Ensemble complet du manuscrit et du tapuscrit de la chanson de Boris Vian intitulée "Le Quatrième Homme"

Complete set of Boris Vian's working manuscripts and typescripts, genesis of the song "Le Quatrième Homme".
- two perforated and slightly creased sheets written in green ink in Boris Vian's hand. Some annotations, also in his hand, in blue ballpoint pen in the margin.
- one sheet of machine-typed text on onionskin paper. Manuscript annotations in pencil at top right: "ne figure pas au catalogue SACEM. Manque 1 ligne demander à Ursula." ["not listed in the SACEM catalogue. Missing 1 line ask Ursula."] Other annotations notably indicating the chorus text in green felt-tip pen.
This song, referring to the music composed and recorded by Anton Karas for Carol Reed's The Third Man in 1949, was never set to music or performed.

Le premier homme était mort
Le deuxième homme aussi
Mais le troisième, increvable
Jouait d'la cithare tout' la nuit

[...]

Et vive la cithare
Et son rythme bizarre

[...]

Il avait vingt-neuf cithares
Qu'il traînait derrière lui
Coiffé d'un bonne tartare
Comme Orson Welles en Russie

["The first man was dead
The second man too
But the third, indestructible
Played the zither all night long

[...]

Long live the zither
And its strange rhythm

[...]

He had twenty-nine zithers
That he dragged behind him
Wearing a Tartar cap
Like Orson Welles in Russia"]

Provenance: Fondation Boris Vian.