Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1895-08-29

Is
NAMES USED BY PLAYWRloHTa.
Amusing Instance OF O6enss Taken -
Real Personsgcs.
Shortly before the outbreak Of the
Crimean war the late DR.. Granville
mean the one who left such interesting
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to Lord Palmerston
to the effect that Gear Nicholas l. was
rs mad a March hare. Palmerston rec
piled expressing sorrow that Provi-
dence should have seen fit to inf1ict SO
exalted a parsonage as the antocrat Of
all the Russias with mental alteration
but that he (Palmerston) did not see
his way clear to let lunatic dictate
the policy Of Europe. . .ssS'ss:
1t has been stated, with how much
truth know not, that the husband Of
the real and notorious Mrs. Ebbs-
Smiths distinct from the fictitious
and notorious one-wrote to Mr.. Pinero
or to Mr.. Hare, or to both, requesting
them to change the name of Mr..
Pinero's heroine. Mr.. Ebbsmith, it il
said, feared that the excitement of
hearing her name from every body's
lips would prove too much for his
wife's weak intellect or excitable tenn
permanent. If such a request was made, &
Mr.. Pinero was perfectly justified in
declining to be guided in his dramatic
nomenclature by the fads and whims
of a lady who, however, estimable in
all the relations of life, did not carry
sufficient mental ballast to digest the
stubborn fac ''qu'ily plus dun ane
qui s'appelle Martin" as the French
have it. or, to put it in plain English,
that there are more fools than one Of
the same name"
That kind of dictatorship-for it il
nothing less-has been so often sub
mitted to by some Of the most famous
playwrights as to have virtually be.
come an established thing. knowing
what do of French courts of law, I
feel certain that the playwright's good
nature in having given way will be
used against him one day coercively.
That should be prevented at all costs,
both in France and elsewhere, for tech.
meal, artistic and onomatopoeiac rea-
sons. beg the readers pardon for
the long adjective. Fancy the whole
of the nomenclature of Sheridan's ri.
walls" or ''School for Scandal being
changed at the instance of too self
conscious or fdgety setlof people! And
there are playwrights to-day who arc
just as clever in that one respect as
the creator Of Mrs. Malaprop and
Charles Surface have not seen MIR.
Pinero's piece; but the name Of Ebb-
smith was unquestionably good
find"
The name of Benoiton, which Sardou
invented for the members Of the family
who constitute the principal person.
ages Of his famous play, was nearly as
good hit. But the invention was not
a spontaneous one. The original title
of the comedy was "La Famille Be-
MOTT" and the Paris papers in their
preliminary announcement spoke of it
under that name. One morning the
author received letter from M. Be-
mott, a captain of lancers, commanding
him to change his name there and then
unless he would prefer a bullet through
his brain, or his nose cut OFF, etc.
An author who is In the throes of re.
hearsal wants all his courage and bat
tlesomeness for his hourly contentious
with his interpreters, and Sardou
changed the name to that of ''Bonoit-
ard" Two days later the postman
| h,,o,, \; ~, 1o%%o, M
ard, who objected ito hear the name
of his ancestors banded about In tho
vitiated atmosphere of the wings and
Haunted on salmon-colored posters for
the edification of a lot of loafers and
ne'er-do-wells." A second change Of
names; this time to ''Benoiton," after
which Sardou was left in peace.
'Francillon" was changed into
.'Francine" few days before its APP
pearance at the request of = gentleman
whose wife bore that name. Strange
to say, the name Of "Francine," was
that of the petitioners mother; SO the
original name was reinstated. I sup
pose the husband of the real Francillon
and son of the real Francine preferred
to see his wife vexed rather than his
mother, though why the young matron
should have been vexed, seeing that
Francillon at the end of the play turns
out to be as pure as the driven snow.
lean not imagine. Perhaps if she had
known the plotof the piece beforehand
she would not have minded lending
her name.
At any rate that is the conclusion
came to long ago after a conversation
with the late Mario Uchard, the hus-
band of Mile. Madeleine Brohan and
the author of TIA Flamina," from
which Sardou Is supposed to have bor-
rowed "Odotte." Uchard told me that
one of his friends changed the name Of
his principal parsonage at the request
of the latter's real namesake. The
a letter couched as follows: Monsieur,
It you had told me that my namesake
in your play is a clever and brilliant
engineer, who in the end receives tho
cross of the legion of honor, l should
not have asked you to alter his name.
IL there be still time restore that name
to him, for also am an inventor by
profession, and the play may attract
the attention Of the government to my
buttonhole, as yet void of any order
whatsoever. - Illustrated London
News
HEADING HIM Children
often say very funny thingsn Jumpuppe-
(guardedly) Yes; but never funny enough
to be repeated. PUCK.
Il Cant cIeen