Program Notes

You would never know that Souvenir de Paris: Three Waltzes derives, in part, from Waxman’s score for the 1936 MGM motion picture called The Devil Doll, a curious mixture of science fiction, horror and sentimentality, the tale involves an ex-banker and Devil’s Island escapee (Lionel Barrymore) shrinking humans to doll-size to carry out a plan of avenging his false imprisonment. This cross between The Count of Monte Cristo and a Lon Chaney film, The Unholy Three (1925), among other influences, featured several scenes in Paris with the escapee (disguised as an elderly woman) and his daughter (Maureen O’ Sullivan) and some with her fiancé (Frank Lawton). Waxman’s waltzes provided underscore for these moments, whereas the composer’s subtle macabre music (not represented here) supported the sinister sequences.

– Rudy Behlmer, 2000