Madame X was originally a three-act French courtroom drama, La femme X (1908), by Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was translated into English by John Raphael and was adapted for both the British and the American theater, made into six American motion pictures, and made once into a television drama. The dates of some of the American versions coincided with the Harlem Renaissance, and Madame X was one of the productions of the Lafayette Players.
The basic story has been modified in various ways, depending on the resources that were available to stage and film directors. Despite the different settings and the different identities created for the characters, however, it remains a conventional cautionary tale. A woman’s love affair is exposed by her husband, and the woman—impelled either by him or by her own guilty conscience—leaves their baby son with him and sets out to live alone. Without the protection of her respectable family, the woman sinks lower and lower, eventually becoming directly or indirectly involved with prostitution, blackmailing, trafficking, and other criminal offenses. After many years, she becomes embroiled in a murder case and is put on trial. Too poor to pay for her defense, she is assigned a young lawyer who happens to be her grown-up son. She becomes aware of this during the course of the trial, but to protect his reputation and her husband’s, she herself simply remains Madame X, even when facing the threat of being convicted. Different versions of the story have different endings. In some, she dies during the course of the trial; in others, her son exonerates her, though still without knowing who she is.
Madame X had its British premier at the Globe Theater on 1 September 1909, with a cast that included Lena Ashwell, Winifred Harris, Sydney Valentine, O. P. Heggie, and Edmund Gwenn. It had its American premiere in 1910, evidently on 7 February (though according to some records the date was 1 February or 2 January), at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York. A total of 125 performances were recorded. Madame X was played by Dorothy Donnelly, who would repeat the role in the first (silent) film adaptation of the play in 1916. In 1927 the play was presented at the Earl Carroll Theater, for twenty-two performances.
Silent film versions of Madame X were directed by George F. Marion (in 1916) and Frank Lloyd (in 1920). The first talking film of the story was a celebrated adaptation in 1929, directed by Lionel Barrymore and starring Ruth Chatterton; a version in 1937 was directed by Sam Wood and starred Gladys George; the first color version was a famous production of 1966 starring Lana Turner; and a film version was made for television in 1981. Attempts to update the characters and the events have in general been discouraging.
