Zaza

Zaza (Paramount). This ancient tearjerker, about a French cancan dancer whose fun is spoilt when she learns that her lover is married, has a noteworthy history. It was first produced in Paris in 1890, as a vehicle for Gabrielle Rejane. Eight years later, David Belasco used it to further the fabulous career of red-headed Mrs. Leslie Carter. In 1920, Zaza became an opera for Geraldine Farrar. In 1923, Gloria Swanson was Zaza in a silent picture. A favorite item in the repertory of stock-company leading ladies the world over, Zaza has been running off & on ever since Playwrights Pierre Berton and Charles Simon wrote it, has probably alarmed more censors than any other single drama in the 20th Century.

The current version of Zaza, directed by George Cukor, acted by Claudette Colbert and Herbert Marshall, and equipped with dialogue consisting principally of "Ah, zut!" conforms to tradition so perfectly that, presumably from force of long habit, censors even objected to the cancan dances. Climactic shot: Comedian Bert Lahr, playing a straight role for the first time in his career, as Zaza's vaudeville partner, conveying the scandalous news that he has seen her lover drinking chocolate with a lady not his mistress.

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