La Demoiselle de magasin

An orphan girl, Claire, arrives in Brussels, Belgium, finds work in a furniture shop and rents from Monsieur Derrider, the shop's owner, a room upstairs to live. She proves to be an excellent salesperson, thus overcoming Derrider's initial misgivings about her, but Claire and Amelin, the shop owner's son, fall in love.

File:Along Came Ruth 1.jpg's "Along Came Ruth". Irene Fenwick is pictured.]]

The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris, France, on 13 February 1913, featuring actors Jane Delmar as Claire Frénois, Alfred Jacque as Deridder, and Edmond Duquesne as Amelin.{{cite web |title=The performance : La demoiselle de magasin |url=http://data.bnf.fr/fr/39500447/la_demoiselle_de_magasin_spectacle_1913/fr.pdf |website=|publisher=The French National Library |accessdate=27 July 2018}}

An English-language theatrical version, Along Came Ruth, was written by Holman Day and Fonson and produced by Henry W. Savage, featuring Irene Fenwick as Ruth Ambrose. Irving Berlin wrote a song, called "Along Came Ruth", for the play.{{cite web |title=Along came Ruth |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.100004623.0/?sp=1 |website=Library of Congress |accessdate=27 July 2018}} It opened at the Gaiety Theatre on 23 February 1914.{{cite book |last=Hamm |first=Charles |title=Irving Berlin: Songs from the Melting Pot: The Formative Years, 1907-1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/irvingberlinsong0000hamm |url-access=registration |date=13 March 1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536114-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/irvingberlinsong0000hamm/page/210 210]}}

Along Came Ruth was then adapted into a 1924 silent movie, directed by Edward F. Cline and starring Viola Dana.{{cite journal |title=Dramatic Compositions Copyright list |journal=Catalogue of Copyright Entries |date=1914 |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=239 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yg8DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA239 |accessdate=27 July 2018}}{{cite web |title=Along Came Ruth (1924)|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/2566 |website=Catalog of Feature Films |publisher=American Film Institute |accessdate=27 July 2018}}

A Spanish version entitled La señorita del almacén was published at Madrid in the year following its premiere at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre in San Sebastián on September 26, 1913, as translated by Spaniard writer Sinibaldo Gutiérrez.{{cite book |last1=Fonson |first1=Frantz |last2=Wicheler |first2= Fernand |translator-last1=Gutiérrez |translator-first1=Sinibaldo |year=1914 |title=La señorita del almacén |page=Title page |language=Spanish |location=Madrid, ES |publisher=Sociedad de Autores Españoles |url=https://archive.org/details/laseoritadelal00fons/mode/2up |oclc=11914606 |quote=Comedia en tres actos y en prosa original de Franz Fonson y Ferdinand Wicheler ; traducida por Sinibaldo Gutiérrez ; Estrenada en el TEATRO VICTORIA EUGENIA de San Sebastián, el 26 de Septiembre de 1913, y en el TEATRO LARA de Madrid, el 28 de Noviembre del mismo año}}

In Revue des deux Mondes, the play's authors, and particularly Fonson, were credited with introducing in France the theatre of Belgium and allowing "the French spirit to acknowledge Wallonian verve and good humor," noting that both Fonson's plays staged in France, Mademoiselle Beulemans and Demoiselle de magasin, were "popular successes."{{cite journal |last=Doumic|first=René|authorlink=René Doumic|title=Revue dramatique|url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Revue_dramatique_-_14_mai_1915|language=French|trans-title=Drama review|date=1915 |journal=Revue des deux Mondes|volume=27|pages=457–468|accessdate=27 July 2018}}

In 1924, the play was staged at St. James Hall in Sydney, Australia, where, according to a review, "the story of the clever shop girl unfolded with considerable vivacity."{{cite web |title=Review: La demoiselle de magasin |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16162713|date=14 August 1924 |website=Sydney Morning Herald|publisher=National Library of Australia |accessdate=28 July 2018}} In L'Express du Midi, after a theatrical company toured in 1926 the south of France with it, the play was said to "refresh the soul" of the reviewer.{{cite web|title=Courrier Artistique|language=French|trans-title=Artistic Courrier|url=http://images.expressdumidi.bibliotheque.toulouse.fr/1926/B315556101_EXPRESS_1926_03_30.pdf|date=30 March 1926|website=|publisher=L'Express du Midi|page=4|accessdate=28 July 2018|archive-date=28 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728192812/http://images.expressdumidi.bibliotheque.toulouse.fr/1926/B315556101_EXPRESS_1926_03_30.pdf|url-status=dead}}

• La Demoiselle de magasin, painting by James Tissot

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• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z9bf9j6 "What did World War One really do for women?"], BBC

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Category:Belgian plays

Category:Comedy plays

Category:1913 plays

Category:Plays set in Brussels

Category:Plays set in Belgium