Seeking “The Scarlet Pimpernel”

“They seek him here, they seek him there/ Those Frenchies seek him everywhere/ Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel.”

Baroness Orczy (Emma Magdalena Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci, 1865-1947) was born of a September 23. The Baroness is of course best known for her most successful literary creation The Scarlet Pimpernel, the principal character in a series of plays, novels, and short stories she wrote between 1903 and 1940.

With this series the Baroness is considered the progenitor of all “secret identity” heroes, including Dr. Syn, Zorro, The Shadow, and Batman and Superman and the countless other superheroes that followed. There had certainly been “dual identity” protagonists before, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the Scarlet Pimpernel seems to be the first with the specific trope of someone whose public persona is conspicuously UNheroic (either as a creature of idleness and ease, or simply weak and timid), but who then dons a special disguise (usually a scary one, and usually at night) in order to foil evil-doers or otherwise assist those in distress. Often such heroes have an outlaw quality, an interesting reversal since the idea of disguises usually goes with highway robbers. The secret hero resorts to the tactic of anonymity in many cases because the official law enforcement apparatus is just as crooked or dangerous as literal criminals. And also to protect loved ones from the retribution of the villains whose crimes he has thwarted.

The Scarlet Pimpernel’s tales are set against the backdrop of The French Revolution, and most of the stories concern the rescue of aristocrats and others from the bloody hands of The Terror (and hence the blade of the guillotine). The Baroness claimed to have thought of it while standing on a subway platform, but honestly, it’s never struck me as some brilliant bolt out of the blue. Its setting reminds me very much of a very popular previous work, Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, and I feel like there’s a good bit of Dumas thrown in there too. And Robin Hood, but the Pimpernel is a sort of anti-Robin Hood, whose job is to defend all the Lords and Ladies.

For the Baroness herself was a refugee aristocrat. She was born in Hungary around the time of the political developments that led to the 1867 creation of Austria-Hungary. Among the political compromises that brought about that merging of nations was a reinstatement of a series of liberal laws dating to the Revolution of 1848, which had been supressed. Among the so-called April Laws were the elimination of legal privileges for the nobility, and the freeing of the serfs. During this time, the Baroness’s family moved from their country estate to Budapest, and then from Budapest to Brussels, to Paris, and finally to London, where she remained throughout her life. She was something beyond a conservative, then. She was a reactionary. She liked monarchy, and disliked revolutionary movements. She hated all of the Communist Revolutions of her time and it was a mercy I guess, from a certain perspective, that she died before Hungary became a Soviet satellite state.

In light of this, it is interesting to contemplate this seemingly frivolous work from a political angle. Any socialist deconstructionist would have a field day breaking it down, and I’m certain it’s been done many a time over the years, both officially in the communist countries, and rebelliously in the capitalist ones. I find the flip side interesting, though. As counter-revolutionary conservative propaganda, there could be no more crystalline, effective example than The Scarlet Pimpernel. It makes you seethe with rage at loathesome committees that turn innocent people over to murderous authorities, and the like. To me a sound rebuttal of the supposed moral equivalency between the two systems would be to point out how The Scarlet Pimpernel was NOT used in this way. You would think that the moneybags who ran Hollywood would have seized on it, or the war hawks in Washington would have encouraged them to do so as part of some overall home front Cold War propaganda program. I have often wondered about this. But America has never seemed to have rolled that way. The story has been told a few times in the west, without leaning much into the politics, and that was the extent of it. Some on the left might claim that that is precisely HOW the west does its propaganda, that its propaganda is subtle and drug-like. All “friviolous” stories in a way are counterrevolutionary. Whereas some on the right might claim that the fact that the story has only been adapted a few times, and sort of anemically, is evidence of the prevailing leftist tendencies among Hollywood writers in the 20th century. I find truth in both of those perspectives, and I would add a third. The Scarlet Pimpernel was so very influential that, as we mentioned earlier, many similar characters followed in its wake. Why adapt The Scarlet Pimpernel when you’re alreading doing Zorro and Batman? Furthermore, by doing Zorro and Batman you ARE doing The Scarlet Pimpernel.

What IS a Scarlet Pimpernel, you may have asked throughout your life, and I am taking my own sweet time in answering? It’s a flower. The hero always leaves one behind after committing his acts of derring-do, as a signature. In real life, he is Sir Percy Blakeney, a foppish wastrel who sits around his palatial estate taking snuff, enjoying fine food and drink, hunting foxes, and whatever else rich British layabouts do. As the Pimpernel though, he is a master swordsman, and a selfless and valorous champion of those whom the zealous French Revolutionaries would behead. He leads a crew of nineteen helpers called The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, who are essentially his Band of Merry Men. As Percy he goes around saying saying things like “Sink me”, “Egad!”, and “[I’ve heard] all about this mysterious Pimpernel fellow. How it came to me Heaven only knows, because it was the busiest moment of the day. Damn me, I was tying my cravat!”

Incidentally the quote that heads this post supplied inspiration for a line in The Kinks “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”, an updating of the dandy idea for the age of Mods and Rockers.

Other recurring characters include Marguerite, Sir Percy’s wife, a former French actress; Armand, her brother; and Citizen Chauvelin, the villian of the series, a French envoy sent to root out whoever is helping French aristocrats escape to England.

Here are several of the important screen versions, with a couple of notable digressions:

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1917): an early silent version by Fox Studios starring Dustin Farnum and his wife Winifred Kingston.

The Elusive Pimpernel (1919): British silent starring Cecil Humphreys.

I Will Repay a.k.a Swords and the Woman (1923): another British silent, based on one of the Pimpernel sequels, starring Holmes Herbert

The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel a.k.a. The Scarlet Daredevil (1928): the last British silent take, also based on a sequel, starring Matheson Lang

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934): the first British talkie version, produced by Alexander Korda and starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, and Raymond Massey. After its release it was adapted, with much of the same cast, for Lux Radio Theatre. Like the Baroness, Korda was a Hungarian refugee, surely a factor in his selection of the property.

The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937): a British sequel starring Barry K. Barnes and Sophie Stewart 

Pimpernel Smith (1941): Interestingly, though Leslie Howard chose not to star in the Scarlet Pimpernel sequel, he opted for something far more valuable. He updated the story for his own times. He concieved the idea, directed the film, and starred in it. It concerns an archaeologist who smuggles victims of the Nazis out of Germany. Howard later literally died fighting the Nazis. This is propaganda we can get behind. (We wonder what the Baroness thought, though; Hungary had just joined the Axis at this time).

The Elusive Pimpernel a.k.a. The Fighting Pimpernel (1950): the Powell-Pressburger version, surely the tent-pole screen version to date, starring David Niven, Margaret Leighton, and Cyril Cusack. It was clearly the inspiration for this:

The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950): this animated Warner Brothers parody starring Daffy Duck was almost certainly my own introduction to the character, though I didn’t then know what it was based on.

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1960): an episode of the television program DuPont Show of the Month starring Michael Rennie,Maureen O’Hara, and Reginald Denny.

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982): this terrific British tv movie directed by Clive Donner was my first introduction to the character, and surely was what illuminated the Daffy Duck cartoon for me. It starred Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian McKellen. It was shown in the States on CBS, and was a pretty big event. I enjoyed it so much I quoted lines from it, as did other kids at school (we were high school juniors or seniors at the time). My wife also remembers this broadcast, and it made a similar impression on her. This is why you’ll often hear me say that sometimes only three channels wasn’t such a bad thing. I can’t imagine many teenagers, then or now, CHOOSING a period costume drama (well, I would, and my wife would have, but probably not the other kids at my school). But when there are only three choices, and the other two choices are lame, you just might give culture a try.

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1997-2000): a Broadway musical, propably the most notable stage adaptation since the Baroness’s original. It was written by Nan Knighton, with music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde).

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999, 2000): two 3 episode series for British television starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern. I’m curious to see it. Grant is naturally perfect casting for Sir Percy — I would love to see how successfully he butches up for the Scarlet P!

Now, sink me, madame, where did I lay that deuced pince-nez? I wish to peruse this mysterious piece of correspondence that was slipped beneath m’door just now. It bears the seal of the marquis! Ah, there it is where I left it, beside my snuff box. (Fixes eye piece, opens letter, reads. His brow furrows.) Egad! The hiding place has been revealed! All will be lost if I’m not there in time! (Leaps out window onto back of horse and gallops off into the night).