Friml–Vagabond King, love for sale with Rosalind Elias

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In A Walkthrough Shows, Songs and More
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Dearest Enemy opened on Broadway on September 18, 1925; the next show opened on September 21, 1925, just three days later.

It was The Vagabond King, with the best score that Rudolf Friml would ever write.

Yes, just when you thought it was safe to go into the theatre, another operetta pops up, but It is a wonderful operetta that is based on the life of Francois Villon, a French poet. It takes place during the reign of Louis XI, also known as the Spider King. He went throughout France without pomp and ceremony in clothes that seemed appropriate for a merchant or an artisan. Nothing special, which allowed him to blend in and hear firsthand what people said. He also had a very good network of spies and informants. Louis ruled between 1461 and 1483.

A number of novels were set in that era, such as Sir Walter Scott’s Quentin Durward (1468) and Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (1482). Both of these novels were written in the 19th Century; however, in 1901, an Irish author and Member of Parliament named Justin Huntly McCarthy wrote the novel and then the play, If I Were King.

The play was a fanciful tale about Villon, set in a time of war. Supposedly, the King’s arch enemy, the Duke of Burgundy, had laid siege to Paris; and only the citizens of Paris, led by Villon, could defeat Burgundy and save Paris. Of course, the only siege of Paris that is recorded took place in 845 when the Vikings sacked Paris and left only when paid a handsome ransom.

In the play, Villon boasts that he could do a much better job of governing France than Louis; Louis overhears the boast and gives him sufficient power to rule for a brief period of time, after which Louis intends to hang Villon.

Of course, McCarthy wrote an interesting love story into the play, between Villon and Katherine DeVaucelles. McCarthy’s first wife, actress Cecilia Loftus, played the role of Katherine, which was written especially for her. Shades of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman.

In 1925, the play was turned into the operetta, The Vagabond King, but the play was also turned into a magnificent movie, starring Ronald Coleman and Frances Dee. The screenplay was written by the brilliant writer/director, Preston Sturges.

Here is the poem written by McCarthy for the play, to be spoken by Villon to Katherine:

If I were king—ah love, if I were king!
What tributary nations would I bring
To stoop before your sceptre and to swear
Allegiance to you lips and eyes and hair.
Beneath your feet what treaseures I would fling:—
The stars should be your pearls upon a string,
The world a ruby for your finger ring,
And you should have the sun and moon to wear
If i were king.

Let these wild dreams and wilder words take wing,
Deep in the woods I hear a shepherd sing
A simple ballad to a sylvan air,
Of love that ever finds your face more fair.
I could not give you any godlier thing
If I were king.

The Vagabond King opened Act I with a rousing chorus and then went into “Love for Sale.” It is a torrid but heartbreaking song for the prostitute, Hugette, who loves Villon in vain.

We have two versions of the song for you. The first one is sung by Rosalind Elias, with the Lehman Engel Orchestra for Reader’s Digest in 1962.