New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-14
FRENCH ACTORS IN LONDON
A BRILLIANT FIRST NIGHT.

LONDON. June 3.-Last night took place the iirst
performance Of the Comedie Francalse in London
No event of anything like equal Importance 10 the
English dramatic world has occurred during TINS
generation none, am glad to say, OF when INC
Importance and interest have been recognized IN SD
many remarkable ways Let me, first OF all, give
some account of the quite unprecedented DEMON
STATIONS which the appearance of these lncompar*-
Bile ar lists has called forth For 1t Is IN these demon
STATIONS, after all, that the significance Oh inc
event must be sought. The COmede franfaise
might have come and gone, and left niue OF 10
trace behind them. part Of the company dld IN
fact appear in London in 1871, with but shght
effect; slight for the moment. Their acting ehci'eu
protests than praises. lnsular PATRIOTISM loon
fire at the notion that anything was TO be learned
from foreigners. Their coming was treated as
challenge to the domestic drama There was
strange outburst of feeling. Not few Engshmen
seemed to think that their hearths and homes were
threatened with invasion that the vested interests
of the English stage were menaced; that the
bankruptcy of London managers could only De
averted by stern measures. The cold shoulder was
turned to the intruders. The newspapers scoted al
them. They PLAYED to half empty benches. society
stayed away from their representations ana
the middle classes, following their leaders
with serve fidelity, stayed away also. Inc season
Of 1871 was anything but a success. II you heafd
an alluson to the French PLAYS in polite circles 1t
was a contemp,uOus alluslOn. Dinner-tabIe witsds
PLAYED their talent at the expense OF the
first actors in the world and Of the poor creatures
who ventured to go and them. Their art was de-
cried their audiences were rdcultd "a gatherings
of confectoners and haiTdressers. Such s3ant CIV
ilty rs was bestowed on them was bestowed IN pure
compassion as upon the victims of German bar
D, NJ %
man despair of the English drama and despise the
dramatic perceptions OF English playgoers.
To-day all that is changed. and it is impossible to
welcome the change too heartily. Without stopping
to inquire into all the causes of It, must say that
great credit Is due to Messrs. Holugshead and Mayer
for their long efforts to bring 1t about Mr. Holdings
head is the lessee of the GaIety Theatre, which has
been given up to the French company tor SIX weeks.
Ar. Mayer has conducted the negotiations with the
administration OF the Theatre Franeas, Of which l
said something in a former letter 1t 10 only need
full TO repeat that Mr. Mayer patience and dlplo-
matte tact succeeded in smoothing away innumer-
able obstacles and that Nh HolliDgshead took upon
himself the whole financial risk Of the experiment.
paying a fixed sum TO the French company and
looking to the English public for sufficient support
to recoup this large outlay You perceive that the
vested interests this time We're on the side OF
the English manager. For that or better rea-
soDs. the press took up the matter IN spirit very
different from tha6 shown before For weeks the
critics and descriptive writers on the London pa
pers have been deyoting much space to the subject
We have had elaborate histories of the French
theatre; elaborate biographies Of French actors
and actresses elaborate dispositions the French
drama and the French school of acting; elaborate
narratives of the preparations for this visit. The
French papers contributed a store of material on
which their English contemporaries drew freely.
The regulations prescribed by the director Of the
Fraucas NJ. Perrin, have been published IN full in
both countries, and debated with as much solcmnity
as the protocols of Berlin More thau one London
journal has made chem the text Of a lead
ing article. In Paris, j need not say. the
theatres, and above all the Theatre Francais, hold
very different place in public and social life from
the place held in London by the London theatres.
The closing OF the Francois for two months, albeit
in the dead season. assumes in the eyes of the Pa
risian the proportion of a calamity. The theat-
rica public baGe farewell 10 its favOrites with
every circumstance of pathetic sOlemnity. On the
morning Of last Saturday the Care du Nord was
thronged. special train was engaged for the
company. and their friends assembled in great num-
bers to see them off. The minutest details are
recorded in next mornings Paris papers. Madame
Bernhardt has several paragraphs to herself You
may read how she was dressed, how she bore herself
and who accompanied her on the voyage. Her yell
low ulster and hood checked with black are hence
forth historical. Her cane, which her admirers
treat as q fairy wand, has long been so. She had
with her her young son, his tutor, her first
lady's maid her friend Clarin, the artist, whose
etching of Bernhardt, is one Of the best Of many
portraits of her and suite of at least a dozen
other persons. Her baggage filed van by itself
he reception she held was As if a court lev6e had
been appointed in the railway station, and If the
princess IN whose honor IL had been convened We're
departing on a journey to remote aud barbarous
lands The channel passage, matter of two hours
reused the lIveliest apprehensons and the adyen-
turous souls about to attempt il are favored with
enough coincidence and good advice TO have lasted
Vasco round the Cape. The French, TO be sure, the
Pgrisans above all, are not travelling people.
Not single member of the troupe seems able TO
start without companion of some sort group
gathers about each of the brighter stars. Mile.
Samary, the new beauty, is the centre of one;
Mile. Reichemberg the iHg6nue Of many years past,
of another The women appear 10 be mostly in
tears not few Of the men also Two or three Of
the more famous artists. notably Mile Croizette and
the brothers Coquelin, have chosen to make the
journey more quietly. But 1t may DO said that the
fortunes of tho French stage intrusted to the
train which rolled out of the Northern station on
Saturday and TO the odous little packet which bore
them from Boulogne to Folkestone the same after
noon OF late years. the intercourse between Paris
and London is so much closer that a state of feeling
in Paris is reflected in London; hence, in part,
the keenness of the interest this side think it
may be said also, that the English have manifested
Of late years quite fresh susceptibility the con-
dition Of their stage and to Continental criticism
upon its condition; and that much of this suscepti-
bty is due to the efforts of such managers as Mr..
Bancroft and Mr.. Hare on one side, and Mr. Irving
on the other and higher side