28. Written by Baroness Emma Orczy, the stage adaptation of this work, which later became a novel and several films as well, premiered in 1903 in England. What is its title?
From Quiz Entertain Me with Colour
Answer:
The Scarlet Pimpernel
This play, based on the novel of the same name by Baroness Orczy, was not a success initially. With a rewritten last act, however, it took off, and it and the novel became such a success that Fred Terry, the actor who played the daring Pimpernel, continued to act in that role for the rest of his life. The storyline is set during the period of the French Revolution. The English hero of the work, Sir Percy Blakeney, in his secret disguise of the Scarlet Pimpernel, daringly rescues many people doomed to have their heads lopped off by the guillotine. To protect his identity, he adopts the daily persona of a somewhat dim-witted man about town who has become everything his wife dislikes. She of course has no idea as to his secret life, but when she finally learns of his identity, she rushes to save him from an act of betrayal, swoons in his arms, they fall in love once more and all ends most unrealistically, but very satisfactorily, ever after. This play was accepted as a work while its author was still awaiting a decision on its publication as a novel, but it was the play that was first presented to the public. Such was its popularity that it generated enormous sales of the follow up novel.