The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-10-27
AFFAIRS OF THE THEATER
sOTHERN As WILLOW AND THE REAL
STORY OF THE POET-THIEF.
One Instance Where the Truth Would
Furnish Far Better Play Than a
RomancinG Dramatist Has.

York His part in this new theatrical sea- |
son Is interesting and instructive. In the |
beginning he produced a play named rich |
ard L1velace," after the principal char |
acter in it. 1t was written By Laurence |
Irving, son OF Sir Henry, and was an at |
tempt TO show in drama the career OF
I.ovelace. who was one of the early English |
poets and who wrote several poems that |
have lasted in some degree to this day. |
The play seems to be truthful, and as it |
happened that Lovelaces end was sad |
one the play is somber, and because the |
play is somber it was not sufficiently at !
tractive to the multitude. 1t was with
drawn and play named IF L Were King
was substituted. Mr.. Irving is now in New |
York with his father and viii repair his
play. Probably he will brighten" it. Mr..
sothern may use II later in the season.
eff 1 Were King" and Mr.. Sothern's
acting OF it are drawing large audiences to
the Garden Theater. 1t was written by
Justin Huntley Mccarthy, whose father is
a famous writer. The young Mccarthy
has been successful in London with his
farces and light plays. In IF l Were
King he has made Francois Villon the
prime parsonage and the play purports to
describe one of vinon's adventures. Ac-
cording to Mr.. Mccarthy, Villon found
grace In the eyes of the King and saved
Paris by leading his troops to victory
against the forces Of the Duke Of Bur-
gundy. But he ridiculed the King in
ballade entitled IF 1 Were King, and the
King, who was I'm disguise and lurking in
a cabaret. where Villon and MS friends
were drinking, heard the insulI to him
He framed cruel jest. Ntllon should be
mayor Of Paris for a week and then he
should die. NillOn was in love with lady
OF the court, Katherine De Vaucelles, and
he III fQIH i'm hQf ha wi
her the sentence OF death should be com
muted. MarvelOusly, NillOn did win the
lady. and when he was banished. instead Of
hanged. she left France with him.
This theme IS not so new that the theater
habitue will not be able to trace out the
effective scenes without having witnessed
them. In the first act. of course, Nillcn and
his companions are having roaring time
IN a taproOm. Wenches are sitting on some
of the mems knees. NillOn is astride of a
barrel and with tGnkard I'm hand ne recites
his new ballads. Later on IN the play he
exercises his poetic temperament and fas-
cfnating art liz the WOOing OF the sensitive
and refined Katherine. Here the story ad-
mits Of beautiful stage picture of a part
of a castle covered with roses and green
grass growing all around. For so graceful
ard spirited an actor as Mr.. Sothern-he is
Acknowledged the leading romantic actor of
the United States-there should be no lack
OF opportunity TO use many of the melo-
dramatic tricks that have agitated play
goers for 50 long. But this is not the story
OF Francois NiIlOn. and when compared
with the true story the makeshift is a silly
and insipid tale not TIT even to amuse the
class of persons that p9troniZe Mr.. SOthern
lii they knew the real story, which they
should.
Francois Villon was born in Paris in
1431. His father bore the name of Mont
corbier, from a village in BOurbOnnais.
His uncle was the chaplain Of the coll
legiate church Of Saint Benoit the
SOrbonne, and he became the guardian of
Vl.o.. He made the boy attend the lectures
at the University of Paris and take the
degree of master of arts. He, .in common
with many other students at the university,
cast aside the ambition to become an
official Of the church or the state and be-
came a parasite and a thief.
NillOn spent most of his time in the
cabarets with the young men and women
that took riOtOuS pleasure there. After
several brawls he had to fly from Paris.
He was pardOned and returned to the
university. but fed again after committing
theft. In 1857 he was at the gay court
at Blois, OF Charles D'Orleans, who also
was a poet He stole something from the
church of Bacon, near Meung, and was
imprisoned in the castle OF Meung-sur-
Loire. He was pardOned in 1861 when he
was thirty years old. He stole again, was
banished and died away from Paris
At that time, according to CASTOR Paris,
OF the French Academy, who recently has
written a biography OF Vinon THE horri-
bic wretchedness of Paris and of France
during so many years had accustomed all
could Public morality was not better than
probity. The Duke OF Burgundy made his
solemn entry into Paris surrounded by his
bastards; Charles VII had the same honors
paid TO his dame of beauty as to his
Queen, and the provost Of Paris was pub
licly the protector OF the 'folles femmes.' ="
SO Villon might well have been a thief
His way OF living gave him compassion
for the suffering common people and this
spirit inspired him to be one of Frances
greatest poets. Much as the ballade form
has been used In the centuries since VillOn,
the bahade remains his.
Mr.. Mccarthy surely read Robert Louis
stevensons masterful short story, "Lodg-
ing for the Night before he wrote .his
Villon play for Mr.. Sothern. yet, If he did,
he got nothing from it, After the descrip-
ton OF the lonely house where the poet and
some OF his friends were drinking, Steven
son wrote thus Of Villon: ION the right
Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled to-
gether over scrap OF parchment; VillOn
making a ballade which he was to call the
.Ballade OF Roast Fish," and Tabary splut-
ter1ng admiration at his shoulder. The
poet was rag Of a man, dark, little and
lean, with hollow checks and thin black
locks. He carried his four and twenty
years with feverish animation. Greed had
made folds about his mouth. The wolf and
the pig struggled together in his face 1t
vas an eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly coun-
tenance his hands We're small and pre-
hensile, with fingers knotted like q cord
and they were continually Pickering in
1ront or him in violent and expressive pam
1omime. Then followed the murder OF
Thevenin and the rifiing Of his pockets the
hight or Villon over the snowy streets, his
eu0rts TO find lodging, which he finally did
al the home OF a noble scholar. After hav-
ing eaten and warmed himself he impu-
IDENTIFY asserted that II the scholar had been
as hard pressed IN life he would be a. low
as the thief or a poet, and would have
stolen money from the stocking OF a girl
as did NillOn- For that the nobleman nut
the vagabOnd out IN the cold The door
closed behind him. The dawn was break
ing over the wife roofs. A chill. uncom-
Portable morning ushered In the day Vii
lon stood and heartily stretched himself in
the middle OF the road a very duU old
gentleman. he thought. i wonder what
his gObletS may be WORTH "
Such was the real Nillcn. Taking the
salient facts In his life, what a fine Dlav-
as historical plays go-might be made nv
good dramatistl Compare Mr. McCarthv's
fanciful production with this cOnfured-uD
truthful drama.
The opinion that truth IS better than that
which is prettily termed "romanticism" has
not by any means the greater balance of
support IN the drama. Most PLAYS termed
classic are OSCILLATIONS" Following Is
the view OF William Winter, expressed In
review In the New York Tribune of the
performance OF Sir Henry Irving and Miss
Ellen Terry I'm Charles T. a few davs ago.
Tho Irving dramatic season hegan Iaef