Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-09

in the mouths of its better followers, If one
can forgive the "Frenchiness'' of it.
There is no doubt thS the contour of the
neck is a prime favorite in the Paris cafe
concert. AS subject for harmless jest it
is never out of place. They sing the true,
the false, the young and the mature. Paul
us has illustra ted them with polka. IT'S
iron!'' cries Mile. Dufay, slapping her chest.
Another subject, slightly out of the track
of the English and American serio-comic, is
that of stomach ache and its attendant
possibilities. Happily, even in Paris, the
exploitation of this comic side of our miser
able slavery to the flesh remains confined
to the ruler Sex.
Lock at the blonde Anna Thibaud, the
brunette Irene Henry, the plump and kit
tenish Micheline and the whole battalion Of
fine aid subtle discusses of Paris; they pre-
fer what is pretty as well as risky, and
they arrest themselves at the edge of the
abyss The genre Duparc' is not the
least agreeable feature of the cafe concert;
it only lacks originality and has the fault
of SamenesS-alwayS the risky story told in
verse
Responsible for Big Sleeves.
In order to get back to something new,
the great theatrical critic Sarcey couple
of years ago had the happy idea of inau-
gurating a series of lectures on The Songs
OF Our Fathers with examples in costume
There is a whole literature TO draw from,
should one only begin with Beranger. Col
nance, Dupont, Desaugiers and Nadaud
began to live again in 1898, imparting new
decency to public tired Of dirt. "Briga-
dier-responds Pandore. Brgadier-you are
right Costumed in the dress OF 1S3U-it
is this revival that is responsible for the
leg-of-mutton sleeves of ladies gowns.
Meritorious and pretty artists returned to
the sentimentalism of Poor Bouquet, Flow
ers Already Faded!' and Gentle Tagus, |
quit thy happy banks; to thy shores l bid
this last adieu!" .-r
The return of the old song has not, how
ever, renewed the cafe concert to great ex-
tent 1t appeared as an accident, and is
passing away. But it raised disputes and
engendered wars between various schools
of song writers, "realists,' ing stifiers,"
"Zutistes' Gut! is equivalent to ratsD and
fne-de-siecleists. The free song of the
literary wine shop which had driven out
the muscular and vulgar song of the (sec-
ond) empire" continued to conquer new
fields for itself, and the new Theresa
Yvette Guilbert-had already appeared, pale
and quiet, with note of art which itself
can be only called FIN de steele Her
funeral gaety may perhaps be the last
form of laughter, for there seems to be
nothing left.
Funeral enough has been the gaiety of
the other new school of Arstide Bruant
the Browning of the Paris Sums" Orig
inally this remarkable young man (now re-
tired on fortune made out of slum songs)
was very ordinary cafe concert "artiste,"
exploiting witticisms like who is 1t that
takes chocolate? It's papa! Who drinks
And finding joy in rhyming gruvere (cheese)
with mon frere (my brother) and horreur
with me soeur (my sister,. His dream was
to get out Of it, which he accomplished by
way Of the Chat Noir. Here his Il Seek
Fortune" around the Chat Noir," "Au
Claire de la Lune' and "At Montmartre,"
brought him fortune, by moonlight, and on
the hill of Montmartre itself.
He soon had an establishment of his own,
The Mirliton,' where he put into opera
ton his peculiar form of humor, which was
the gruff, insulting of all his hearers and
the singing Of poverty, misery despair and
crime. But this is an old story, and the
repertory of Bruant has already passed
away, after a furore which lasted some
four years. He was really made at the
Chat Noir, and the influence of the Chat
Noir survives.
Every Sort of Ism.
Starved Bohemian poets, artists and song
writer's always found friend in Rudolph
Sails, the proprietor of that "artistic tav-
ern" called the Chat Noir, a friend and
patron, whose money hard-boled eggs,
beer and butter cakes would time and again
keep their smoking flax from being quench-
ed: In this capacity Of patron of the arts
Sails has brought out so many young men
in the fields of literature and painting,
Well as song writer's, that the matter would
run away with the subject should one at
tempt to enter on it. In the time Of Grevy
Sails was already singing He Plays Very
ern France, At That Game There We Can
not Lose Five Milliards'' referring to Ma
poleon III, and the German war indemnity
Politics, religion, literature and what not
entered into the song of the Chat Noir,
which has broadened into 1.-The Song of
Montmartre." Here poets sang their own
verses.
Anarchism and every other ism fourishes
IN the Song Of. Montmartre." 'If one
could be flea instead ORA man, there
would be no rent paying!aand Don't Be
Lazy, Be Robberr Jouy, MacNab,
Maurice Boukay, Pradels, Xanroff, Della
court and train too numerous to mention
are the stars, singers and writers as well.
One example only must show the dominant
sentlment.that terrible song, 1.-THE Car
Who goes from door to door, from wine
shop to wine shop lis
Her Thu husband s,and for to see, = Il
With a-a-a-a lan-ter-nel
"Ah, my poor children, mourn for your
unhappiness, complain Of your destiny to
have such father, for I have found him
making free-tir.a-leel-his arm around an
has done WELL" respond the children HE
mas done well to kiss the woman he loves"
And Ass when we're grown up, too.
Papa, we'll do as your
1t is not far to the beauty Of ugliness and
THE Last Of the Troubadours." the in
vincible drunkard, and the ugliest man in
Paris, gesticulates with club on the cafe
concert stage OF the present moment. He
desires to hang landlords, break bankers
heads and tap on the pear Of the patron
in general. His motto is Break every
thing" Clubbing his way around the scene
Take that, my dirty one!'-hs is dan
ger to the very scenery. ''There are kicks
and blows, and I break the nose and the
jawp'
Ugly and Stupid.
1t is the school Of the American Irish and
negro-minstrel knockabouts, with the note
Of actual and ferocious communism added