"Guerre de deux maisons de disques qui sont enlisées dans des méthodes antiques de vente"

Unpublished autograph manuscript of a film screenplay project by Boris Vian. 3 pages on 3 leaves written in black and blue ink and blue ballpoint pen. Deletions, corrections and marginal notes.
Central fold without damage. One vertical cut on the first leaf, without loss of text.
Amusing film project mocking the ruthless world of record companies while Boris Vian was getting to know Jacques Canetti who would open the doors of Polydor (which would become Philips) to him.
The second page presents a few lines outlining the synopsis of the project: « Deux maisons de disques rivales se trouvent enlisées dans une guerre de concurrence acharnée. Chacune attend pour agir de savoir ce que prépare l'autre [...] » ["Two rival record companies find themselves bogged down in a fierce war of competition. Each waits to act until it knows what the other is preparing [...]"] Boris Vian seems to have a very precise idea of the film's atmosphere, already indicating important technical details: « Début du film en bistre (historique) [...] arbre découpé (voix des chênes) [...] ou à la guillotine (ombre dans la cour) [...] côté cinémassacre-ballet Hitchcock dans l'action » ["Film opening in sepia (historical) [...] cut-out tree (voice of the oaks) [...] or at the guillotine (shadow in the courtyard) [...] cinémassacre-ballet Hitchcock side in the action"]. He also has a fairly settled idea of the actors chosen to interpret the different characters: « [Jacques] Dufilho, [Hubert] Deschamps [...] Personnage de Georges Cravenne (Y.[ves] Robert ou Darry Cowl » ["[Jacques] Dufilho, [Hubert] Deschamps [...] Character of Georges Cravenne (Y.[ves] Robert or Darry Cowl"], although he does not yet seem decided on the interpreter of the « personnage de Barclay » ["Barclay character"]. True to his humor, he imagines punctuating the plot with « sketches de démonstration » ["demonstration sketches"], a « parodie du ballet M.G.M. » ["parody of the M.G.M. ballet"] or even « sketches satiriques venant couper le burlesque » ["satirical sketches breaking up the burlesque"]. Pride of place is given, considering the subject, to music and more precisely to rock'n'roll: « Un seul orchestre spécialisé dans le rock, et chacune des deux maisons essaie de se l'approprier [...] Rock et Roll sont associés » ["Only one orchestra specialized in rock, and each of the two companies tries to appropriate it [...] Rock and Roll are associated"]. Influenced by the masters of post-war American science fiction whom he admired, Vian introduces into this screenplay elements specific to the anticipation genre; the « Maisons de disques s'espionnent à coup de téléviseurs perfectionnés » ["Record companies spy on each other with sophisticated televisions"] and there are even « Martiens » ["Martians"]. The rapid writing and marginal additions of this manuscript testify to Boris Vian's vivacity, an indefatigable worker with a prolific imagination. In his non-conformist language, he multiplies ideas on paper: « il faut moderniser notre organisation. On fait défiler les mecs et on les abat à coup de presse-papier quand ils sont trop vieux [...] chacun des maisons pousse au cul son grand docteur ». ["we must modernize our organization. We parade the guys and we shoot them down with paperweights when they're too old [...] each of the companies pushes its great doctor from behind"].
As Noël Arnaud emphasizes in his Vies parallèles de Boris Vian, « Boris Vian s'est (...) intéressé au cinéma de manière active, et à plusieurs reprises. Il a composé des scénarios (certains ont même été tournés), il est apparu comme acteur dans différents films et il a écrit des commentaires de courts métrages. » ["Boris Vian was (...) actively interested in cinema, and on several occasions. He composed screenplays (some were even filmed), he appeared as an actor in different films and he wrote commentaries for short films."] A documentary entitled Le Cinéma de Boris Vian, released in 2010, relates Boris Vian's passion for cinema and his collaboration with director Pierre Kast who said of his friend: « J'aimerais beaucoup - c'est un des plus grands regrets de ma vie - j'aimerais beaucoup entrer dans une salle de projection, avec un bon fauteuil et plusieurs dizaines d'heures devant moi, et regarder les vingt films que Boris rêvait de faire. » ["I would very much like - it's one of the greatest regrets of my life - I would very much like to enter a screening room, with a good armchair and several dozen hours ahead of me, and watch the twenty films that Boris dreamed of making."] (Pierre Boiron, Pierre Kast 1985). Irony of fate, it is in a cinema seat that Boris would pass away...in front of the adaptation he loathed of his novel J'irai cracher sur vos tombes.
Provenance: Fondation Vian