The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-05
THE FRENCH PLAYWRIGHT.

We take the following from one of an in
teresting series of articles ON The Men of
the Second Empire, in course of publication
in the P1B Mall Gasetto:--
Unfortunately, these arguments of French
liberalism usually fail to convince either his
Haiestys courtiers or his Nlaiesty's Censure.
Most imperialists are firmly persuaded that
the empire runs danger of destruction twenty
times week, and every music-hall poet who
fires a squib of doggerel at il is n formidable
artilleryman who must be suppressed. ! was
lately talking to fayorite French playwright,
nj. Victor Cocasse. Everybody knows this
gifted author 1t is he who wrote La Sardine
o lhuile, which had run of three hundred
nights at the Palais Royal, and ''LEpouse de
mon Voisin, which reaped such a well-de-
served success at the Varieties. When l saw
NJ Cocasse he had Just terminated new piece
destined to eclipse all his preceding ones; but
he was melancholy, aud with despair on his
brow was pondering over manuscript pro-
fusely adorned with red scratches and margi-
nal notes in red ink. "What are these
scratches?' l asked. ''Those are the correc-
tions of the Censure," he said; ''there are
about a hundred of them believe; see if you
can make anything of them l can't There
was few minutes silence, during which NJ
Victor Cocasse gazed ruefully at me thro ugh
his eyeglass. trying to divine what | thought
of it, The Censure," he said, sis collec-
ton Of official journalists and government
clerks; there are ten or twelve of them.
Sometimes you get a journalist to read your
play, sometimes you get clerk; it's all a toss
upEI got a clerk. The fellow is lean and
mischievous The first thing he did when he
saw my play was to run his pen through the
title-a splendid title, too:-'Ce quill coute de
Sc battre Monsieur said he, when
he gave me back the manuscript,
L cant LET that title pass. Rumors
of hostilities with Prussia are again rife, and
it would be highly inexpedient to prejudice
the public against war by reminding them
that fighting costs money But, Monsieur, l
exclaimed, the wars | have treated of are do
mestic wars between man and wife; | know
nothing of the others. Very likely he an
swered, but that doesn't change the title
There is another thing. too. NJ. Balancher,
the ridiculous husband in the piece, is
deputy and knight of the Legion of Honor;
he has made his fortune by gambling on
change. and his antecedentS are shady; on
the other hand. the virtuOuS young man of
the play is called Rouget. and has been ruined
by the Credit MObilier All this must he
changed The morality Of the piece would be
enhanced if it were the VirtuOus young man
whose antecedeutS were shady and whose for
tune had been lost, not won. by gambling on
ever, be altered. Rouget was the Christian
name of NJ. de Lisle, who wrote the Mar
seillaise:" it is also nearly akin to the word
rouge, which might give the public to infer
that virtue grew exclusively in the ranks of
the Republicans As to the name Balancher,
l need not point out how totally uniting it is
for a deputy and knight Of the Legion of
Honor, The deputy should have name to
command respect, and it would be good, |
think. if You were to dwell upon the fact that
he had become enriched not impoverished,
by the Credit Mobilier; this would help to re-
store public confidence i'll an institution
which has been maliciously attacked by a
spirit of factious opposition. The other cor
rections you will find i'll the margin. Good
morning. ''Of course, went ON NJ. Victor
Cocasse, 81 felt disposed to howl and to
throw the manuscript at his head, but what
would have been the use? The dictum Of
that Vandal is law and I must submit.
So saying the chagrined playwright heaved
sigh and made a cigarette to comfort him
self withal As for me, | turned over the
leaves Of the manuscript and tried to under
stand the corrections in it. | should confess
here that my former experiences of NJ.
Cocasses plays had not led me to the conclu-
sion that a judicious amount of censorship
was at all undesirable. There were passages
in the 'Sardine lhuile' which had sent me
home marveling, and whole scenes in
''L'Epouse de mon Noisn' which had inclined
me to believe that the Censure must have
been asleep when it set its wise to the play
When took See quill coute de Sc battre, -
l rather hoped to find that the Censure had
awoke at last and l was half prepared to learn
that it had been reading NJ. Cocasse a small
marginal lecture on his fondness for divorce
court incidents; but hadnotfar toread before
discovering my mistake. The only passages
touched were those which seemed to reflect
in any way on constituted authorities: but the
scenes between the virtuous young man and
the wife of Balancher (renewed from Genesis
chapter XXXiX), those between NJ Balanchel
himself and Nladlle Justine, the soubrette
and finally the conclusion of the piece, where
the virtuous young man draws a written con
fession from the tail pocket of his coat anC
explains to Balancher what Balancher woult
probably much rather have ignOred-all these
scenes of lofty morality had been allowed tC
stand. 'Come, come, / said, laying down
the manuscript, ''do you really believe tha
any Balancher on earth would consent to give
his daughter to the yrtuous young man after
a confession of that kind 7" Que voulez-
Vous?" responded Cocasse; Ill faut un de
nouement, and he looked at me with
surprise not unmingled with pity
II am afraid you don't quite entel
INTO the spirit of the piece, he remarked
am OF the realistic school, and this i
sketch from nature ''Yes. | could SCI
that; but what if you had toned down nature
few shades don't you think the effect woul,
have been as good?' NJ. Cocasse took thre
whiffs at his cigarette, gazed at me agai
through his eyeglass, and then shook hi
head. 81 see what you are driving at, ," h
said, ''but that won't do. You think m
laiacn immoral and Won Hunnll hnun El.nl ~.