The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-10-01
SARDOU III MAN.
OF a Medical in
becoming a Great Playwright.

1OuuOn MALL
victorien Sardou, the author of Robes
pierre" which Sir Henry Irving produced
at the Lyceum recently, has now written
plays for over forty years, and since the
friend. Dumas nils, can be unhesitatingiy
crowned king of dramatists. Although a
man of great individuality, Sardou's per-
lish audiences which lave enjoyed Peril"
Diplomacy" "A Scrap of Paper" L
a aHSer' adaata Mans f S5ao0 his f facila numerous nan
Nictorien Sardou, member of the French
Academy, is now nearly sixty-eight years
Of age, having been born Sept; ., 1881, in
father was a professor of history and the
editor Of numerous classics. His son Zone
reared care in = the n mid dHs of f a highly ed22cated
circle. and was finally turned into the med
zeal schools of the QUARTER Latin in order
that he might graduate as a doctor.
But Sardou as a doctor was not a sue
cess. Lodging in a garnet with another
student, they endeavored to keep life to-
gether upon a three-sous breakfast and a
six-sous dinner. Like the picture every
localized, though drawn by another dram
atist in Our Boys" they wrote cheap ar
subsistence by Journalism. AT last Sardou
wrote his first play and La Taverne des
Et At the end a Of f6e firs st act rsf4i it was doomed.
AT the end of the second its unhappy
author rushed from the building. vowins
never to enter it again. In 1888 he mar
ried Mile. De Brecourt, who had consider
able greenroom influence, and, at the earn
est solicitation of the famous Virginie De-
jaZet, he took up his quill once more. In
1860 was produced at the Gymnase LES
Pattes de Mouche," and his future fame
was assured. This play, now transferred
Franchise. is well known in England as "A
Scrap of Paper" with Mrs. Kendall in the
leading role.
Sardou's physiognomy has been compared
to those of Dante, Voltaire and Napoleon
B~onaparte. He Is small. thin, wiry, with
sharp eyes and a mobile mouth He is. per-
haps, best described as being a good lover
and a good hater." His plays have brought
him in enormous sums, and he keeps a
the chateau and park at Marly-ie-Roi, near
81. Germain, and overlooking the valley Of
the Seine, formerly belonged to Louis XIV.
Gossip reports that it was originally pur-
chased with the royalties accruing from
La Famille Benoiton,' a very successful
drama of the early sixties.
No matter whether the playwright be at
Marly-le-Roi or in his gorgeous Partisan
fiat near the Church st. Augustin, he is al
ways a tremendous worker. How many
knows. Awake and about at 6 o'clock from
January 10 December. at Z he commences
to write. At Il he has a slight lunch Gun
great FEEDER. then scribbles away until 3.
If writing has been finished for the day,
work has by no means ended. he has act
with. Woe betide the man who stands up
against Sardou upon a question OF archaeo-
logical detail. for the dramatist'S learning
is almost universal.
For thirty years he has been noted as a
spiritualist and medium. His views upon
Shakespeare are more those Of his proto-
type Voltaire than of the generality of
French authors. In a republican country he
is an unbending monarchist, which may be
accepted as one explanation why so many
of his plays. (~"Thermidor.' for instance).
have brought down such torrents of jour-
nalistic abuse.
In one respect at least Victorien Sardou
strongly Sir Henry Irving. Both
are famous for their charity: they are ever
willing to assist the struggling or fallen in
a calling noted for its ups and downs. In
Paris the king of dramatists bears the same
enviable reputation accorded in London to
the head of the English histrionic profess
sion.