THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL

'''The Scarlet Pimpernel''' is a classic play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the French Revolution. It was first produced as a record-breaking play in an adaptation by Julia Neilson and Fred Terry.
The play first opened on 15 October 1903 at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal; it was not a success. But Terry had confidence in the play and, with a re-written last act, he took it to London where it opened at the New Theatre on 5 January 1905. The standing ovation of the first night audience was "''hot and strong''", but not so the reaction of the critics the next morning. The jaded London critics, trying to champion new, "''modern''" plays, pooh-poohed the "old-fashioned" Scarlet Pimpernel. But the play became a popular success.
It began a run of 122 performances and numerous revivals, becoming a favorite of the London audiences - playing more than 2000 performances, one of the most popular shows ever staged in an English theatre.
The novel was published soon after the play's opening and was an immediate success. Orczy gained a following of readers in England and throughout the world. With the demand high, she wrote a number of sequels to The Scarlet Pimpernel over the next 35 years.
The success of The Scarlet Pimpernel, in novel and play form, allowed the Barstows to live out their lives in luxury and comfort. Over the years, they lived on an estate in Kent, a bustling London home and an opulent villa in Monte Carlo. Orczy continued to create adventures for her "''reckless daredevil''" and watch his incarnations take life throughout the world. The play was performed to great acclaim in France, Italy, Germany and Spain; while the novel was translated into 16 languages.
The story is a precursor to the spy fiction and the superhero genres. It gave rise to numerous sequels, and has been adapted several times for television and film.
Orczy writes in her autobiography, Links In the Chain of Life: "''I have so often been asked the question: 'But how did you come to think of The Scarlet Pimpernel?' And my answer has always been: "'It was God's will that I should.'" And to you moderns, who perhaps do not believe as I do, I will say, "' In the chain of my life, there were so many links, all of which tended towards bringing me to the fulfillment of my destiny...'"

Contents

The literary character

Plot summary

Sequels

Scarlet Pimpernel books in chronological order

Members of the League

Film and other media

Other versions

'The Tartan Pimpernel'

'The American Pimpernel'

'The Black Pimpernel'

Historical accuracy

Footnotes

External links

The literary character

A secret society of English aristocrats, known as the ''League of the Scarlet Pimpernel'', is engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the guillotine.

Their leader, the Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his nickname from the small red flower with which he signs his messages.
Despite being the talk of London society, no one except his small band of 19 followers, and possibly his close friend, the Prince of Wales, knows the Pimpernel's true identity.

Plot summary

Set in 1792, the action takes place during the early days of the French Revolution.
Marguerite Blakeney, a beautiful French actress, is married to wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney. The couple has become estranged due to her earlier unintentional denunciation of French aristocrat the Marquis de St. Cyr and his family, which resulted in their being sent to the guillotine.
Like many others, Marguerite is entranced by stories of the Scarlet Pimpernel — an anonymous hero who, through a combination of courage and daring, has rescued many aristocrats from Madame la Guillotine, and brought them safely to England. Marguerite's beloved brother, Armand, is discovered to be part of the Scarlet Pimpernel's organization, and he is therefore in danger of being executed.
Marguerite is blackmailed by the wily French ambassador to England, Citizen Chauvelin; if she helps him discover the Pimpernel's identity, Armand's life will be spared. She cannot face the thought of losing her brother, and she hopes that the Pimpernel will be able to save him.
Contemptuous of her seemingly witless and unloving husband, Marguerite does not go to him for help, and passes along information which enables Chauvelin to discover the Pimpernel's true identity.
When Sir Percy leaves for France, Marguerite discovers, to her horror, that ''he'' is the Pimpernel — the man she has betrayed, who had created the persona of a witless fop in order to deceive the world as to his true activities. Desperate to make amends for her actions she follows Percy to France to try to warn him.
Chauvelin seems close to capturing Percy on several occasions but the Englishman continues to outwit him, rescuing Armand and the Comte de Tourney, the father of a schoolfriend of Marguerite's.
Safely back on board their schooner, the ''Day Dream,'' and touched by his wife's remorse, devotion and courage, he forgives her, and the reconciled couple returns to England.

Sequels

Baroness Orczy wrote numerous sequels that revolve around the other characters with whom Blakeney comes into contact, and the activities of his followers, Lord Tony Dewhurst, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Hastings, and Marguerite's brother, Armand St. Just.
These include ''The Laughing Cavalier'' (1914) and ''The First Sir Percy'' (1921), about an ancestor of the Pimpernel's; ''Pimpernel and Rosemary'' (1924), about a descendant; and ''The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World'' (1933), a depiction of the 1930s world from the point of view of Sir Percy.
Some of her non-related Revolutionary-period novels reference the Scarlet Pimpernel or the League, most notably ''The Bronze Eagle'' (1915).

Scarlet Pimpernel books in chronological order

PREQUELS

★ ''The Laughing Cavalier'' (1913)

★ ''The First Sir Percy'' (1920)

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (play 1903, novel 1905)
SEQUELS

★ ''Sir Percy Leads the Band'' (1936)

★ ''I will Repay'' (1906)

★ ''The Elusive Pimpernel'' (1908)

★ ''Lord Tony's Wife'' (1917)

★ ''The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1933)

★ ''Mam'zelle Guillotine'' (1940)

★ ''Eldorado'' (1913)

★ ''Sir Percy Hits Back'' (1927)

★ ''The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1922)

★ ''A Child of the Revolution'' (1932)

★ ''Pimpernel and Rosemary'' (1924)
COLLECTIONS OF SHORT STORIES

★ ''The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1919)

★ ''Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1929)
OMNIBUS EDITIONS

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel etc'' (1930) collection of four novels

★ ''The Gallant Pimpernel'' (1939) collection of four novels

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel Omnibus'' (1952) collection of four novels
RELATED BOOKS

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel looks at the World'' (1933)

★ ''A Gay Adventurer'' A biography of Sir Percy Blakeney, Bart. (1935) (written by 'John Blakeney' pseud. (John Montagu Orczy Barstow))

★ ''The Life and exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1938) (written by 'John Blakeney' pseud. (John Montagu Orczy Barstow) ) n.b. re-release of 'A Gay Adventurer'

★ ''The Secret History of the Pink Carnation'' (2005) (written by Lauren Willig) see 'Other versions' below.

Members of the League

A. The original League or Founder Members who formed the party on August 2nd, 1792, nine in number:

★ Sir Andrew Ffoulkes (second in command)

★ Lord Anthony Dewhurst

★ Lord Edward Hastings

★ Lord John Bathurst

★ Lord Stowmarries

★ Sir Edward Mackenzie

★ Sir Philip Glynde

★ Lord Saint Denys

★ Sir Richard Galveston

B. Members enrolled in January, 1793, ten in number:

★ Sir Jeremiah Wallescourt

★ Lord Kulmstead

★ Lord George Fanshawe

★ Anthony Holte

★ John Hastings (Lord Edward's cousin)

★ Lord Everingham

★ Sir George Vigor, Bart.

★ The Hon. St. John Devinne

★ Michael Barstow of York

★ Armand St. Just (Marguerite's brother)

Marguerite, Lady Blakeney, is also named as a member of the League in the book Mam'zelle Guillotine but it is not known when she was formally enrolled.

Film and other media

Hollywood took to the Pimpernel early and often, though most of the Pimpernel movies have been based on a melange of the original book and ''Eldorado'' 1913.
Film treatments were done as early as 1917 and again in 1928 and 1937.

★ The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917)

★ The Laughing Cavalier (1917)

★ The Elusive Pimpernel (1919)

★ The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1928)

★ The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)

★ Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937)

★ Pimpernel Smith (1941)

★ Paris Underground (1945) aka "Madame Pimpernel" - UK

★ Pimpernel Svensson (1950)

★ The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) aka "The Fighting Pimpernel" - USA

★ Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1955)(mini series)

★ Don't Lose Your Head (1966) aka "Carry on Pimpernel" - USA

★ The Elusive Pimpernel (1969)

★ The Scarlet and the Black (1983) (TV) aka "The Vatican Pimpernel"

★ The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) (TV)

★ The Scarlet Pimpernel (1987) (TV)

★ ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1987) Broadway Musical

★ The Scarlet Pimpernel (TV series - 3 episodes: The Scarlet Pimpernel, Valentin Gautier [UK title]/The Scarlet Pimpernel Meets Madame Guillotine [US title], The King's Ransom [UK title]/The Scarlet Pimpernel and the Kidnapped King [US title]) (1999) (TV)

★ The Scarlet Pimpernel (TV series - 3 episodes: Ennui, Friends and Enemies, A Good Name) (2000) (TV)

★ The Forecourt Pimpernel (2001) (TV)

★ The Black Pimpernel (2006)

Other versions

A popular TV adaptation written by William Bast was filmed in 1982, starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen. A British TV series based on the novel, produced by ITC Entertainment, aired for a season in 1956.

The novel has even been parodied as a Warner Bros. cartoon short featuring Daffy Duck (as the Scarlet Pumpernickel), in 1954. (A figure of the Scarlet Pumpernickel was released by DC Direct in 2006, making it one of the few--if not the only--toys produced based on the Pimpernel.)
By contrast, a 1950 version (''The Elusive Pimpernel'') starring David Niven has been widely panned by serious fans of the canon.

In 1966 a Scarlet Pimpernel spoof was made by the Carry On film team called Don't Lose Your Head with Sid James as master of disguise the Black Fingernail and Jim Dale as his assistant Lord Darcy. He must rescue preposterously effete aristocrat Charles Hawtrey from the clutches of Kenneth Williams' fiendish Citizen Camembert and his sidekick Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth). The Black Fingernail is assisted in his efforts to thwart the birth of the burgeoning republic by the almost supernatural stupidity of his opponents, who fail to recognise the frankly undisguisable Sid James even when dressed as a flirty young woman... What with an executioner who is tricked into beheading himself in order to prove the efficacy of his own guillotine, it's all a little too easy.
Wayne and Shuster created a comedy sketch based on the Scarlet Pimpernel called the Brown Pumpernickel.
In 1987, the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder the Third'' included an episode, "Nob and Nobility", in which the Scarlet Pimpernel is praised by everyone, apart from Mr. E. Blackadder, who sees nothing admirable in "filling London with a load of garlic-chewing French toffs... looking for sympathy all the time simply because their fathers had their heads cut off". The episode ends with Blackadder killing two Noblemen claiming to be the Pimpernel. Unfortunately, Prince George was about to give some money to the Pimpernel just before he died, so Blackadder claims to be the real Pimpernel, thus taking the money.
The BBC filmed ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' as two 3-part series in 1999-2000 with Richard E. Grant in the title role and Martin Shaw as Chauvelin. The series was shown on the A&E network in the United States. It took many liberties with the characters and plot, and was not well received by fans of the books.
Returning to the work's stage roots, a 1997 Broadway musical based on the story was composed by Frank Wildhorn and written by Nan Knighton. This musical starred Douglas Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, Christine Andreas as Marguerite Blakeney, Terrence Mann as Citizen Chauvelin, and Gilles Chiasson as Armand St. Just. For more information, see ''The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)''.
Steve Jackson Games published GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel, by Robert Traynor and Lisa Evans, in 1991, a supplement for playing the milieu using the GURPS roleplaying game system.
There has also been a recent string of novels by Harvard grad student Lauren Willig, beginning with ''The Secret History of the Pink Carnation''. These novels chronicle the adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel's associates, including the Purple Gentian (alias of Lord Richard Selwick). During the course of the first novel, a female spy emerges and takes the name of the Pink Carnation.
Sir Percy and Marguerite are mentioned as members of an 18th Century incarnation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the graphic novels of that title by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.
The seventh episode of the 2007 season of the TV series Midsomer Murders, "The Seek Him Here", centers around a shooting of a remake of the Scarlet Pimpernel. A setting with a guillotine becomes prominent when the director is decapitated.
In , there is a reference to the Scarlet Pimpernel in the closing number, "Beelzeboss".

'The Tartan Pimpernel'

Inspired by the title ''Scarlet Pimpernel'', the Tartan Pimpernel was a nickname given to the Rev Donald Caskie (1902-1983), formerly minister of the Paris congregation of the Church of Scotland, for aiding over 2,000 Allied service personnel to escape from occupied France during World War II.

'The American Pimpernel'

Varian Fry, was a 32 year old Harvard-educated classicist and editor from New York City, who helped save thousands of endangered refugees who were caught in the Vichy French zone escape from Nazi terror during World War II.

His story is told in ''American Pimpernel - the Man Who Saved the Artists on Hitler's Death List''

'The Black Pimpernel'

Harald Edelstam (1913–1989) was a Swedish diplomat. During World War II he earned the nickname ''Svarta nejlikan'' ("the Black Pimpernel") for helping Norwegian resistance fighters in Hjemmefronten escape from the Germans. [1]

This name was also given to Nelson Mandela prior to his arrest and long incarceration for his anti-apartheid activities in South Africa due to his effective use of disguises when evading capture by the police ^[1].

Historical accuracy

The Baroness's sympathies are plainly with the aristocracy and in truth, she was more interested in telling a good tale than in strict historical accuracy. To this end Orczy frequently distorts real historical figures and events so they can be woven into the storylines of the books, placing the Scarlet Pimpernel and his league in the middle of the action.

In particular, the career of Chauvelin, the recurring villain of the series, is much altered; named Armand Chauvelin in the books, in fact, Bernard-François, marquis de Chauvelin, survived the Revolutionary period to become an official under Napoleon I of France and a noted liberal Deputy under the Bourbon Restoration.
Other real life historical figures who crop up in the series include:

Maximilien Robespierre

Louis de Saint-Just

Jean-Lambert Tallien

Thérésa Cabarrus

Georges Danton

François Chabot

Fabre d'Églantine

Claude Bazire

Baron Jean de Batz

Jean-Paul Marat

Paul Barras

Georges Couthon

Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

Éléonore Duplay

Footnotes

1. Time Magazine Article, The Black Pimpernel August 17 1962

External links

★

★ Discussion of the creation of ''The Scarlet Pimpernel''

★ IMDB link to Scarlet Pimpernel movies

★

★

★ Additional information and digital copies of all books available at Blakeney Manor

★ Public domain audio rendition in MP3 format (based on Project Gutenberg text)

★ Official website for The Scarlet Pimpernel Broadway musical

★ Blackadder Nob & Nobility on the BBC