The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-06-17

forgot that Got was there. and Febvr
and all the rest. ! thought only OF ni
piece. and l read on for myself alone. Tn f
play was accepted. But then came thre
years of waiting, during which 1 had Dbl
news whatever of my piece. That i5
say, no good news. for did occasional
hear of IT from my friends and from act
ors at the Franchise. who told me that
was not good play. and advised me q .
withdraw II. During the last year 1 Wa
so tired Of It all that I gave up hoping
and decided to write another play III
the meanwhile. II 1 wrote little. 1 burne,
much.
Il have no method in my work and "a
regularity. That depends on my stat
of health. and l am never very wei
There are times when such Heurasthenl
comes upon me that for weeks an
months together I never leave my room
SO there are long, long periods when
write nothing. When l do write Il (
usually In the evenings
while I was waiting for Les Roman
esques TO be produced. I began to writ
La Princesse Lotutaiue.' a somewha
mystical and serious poem.
After Les RomanesqlIes' had been pro
duced and proven a great success, I sub
mitted La Prlncesse Lointalne'
Both the players and critics had pu
me down as a comic writer and the sc
rious work was not approved The pub
tic was surprised that the play was no
a merry one. SaFcey had written OF m.
as modern Regnard. and Regnard crit
les and public wished me 10 remain g.
throughout the whole OF my career. Th,
failure OF La Princesse Lioutaina' dis
couraged me- I felt that 1 was doomet
to be comic, or not be recognized a
all as a playwright I revolted agaius
this tyranny, and 1 said To myself:
must set to work to get the right no
to be comic when It does not suit me {.
be So So I determined to write a re
ligious play, and that IS how La Samari
tame came to written.
Then came the success Of La Sa
maritaine. allowed It 10 be played dur
ong Holy Week, and though the price
Of seats We're raised. It earned rela
lively speaking. more money than ever
'CyranO' does. But what offered me tn.
most delight in It's success was that hat
shown the public and the critics. and ha4
convinced myself that 7 was not fore
ed always TO write comedies.
"All this time 1 had been carrying Cv
ranO de Bergerac in my head Ever sine,
was at school had felt that there wa.
play TO be written on the life OF Cyra
no de Bergerac, duelist warrior and an
thor. Even before Les Romanesques
was written I had the intention OF writ
ing a play about him. But I had no ac
ton for the p.ece. ! thought Of him aI
ways, and l read all that had been writ
ten about him-BibIiophile Jacobs booI
upon him, NOdier's eulogy. and of course
every line of his own works I filed ms
head with historical notes cOnceruins-
him
Now and then I would write few
verses, a TRADE or two, and put then
in my drawers. So that when I hat
found the plot of the action In which b,
was to move, 1 had much OF the pla3
ready. I wrote Cyrano simultaneously
with La Samarltaine' When 1 was
the midst Of the piece it occurred 20 mt
that the only man In France who cOulC
play the part was Coquelin. 'Cyrano
could not be played at the Francois. 70.
there was no one there who could ac
such Il part, or rather, who could IOOl
the part like Coquelin. 1 felt so con
WINGED Of this that I would not listen @
my friend Feraudy when he urged mi
to give It 20 the Coincide Franchise
had believed that it would take with th
public, but 1 never dreamed that s.
would succeed as 1t has done. It IS on
unheard Of thing on the stage for a play
written IN rhyme 20 run for more thar
300 nights"
Then the conversation took another turf
to the purely personal II rarely eve
go out" he said. Il never take az
exercise. never go out for the meI
sake Of walking. only when I have
definite object in view. I am told that
ought 70 take exercise, and I think p
shall begin fencing once more. I hardh
ever see anybody-my wife and children
suffice me for company-aud I have On1
one or two friends. I wish 20 be alone
am quite without the pale Of the Fart
world Of letters. l belong 20 no scho0
or literary cOterie. and I have neveI
written in any Of the magazines IN whlcl
these coteries defend their special View
on art I do not know what IS said o
me among my brother authors. 1 can
not mix with people. I must be alone
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