New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-29
EUGENE LABICHE
A COMIC GENIUS PASSED AWAY.

| ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC AND CLEVER OF fRENCh
| DRAMATIsTs-HIs ELECTION TO THE FkENch
| ACADEMY CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS PLAYS.
T. is not surprising to be told that all Paris Is
rcviving its memories Of the veteran dramatst
who died and was buried last week No writer
| for the contemporary French stage was more
essentially Partisan than Eugene Labiche. None
caught the spirit of the gay capital so well as he
| II is easy to understand the dismay with which
] the proposal to elect him member Of the French
| Academy was received in some quarters. What!
| Elect to place among the mmOrtals man who
| is funny-who makes people laugh-who writes
| yaudevilles and farces? The solemn mcdiocrities
who sometimes gain an entrance TO that charmed
circle strange as it may seem, must have looked
at each other in wonder.
| They do get in there somebow-those medocri-
ties-the dark horses of literature, and the arts
and sciences who out first at the goal because
the favortcs run afoul OF each other. pulling
and the triumph Of the ordinary man are not seen
| alone in the election of Presidents and Popes
Even on the classic heights where the forty chosen
| men Of France meet to celebrate themselves and
| each other such things not unknown. They
| are surely known to-day when Francois Coppec IS
| member and Edouard Paillcron q shining light
and Aphonse Daudct probably the greatest living
novelist except Tolsto is not the one, and there
! fore cannot be the other. They were no less
known eight years ago when Iabiche's name
proposed to the Academy n candidate for mem
bcrship But his plays had been printed. with
preface by NJ. Augier the great painter OF char
acters and manners. in which he declared his own
surprise upon reading them at Labiche's comic
force and the keen observation of human nature
that lay beneath the cNtravarancc and ab5nrdty
of his incidents The critics and the public shared
NJ Anglers surprise and delight when they came
to read the plays which they had before enjoyed
without fully approaching all their artistic quail
ty. In fact, IL is said that it was this chorus OF
praise which first suggested to NJ Labiche, who
was really modest man, that he might presume
to be a candidate. The first surprise over, o wise
reflection brought the requisite number TO the
conviction that there is genius Of the comic as
well as o: the serious, and they prudently elected
him. the Revue DIES DeuX Mondes" TO the con-
trary Notwithstanding
or the hundred and fftv comic pieces he wrote.
only two-ffths less than sixty, arc included in his
ten volumes But these undoubtedly show at
their best his versatility his rich fund OF comic
incident, his sparkling wit There is often
grotesqucncss, lofty absurdity, in the incidents
that suggests w. S. Gilbert very much as the
father suggests the son. Preferences for plays are
very often like opinions about act0rs-easler to
state than to maintain
Inc story Is fOd or n very accomplished anu
clever newspaper writer in this town who was
sent to see theatrical performance which, by
common consent, has been accepted as truly great,
and who returned with the single observation
which he duly committed to paper. that Edwin
Booths Hamlet was 10 way to behave" JudE-
mcnt OF a play ought to be more capable, it would
be supposed Of demonstration than like or dislike
of an actor, which is largely matter Of per-
sonal taste But about plays there is apt
to be n wide divergence of opinion One Of the
most successful Of American damatists says that
on going out Of the theatre with the crowd the
first night of one Of bis plays, the man on his
right said Well that's the worst | ever saw
The authors heart went doHn to his boots. The
man on his left said, " That's the best play ever
saw The boots were lightcned at once.
So opinions differ about the plays Of Tabiche.
Many critics incline to the feeling that the more
serious comedies, such rs Moi" which was
written expressly for the Theatre Fancais, arc
his best and most enduring work. But to the
Thought Of one reader at least. the intention is
too evident particularly in this piece II smacSs
of preaching. The misunderstanding is admira-
BILE, the comedy wcsustaincd and true. Bat there
seems certain air of cAort, rs If the author
knew he was writing for the chief theatre Of the
world, n suggestion of scIfconscousncsS that is
absent when he is simply rcvclllng in comic
situation, without second thought Of any kind.
Ia this sphere TO my mind, the genius of Labiche
is seen at his best, and in nothing docs he seem
! TO have done better work than in of his
shortest pieces In the writing of Onc-act farccs,
swift, extravagant, amusing, tense TO the very
end. he has no equal What would the British
farcc-writcr have done without these pieces, which
il has been his custom to invest with an atmOs-
there Of beef and beer" to quote that wicked
Mr.. Labouchore, and then produce as his ownP
Box and Cox Little Toddlcliins,' E" Phcnom-
enrn in Smocll FrocI" and others too numerous
TO mention, were among these
/ One OF the most audacious and amusing Of his
one-act pieces recalled with de- hit by Fran
cisque Sarcey in one OF his reminiscent articles
| year two ago. This was LAnalrc dc la Rue
de Lourcine' Probably no more cxtraN agant
and yet more consistent piece was ever written.
} The scene opens upon bedroom, the curtains
of the bed closed. From these Leng.ume emerges
in bis trousers. lie had been out to college
dinner the night before, and had evidently re-
turned in incohcrcnt frame of mind. This
may a warning to the various alumni
who are dining diligently nowadays in these
parts lie finds that he has brought home with
him one of his old schoolmatcs whom he had not
seen in twenty-seven years. lie also emcrscs
from the bed and there is an amusing little scene
in which the author, always true 10 nature, pct
ures the efforts OF two who have grown
away from each other, to find something to talk
about. They compare notes. and learn that their
memory of the events of the night is complete
blank. The reader hardly needs to be told that
the moral quality Of the piece is not of the highest
A number of discoveries made in natural
way though they seem bald in the telling, which
fill them with wonder and curiosity. Lenglume
finds a handlGl of cherry stones in his pocket;
Mistingue, his schoolmate, handful of prune
stones in his Both discover that their hands are
black and that each has po?ketfIIl of charcoal
They become very uneasy, especially Lenglume, as
his excursion was a secret from his WIFE and he
finds that he has lost an umbrella surmounted with
monkeys head. which belonged to relative
and will surely be called for. Mistingue less
o.nnnrnnd L. find be Las Inst Il hunllser eff