Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-03-20
UNION AND AMERICAN.
TEE INFLUENCE OF LATE DINNERS
ON THE DRAMA.


Paris Correspondence Of the London Tele-
graph.
A controversy which has often been
canvassed II England has Just been
raised among the journalists here. II.
Sarcey, the dramatic critic Of the
XLXRle Steele, protests that there is
great danger Of the theatre going to
the dogs In France in consequence Of
the habit Of making the dinner hour
later and later every year. The result
Is, he declares, that the hour Of pro-
ducing the chief piece Of the evening is
constantly retarted, and that, neverthe-
less, thetheatres arenot half filed when
the curtain rises. He proposes to alter
this state of things by doing
away with dinner altogether.
The remedy Is radical. He is,
however, indulgent to the animal pro-
pensities and weaknesses of humanity,
and he proposes that society shall sup
instead Of dining. Nothing can be
more charming, he declares, than TO 90
10 the theatre On an empty stomach,
and nothing more delightful than to
eat on leaving a performance and to
talk over all your impressions Of the
evening. NJ. Sarcey points to the ex-
ample Of Germany, IN which he is
quite right, and Of Italy, IN which be Is
quite wrong. In the latter country
theatres begin at later hour than In
any part Of the world with which 1 am
acquainted. His reference to Germany
is also susceptible Of an Interpretation |
running counter to his argument, for |
the hours Of dining, on which the |
theatrical us3ges depend, are /
becoming later and later ev-
cry year. Half-past y used to be /
the normal time, as 1t Is still IN c0un- /
try districts and in Switzerland. Then
1t got on from l till 2, and until the /
war the regular time for dining at the
Berlin tables d'bOte was 3. In 1871, as
I remember to my cost, It was not pos
sible to get anything to eat IN the
shape of dinner at the one single good
TestdurGteur's IN the Prussian capital
after 6 O'Clock. But the tendency was
even then TO retard the hour, and, as
the business Of life becomes more
pressing, men try TO cram more and
more work into the working hours Of
the day. 1t may be very nice to shorten
dramatic entertainments, so as to
enable play-gOeTs to get to bed early;
but l know from personal experience
how troublesome 1t is for a busy man
to take his seat IN a theatre at 8 O'Clock.
I also remember well the shamefaced
feeling with which, after spending
three hours In a hot atmosphere, one
energies into broad daylight. One feels
as though it were to. morrow morning,
and as though he had passed the night
in a carouse. The plan of substituting
supper for dinner would never do IN
Paris, where it Is the fashion to 90
into society after leaving the theatre,
and where the only refreshment pro-
vided is IN general a glass Of orangade
and a sweet biscuit. Nor would it be
convenient, not to say possible, to pro-
vide supper for t e chance guests who
may happen to drop IN. La the present
state of things, the lady Of the house
is equally well prepared if only six
visitors appear, or if, as sometimes
happens, sixty make a sudden and IN
expected Eruption into her salons. 1t
is not by such artificial devices that
people can be induced to 90 to the
theatre. Not that 1t needs much in
ducement to drag Parisians to the
play, for as I am pepetually reminding
you, the majority of theatres are al
ways full.