Small Archive of Material relating to Eugene & Louise Silvain, their daughter Jeanne and Jeanne’s husband, Edmond Roze
PDF available. Items from the estate of Jeanne Silvain Roze Laidley (1892-1983), the actress daughter of Eugene Silvain (1851-1930) doyen of the Comedie-Francaise, actor, poet, playwright and director, and Louise Silvain (1874-1930), an acclaimed stage actress. Jeanne Silvain married Edmond Roze (1878-1943), an actor, director and theatrical impresario, who died at Auschwitz. Between the two generations of this family, they collaborated, consorted and acted with many of the finest French stage actors and playwrights from the 1900s through the 1940s. We have divided the material into A) Material from Eugene Silvain; B) Material from Louise Silvain; C) Letters to the family members from various theatrical personalities; and D) Everything Else. Forgive the lack of diacritical marks (accents); nous sommes desolees. A. EUGENE SILVAIN: 1900 letter to MARGUERITE MORENO regarding the staging of certain plays and the styles of certain actors (quite critical), including a passage on Sarah Bernhardt, Racine, etc. 4 sides of small stationary. 1903 letter to MARGUERITE MORENO re staging Racine’s Britannicus and Jean Moreas’s version of Iphigenia, etc. Moreno was married to Marcel Schwob at the time, and acted and collaborated both in productions by Silvain and by Edmond Roze. 1927 2pp densely handwritten letter to his daughter JEANNE. 1925 (?) 2pp letter to his children regarding his travel and other activities during the summer. 1918 letter to an unnamed author (“Mon cher poete ami”), regarding working with Ernest Jaubert to translate and stage Greek dramas and what his wife is up to. 1919 letter to “Burhaneddine” — possibly a Turkish person of some power — regarding his visit to France, staging classical plays, the effect of the war on theatre, life in Constantinople, etc. 4 sides, densely written. Two 1924 & 1925 letters (and one reply) to an unnamed official at the Chambre des Deputes, regarding his wife’s acting in certain staged classical plays and some of the difficulties she’s encountered, and a second letter complaining about the low morale at the Comedie-Francaise because of the administrative actions of Emile Fabre, and urging officials to look into his behavior. 6 closely written pages. 1929 letter to LOUISE SILVAIN from Clermont-Ferrand, giving an account of the great success of his “conference” and giving many details about it. Undated 7-line poem, “A mon fils.” B. LOUISE SILVAIN. Group of 11 letters to EUGENE SILVAIN. 9 letters are from August 6-18, 1924, newsy and with many of her activities and observations recounted; unclear where each of them were. Each letter is 4 pp. The letters from 1926 continue along the same themes. C. LETTERS TO THE FAMILY: Letters, notes, postcards from: Andre Antoine (1858-1943), Marthe Brandes (1862-1930), Coquelin Cadet (1848-1909), Georges Courteline (1858-1929), Suzanne Daynes-Grassot (1884-1976), Robert de Flers (1872-1927), Maurice Dekobra (1885-1973), Alexandre-Marie Desrousseaux, also known as “Bracke” (1861-1955), Henri Duvernois (1875-1937), Emile Fabre (1869-1955), Claude Farrere (1876-1957), Dr. J. L. Faure (1863-1944), Edmond Harnaucourt (1856-1941), Ernest Jaubert (1856-1942), lbert Lambert-fils (1865-1941), Pierre Lazareff (1907-1972), 22. Georges Le Roy (1885-1965), Amelie Mesureur (1853-1926), Marguerite Moreno (1871-1948), Alfred Poizat (1863-1936), Jane Renouardt (1890-1972), Georges-Gabriel Thenon (aka RIP; 1884-1941), Jules Truffier (1856-1943), Edgar de Vernejoul (1860-1947), and many others. D. EVERYTHING ELSE: Extracts from reviews in the press of Louise Silvain’s performances, written in purple ink by a professional clerical firm. Includes 1907 performance as Electra, and her return to that role in the 1920s, also her 1911 performance in Hecuba in a translation by Silvain and Jaubert. Also a 4pp. typewritten review, also probably by a professional copyist, of Hector Fleischmann (1882-1914) review of Louise Silvain’s 1907 performance in Electre. .... Important legal papers and documents. 1910 several page legal document prepared in Marseille regarding the welfare of the children of Eugene and Louise. 1916 driving permit for Louise Silvain. Dec. 22, 1916 Testaments, authorizing each spouse to handle the other’s estate in case of death. 1913 re-issue of Eugene Silvain’s birth certificate from 1878. Passport papers from 1916 & 1917 for both Louise and Eugene Silvain permitting them to reside in Switzerland for one year, 1924 passport papers for the two, without any country specified. 1926 hunting permit for Eugene Silvain. ... Photos: 32 photos of friends and family (mainly family) including about 10 19th century images (cabinet photos of the children and of Louise), photos of family events, of actors’ dinners, theatre, etc. 11 larger photos (8x10 or larger) mainly studio photos — some signed by the photographers — of Jeanne Silvain, one of a lunch in the countryside, one of both Edmond and Jeanne. Condition varies but mainly VG. Item #H10931
Price: $2,000.00