Liliom

The story concerns Liliom, a tough, cocky carousel barker who falls in love with Julie, a young woman who works as a maid.

When she discovers she is pregnant, he is deliriously happy, but, unbeknownst to Julie, he agrees to participate with his friend Ficsur, a criminal, in a hold-up to obtain money to provide for the child.

Liliom is unwilling to leave Julie and return to his jealous former employer, the carousel owner Mrs. Muskat, and feels that the robbery is his only way left to obtain financial security.

The Theatre Guild production starred Joseph Schildkraut and Eva Le Gallienne, with supporting roles played by such actors as Dudley Digges, Edgar Stehli, Henry Travers and Helen Westley.

[1] In 1939, Orson Welles directed and played the title role in a one-hour radio adaptation for his CBS The Campbell Playhouse program.

The production costarred Helen Hayes as Julie and Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Muskat, the carousel owner who is infatuated with Liliom.

His children are the ones who so viciously taunt Louise, although, in order to keep Carrie a sympathetic character, Hammerstein keeps her totally unaware of this; in contrast to Mr.

Liliom became Billy Bigelow, the criminal Ficsur became Jigger Craigin, and Mother Hollunder, the boarding house keeper, became Julie's cousin Nettie.

Molnár's basic plotline for Liliom and Julie is largely adhered to, as is much of his dialogue (although Hammerstein makes it more colloquial and gives it a New England flavor).

[10] A stage adaptation by Andrei Șerban and Daniela Dima, Carousel, also based on Fritz Lang's 1934 Liliom, has played at Bucharest's Bulandra Theatre since 2015.

In the 1934 French film, Liliom finally does gain entry into Heaven, not because he has successfully done something good for his daughter, but because of Julie's forgiveness and love for him.

Likewise, in the 1930 American film version, Liliom feels that he has failed, but the Heavenly Magistrate (H. B. Warner) reassures him that he has not, because Julie clearly still loves him.

By contrast, in the original stage play, Liliom is ominously and sternly led offstage after he fails in his heavenly mission and is never seen or heard from again, although Julie still remembers him fondly.