The Indianapolis journal., 1904-05-01

symptoms of our hearts. They would give
us the nastiest of entertainment-anyway,
some of them have and would again-if
more than an improbable minority craved
it. But the majority is wholesome in taste,
though not refined, and that is why the
French farces of vicious husbands and
wives must be pruned of their lubricity
and grated with decorum to be transplanted
thrivingly on American SOIL This is not a
statement of opinion, but a record of facts.
That has been written preliminarily to
description of "Heureuse." as it was in
Paris last season, and ''Tit for Tat" as it
is in New York this week. They are the
original French play by Honnequin and
Bilhaud and the American adaptation by
Ditrichstein Gabrielle Rejane was it's wife
in Paris. She is artistic wondrous in
versatility. 1t was she who embodied the
fearful wanton in ''Zaza' and the smiling
tranSgreSSor in "DiVorconS, in which We
had Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Fiske. As the
married mate of an inappreciative man in
''Heureuse" she illustrated a case by con-
trast with which those two were demure.
She was woman willing to be loved stimuli
taneously by three fellows, the husband on
the inside and two tempterS on the outside.
During two acts her moods and caprices
were fitful, but in the third she was di-
Vorced from her uncongenial spouse ana
married to another who proved less satls-
factory. Then came the Frenchiness OF
the story. The former husband wanted to
get her back, and 10 that end wrote under
an alias, inviting her TO liaison. she was
readily responsive to the supposed stranger S
lure and went alone to his rooms. There
they hugged and kissed each other and
agreed to. resume their amorous relations
fully yet Informally. That is TO say, she
was to live right along with her second
husband and meet her first surreptitiously.
Paris dotted on Rejane in that affair
Those particulars of "Heureuse" are
given in order to make the point clear that
as Americanized in "Tit for. Tat the come
dy Gt is a grade above farce, becomes
pure in so far as the wife is concerned
She is petulant, wilful and even tricky un-
der provocation. DESTROYS of legal ex-
cuse for divorce. she excites her husband S
anger against one of the lovers, and then,
when he strikes wildly at the intruder,
she neatly puts her face in the way OF his
hand and receives the blow in the presence
of witnesses. That is the merr1eSt moment
of the deodorized but not deadened pay
as produced here by Elizabeth Tyree, who
figures in the venture as star actress ana
figures il up as its financier. Her acting
is as different from Re1ane IS Ditrich-
STEMS writing is from Honnequin and Bill
hauds but | think she may take out more
money than she has put in, besides gaining
shown that there is at least one French
play OF lust which can survive the opera
ton of removing its positive indecency.
1t is at the end only. when the husband
and wife reunite, that they display them
selves as animals, and even there the wo-
man II passive and the man makes the
onslaught. As she has not married the
other chap. but merely bertothed herself,
she can and does return to legal and moral
wedlock. In preparing 'ZaZa' for Ameri-
can use the creature was not dropped back
INTO the mire from which love had tran
siently lifted her. but was left on the semi
moral level which she had attained. The
author had been logical by permission Of
Paris audiences. The adapter succumbed
10 what he knew was the preference of
New Workers. The same course has been
pursued In restoring the wife OF Tit for
Tat TO matrimonial respectability.
We get half hour of new and intense
melodrama in "A Little Tragedy OF Tien-