Alexandre Bisson
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Alexandre Charles Auguste Bisson (April 9, 1848 - January 27, 1912) was an important French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a significant creator of Parisian vaudeville, in collaboration with Edmond Gondinet, Bisson's 1881 three-act comedy "Un Voyage d'agrément" was performed at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris.
In 1892, the first of a Bisson's dozen plays came to New York City's Broadway stage. Of his works, Bisson is best remembered for his play "Madame X" that was performed in 1910 both in Paris and on Broadway with Sarah Bernhardt in the leading role. Over the years, the play would be revived for Broadway three times and nine Madame X motion pictures in several languages have been filmed. The first silent screen adaptation was in 1916 and the latest in 2000. Better know versions include a 1929 "talkie" production starring Ruth Chatterton and directed by Lionel Barrymore plus the 1966 production starring Lana Turner. In 2006 a musical has been produced in Chicago, IL based on the original play "Madame X".
Bisson also adapted the 1910 bestselling Florence Barclay novel, The Rosary as a three-act play for the Paris stage. Widely acclaimed in the United States, Alexandre Bisson was invited to write about the theatre by The Saturday Evening Post and his articles The Dilemmas of the Theater and How the World Contributes to the American Stage were published in 1912.
Alexandre Bisson died in Paris in 1912 at the age of sixty-three.
