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Liliom is a 1909 play by Ferenc Molnár, famous as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.

Molnar's most famous play, it concerns Liliom, a tough, cocky carousel barker who falls in love with Julie, a young woman who works as a maid. When both lose their jobs and Julie discovers that she is pregnant, Liliom, unbeknownst to Julie, agrees to participate with his friend Ficsúr, a criminal, in a holdup to obtain money to provide for the child. The holdup is a disaster, but Ficsúr escapes, and Liliom kills himself to avoid capture. He is sent to a fiery place, presumably Purgatory. Sixteen years later, he is allowed to return to earth for one day to do a good deed for his now teenage daughter, whom he has never met. He fails in the attempt, and is presumably sent to Hell. The ending, though, focuses on Julie, who obviously remembers Liliom fondly.

The play was a failure in Hungary when it was staged there in 1909, but not when it was staged on Broadway in English (1921), starring Joseph Schildkraut and Eva Le Gallienne. They also starred in the first revival, in 1932. In 1940, a second revival, starring Burgess Meredith and Ingrid Bergman, played New York. In 1945, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote Carousel, an Americanized musical adaptation, which became one of the great classics of musical theatre.

Even though the musical adaptation took liberties with Molnar's play, changing the ending so that the ex-barker is successful in his return to Earth, Molnar applauded Carousel. Carousel also Americanizes the story, setting it in Maine during the last part of the nineteenth century. The names of nearly all the characters are changed as well.

Liliom has been filmed several times, beginning in the silent era:

• The first film version, directed by Michael Curtiz in 1919, was aborted in mid-production because of Curtiz's flight from Hungary, and never finished.

• The second, a somewhat disguised and altered version reset in Coney Island, was made in 1921 and was titled A Trip to Paradise. It starred Bert Lytell.

• In 1930 came the first talkie version, a faithful adaptation made in English by Fox Film, although Ficsúr was called "The Buzzard" in this version. Directed by Frank Borzage, it starred Charles Farrell and Rose Hobart, and was not a success.

• Next came the most notable film version of Molnar's original play - the 1934 French film, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Charles Boyer and Madeleine Ozeray. On the whole, it was a very faithful adaptation. Lang, however, changed Molnar's pessimistic final scene into something more hopeful. He also omitted the characters of Wolf Beifeld and the Carpenter. Mother Hollunder was renamed Mrs. Menoux, and Young Hollunder was called Hollinger in the film. In Lang's version, Hollinger becomes a rather twerpy young man, foolishly infatuated with Julie. The criminal Ficsúr, who leads Liliom into committing a holdup, was renamed Alfred.

• The play has also been adapted for both Austrian and German television, respectively.

• Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical adaptation, Carousel, was made into a De Luxe color film by 20th-Century Fox in 1956, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. The movie version of the hit musical failed to attract wide public attention at the time, although its soundtrack album was a best-seller and remains so to this day, but it has since taken its rightful place as one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein film classics.

• A television adaptation of Carousel, starring Robert Goulet and an unknown singer-actress named Mary Grover, aired in 1967 on the American Broadcasting Company network.

Liliom, a carousel barker
Julie, a housemaid who falls in love with Liliom
Mrs. Muskat, owner of the carousel
Fiscur, a criminal
Mother Hollunder, owner of the boarding house at which Liliom and Julie are staying
Young Hollunder, her son
Marie, Julie's best friend
Wolf Beifeld, Marie's fiancée
A Carpenter, in unrequited love with Julie
Louise, Liliom and Julie's daughter
Linzman, a payroll clerk
The Heavenly Magistrate
Two Policemen from the Beyond