Madame Butterfly

John Luther Long (story)
Zoe Akins (screenwriter)

Hollywood: Paramount Pictures, Circa 1932. Draft script for an unproduced film. With manuscript pencil annotations on the front wrapper.

An early screenplay by American playwright Zoe Akins, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1935 for her adaptation of Edith Wharton's "The Old Maid."

Based on the 1898 story by John Luther Long. An American naval officer purchases, marries, and abandons a Japanese geisha named Butterfly, leaving her penniless, pregnant, and increasingly despairing of his return.

Madame Butterfly has been adapted numerous times for opera, stage, and film, although many of these productions have faced increased scrutiny in recent years for their stereotypical portrayals of Japanese people, white actors in "yellowface," and inaccurate descriptions of Japanese customs and culture.

Tall white titled self wrappers, noted as MASTER FILE on the front wrapper, rubber-stamped production No. 1083, with credits for screenwriter Zoe Akins. 100 leaves, with last page of text numbered G-25. Carbon typescript on onionskin stock, rectos only. Pages Very Good plus, wrapper Very Good plus, side stapled.


[Book #145965]