THE BRONZE VENUS
[SHORT-STORY]
Adaptations from the story “La Venus d’Ille” by Prosper Merimee…
“A gallant young French gentleman has found, Un Antique statue on his
grounds Just as she is exhumed the Yonus is stood up In the field It oeais the
bemblanee of a Venus—a Venus Vlctilx—so grand and iTiperlous is she The young
man Is playing tennis, and a ring on his finger tioubles him it pi events the piopei
handling of his racket Taking o« hli i ing he sees that the hand of the statue has a
beckoning linger Trat nnger he decides,is i convenient thing- to put his ring on
Ho does so—blips his ling over the finger of the Venus—and laughingly says. "
Now, Uiou ail my wife When the ball frame Is oi ei the young fentleman goes for
his ilng A niitaele' iho maible linger Is now ho crooked that
it Is impossible to remove the ling The slatue absolutely takes on a sinister and
vengeful look—and then, when he sees, that his efforts are in \aln to pull off the
ting, Venub assumes lur sweettbl <j-ulbe The young man Is engaged to be
maineel to a ladv he loves The incident of the i f n p r annoys him The Venus is
brought to his house She is cleaned and renovated, and eveiy soil of earth has
been removed fiom her He novel passes through the long coirldor, where the
btatue now standb on L pedestal, that lie floes not believe that the eyes of the
Venus follow him
w i t h an imploring look The day of his marilage comes Then as ho passes near
the statue, it tn-mblt-b on Its pedestal totters falls on h!m, and he Is killed Venus
is avenged, and still the rigid maible lingerof a broken hand holds Ust to the lino;
No. 83 THE STATUE-DEMON;
by Protp«r Merimee.
M. do Peyrelioarde was grubbing; out Iho roots of a (lend olive tree in the orchard
ot his home at Illo (In the Catalon region ot France) when he found a statue
buried beneath the old tree. Calling his servants lie had (he statue lifted to the
level of the ground. It was a life sUe bronze inugc ot Venus with silver eyes, and It
evidently
dated back to the days when ancient Rome ruled France. On the statue's tatr face
was a look of m** llcloug deviltry Uiat appalled the laborers.At the pedestal's
base; w»s a Latin inscription: "Let those who;iove me beware!" A3 the workmen
were lifting the Image it keeled over backward and fell over on one of tho
laborers, breakingIlls leg in such, a way as to make him lame for lite.. Accident
after accident followed this mishap. Pious folk wanted the finder to have the
bronze statute cast as a church
bell. Ho laughed at their superstition and declared the Venus should continue to
adorn his garden. So at the edge of We' tennis court it was
get up near the front door of the house.
The Bronze Enchantreit.
M. de Peyrehoradc had one 3*n, • an athletic .young fellow, Alphonse by name,
whose engagement to a .pretty girl in the neighborhood had just .been
announced. Alhopnso was proud of his father's wealth and of his own social
position in the village. So' Instead of getting an ordinary gold wedding ring for his
.marriage ceremony, he procured' ohfe'tltat was thickly set
with diamonds. This ring arrived from the jeweler a day or two 'before the date
set for the wedding and just as Alphonse was beginning a game of tennis. He put
the ring on hi* little finger for safekeeping. Btjt^ttjwfs tight and hurt
him. So, Iox»lifag for a safe place to leave it until the end of the game, he noticed
the image ot Venus. He slipped the ring on the outstretched forefinger, of the
statue's left hand and went on playing. Later, when he' went to remove the ring,
he found the statute's finger bent in such a way that the circlet would not come
off. This puzzled the young man. Ho was quite certain that the bronze finger had
not been curved like that when first he put the ring on it. His bewilderment was
tinged with alarm as he tugged vainly to fraw
away the diamond circlet. He recalled old fables ot mythology days—.fables that
told how mortals had unwittingly betrothed themselves to deities by placing
rings' on the fingers of tJieir statues. Unable to get back the trinket and ashamed
to tell what he had done, Alphonso proceeded to get very drunk and then went to
bed. That night heavy ^jteps were heard climbing the stairs and entering the
room. Presently a scream of anguish rang thru the house and the tamo heavy
steps were heard descending the stairs. Old M. • de• Peyrchorade rushed into his
son's room, followed by a scared servant. Across the threshold, fully dressed, lay •
Alphonse—stone dead, an expression of horror on his. face. Besitie him on the
floor lay the diamond ring. Around the dead man's body was a^ great :bruise-, as
tho the pressure of a mighty vise had crashed the life out of him.In the soft earth
outside the house were two sets of footsteps—one going, one returning—that led
to the pedestal whereon stood the cruelly smiling bronze statue of Venus. That is
all—except that the heartbroken father now yielded to his good friend's cnteraties
and had the ibronze ffeure cast into a bell for the church.
[Program information]
ORIGINATION: Various.
DURATION: Various.
PERSONNEL: Stephen Ker Appleby (producer—1952, Maritime Theatre),
Norman Bortnick (scriptwriter—1961, Prairie Playhouse), Himan Brown
(producer-director—1974, CBS Radio Mystery Theater), Paul Castan
(scriptwriter—1935, 1936, Tour-Eiffel), Alonzo Deen Cole (scriptwriter, director—
1931, etc.), Sam Dann (scriptwriter—1974, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre),
Christian Gilbert (scriptwriter—1956, Les Fantastiques), Gustaf Kristjanson
(producer—1961, Prairie Playhouse), Jean Low (scriptwriter—1948, Winnipeg
Drama; 1952, Maritime Theatre), Archie MacCorkindale (producer—1948,
Winnipeg Drama), Lee Marcourt (scriptwriter—1952, Vancouver Theatre), John
Richmond (producer—1938, BBC), Ernest Short (scriptwriter—1938, BBC),
Raymond Whitehouse (1952, Vancouver Theatre).
CAST [1974, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre]: Robert Dryden, Evie Juster, Joan
Lovejoy, Dan Ocko, Norman Rose.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “The Bronze Venus” (The Witch’s Tale, 1934).
[Program log]
THE WITCH’S TALE (WOR, NEW YORK)
[Thursday—9:45-10:15 PM]
July 2, 1931 “The Bronze Venus”
[Monday—9:30-10:00 PM]
July 18, 1932 “The Bronze Venus”
(TOUR-EIFFEL, PARIS)
[
July 16, 1935 “La Venus d’Ille”
THE WITCH’S TALE (WOR, NEW YORK)
[Thursday—10:00-10:30 PM]
August 22, 1935 “The Bronze Venus”
(TOUR-EIFFEL, PARIS)
[
September 26, 1936 “La Venus d’Ille”
(NATIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)
[Tuesday—12:15-12:40 PM]
September 27, 1938 “The Bronze Venus”
[“…The bronze Venus, as readers of Merimee will remember,
was dug up in a little village down in the Pyrenees; the
workman who found her put his pick into her by mistake and
she fell on him and broke his leg. That was a sample of her
vindictive qualities. If you want to know how much more
damage she did before she was melted down to make a
church bell, listen to the play… Characters: Prosper
Merimee, who tells the story; A Muleteer; The Mayor; The
Mayoress; Alphonse, their son; Mlle. de Puygarrig, his
bride…”]
WINNIPEG DRAMA (WINNIPEG)
[
August 6, 1948 “The Venus of Ille”
MARITIME THEATRE (HALIFAX)
[
July 14, 1952 “The Venus of Ille”
VANCOUVER THEATRE (VANCOUVER)
[
May 2, 1952 “The Bronze Venus”
LES FANTASTIQUES (BRUXELLES 1, BRUSSELS)
[Monday—8:55-9:25 PM]
March 5, 1956 “La Venus d’Ille”
PRAIRIE PLAYHOUSE (CBW, WINNIPEG)
[
January 13, 1961 “The Venus of Ille”
THE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER (WRVR, NEW YORK)
[???day—10:07-11:00 PM]
April 30, 1974 “The Venus d’Ille”
[“…Vicomte Claude Louis de Charbert—handsome, young and owing a
million-franc gambling debt—tries to save himself from his creditors by
seeking the hand of the wealthiest young lady in France. But when he
carelessly places his ring on the finger of an eight-foot bronze statue of
Venus, the goddess demands his love—or his life…”]
CAST: Joan Banks (Heloise), Bob Dryden (Henri), Evelyn Juster (Venus), Danny
Ocko (Ormonde), Norman Rose (Claude).