MAYA. 1928. 231/2x16 inches. H. Chachoin, Paris. Condition A: minor creases in margins and image. This third and smallest format, for the reopening of the play in Paris in 1928, is previously unrecorded. It was playing at the Theatre de l'Avenue, and the play had been slightly rewritten, consisting now of nine scenes instead of eight. Once again the image has been redrawn: The face, the woman's bun, and the treatment of her coat are different and the typography has changed. The overall effect of this image is much more rigid than the other two. Could it be that Colin, who was certainly working on other projects at the time, gave the sketch to Chachoin, who, in turn, had some apprentice (like Chassaing) redraw it on a new stone? It is certainly a possibility, as it was not Colin's style, nor status, to constantly redraw his works. This is something we will never know for sure. What is sure is that the play was a huge success. It premiered at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in 1924 (although no poster for this show has yet surfaced) was revived in 1927, went on tour, and wound up at the Theatre de l'Avenue in 1928. That same year, the show opened in New York City, where the authorities closed it down due to its "immoral" content. The crude biography of a Marseilles prostitute clearly shocked Puritanical Americans. In 1949, it was turned into a movie starring Viviane Romance.
