular by the local dialectal company Théâtre Alsacien de Colmar on 2 April. This Alsatian dialect stage production resulted in great success with local audiences and enjoyed revivals.
Aside from these translations or adaptations, it was alleged that the play was also adapted and introduced in Japan to a Japanese audience.

## About the play

When Frantz Fonson died in December 1924, the exclusivity over all theatrical adaptations of the play, including professional and amateur, was left to the Théâtre royal des Galeries with his son Lucien as stage director, agreeably to his last will. The play passed into the public domain on the seventieth anniversary of Wicheler's death, in 2006.
Although a number of actors have added their own interpretations to the play, Gustave Libeau and Jacques Lippe are especially noted for their portrayals of Ferdinand Beulemans. Belgian actress Catherine Lenain was the worthy partner of Jacques Lippe and achieved fame in her performances, eleven years apart, of Beulemans' daughter and wife.