Playboy of Paris
About Playboy of Paris
Albert Loriflan (Maurice Chevalier), a waiter in a Paris café, inherits a fortune. His boss Philibert (O. P. Heggie) will not tear up Albert's long contract, hoping Albert will pay to get out of it. Albert refuses and keeps waiting tables. He falls in love with Philibert's daughter Yvonne (Frances Dee). Stuart Erwin plays Paul Michel and Eugene Pallette plays Pierre Bourdin.
Cast & crew
More about Playboy of Paris
Ludwig Berger directed. Percy Heath and Vincent Lawrence adapted Tristan Bernard's 1911 play The Little Café. Paramount released the film on 31 October 1930. It runs 82 minutes. Frances Dee made her screen debut as Yvonne. Paramount also shot a French-language version, Le Petit Café, again with Chevalier. That version set an opening-day attendance record in Paris.
Themes
Making
Chevalier played Albert twice in 1930, once in English for the American release and once in French for Le Petit Café.
Music
Richard A. Whiting, Newell Chase, and Leo Robin wrote My Ideal for the film. Howard Jackson is also credited.
Preservation
A copy survives and is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The song My Ideal, by Richard A. Whiting and Newell Chase with lyrics by Leo Robin, was introduced here and became a jazz standard.
- A 1919 French silent film had already adapted Bernard's play.
- Dorothy Christy, Cecil Cunningham, Tyler Brooke, and William B. Davidson are in the supporting cast.
- Howard Jackson is credited with additional music.
- The story is set in Paris. Paramount made the English version in the United States.
Scenes
- Philibert refuses to release Albert from the café contract after the inheritance.
- Albert stays on as a waiter even though he is rich.
- He and Yvonne end up together despite her father's plan.
Influenced by
- The Little Café by Tristan Bernard (1911)