Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-06
PARIS ADJUSTMENTS.

PARIS, April ALPHABETICALLY eyery inn
portant Paris theater has decided to bring
its spring season to close soon after the
lst Of June. instead of keeping open until
the middle or end OF July. as Is Gus
tomary. This departure is due to the
presence of Buffalo Bits Wild West
show, which Is camped on the Champs de
Mars. The directors of the Paris thea tiers
know from bitter experience that they will
have no chance against Buffalo Bill once
the warm weather begins. The manager of
a theatrical bureau declared that Col.
Codys last summer visit to Paris cost the
theaters of the gay city over a million
francs, 100000, and said that having m
close up early this year would mean a loss
10 the playhouses of an even greater sum-
X
Henry Arthur Jones, the English play-
wright, Is in Paris on his way to London
from the Riviera. where, like his brother
dramatist, Haddon Chambers, he has been
working on play 1t has been stated on
the other side of the channel that Mr.. Jones
intended to blossom out in London &C an
"author-manager" by producing his new
work personally at Terry's Theater. and
many speculatfons have been made as to bis
reason for doing so. The dramatist saws
however that there is nothing whatever in
the report. His new play, which he will
return TO Nice to finish soon is being writ
ten for Charles Frohnan and will be pro-
duced in New York next autumn
*
Sooner or later an English adaptation of
NJ Henri Levedan's lie DUEL is sure to
be presented in America Not for wears
has any play produced at the "Comedte
tranca1se' achieved such an immediate
triumph. So rapid has been the develop
ment of the authors genius that it is diff1-
cult to realize that it is by the same hand
that drew Don Juan in the person of the
Marquis de Priola. There is no blood and
thunder about it. The duel is moral one.
fought out between priest and free-tbinker
for a woman's soul. DIR. Morey and the
Able Daniel are brothers. Beginning life
as mystic, the former has passed through
the religious phase and come out of 1t an
atheist. The latter, like st. Augustine lived
the life before he renowned it and became
an ascetic and a fervid son of the church
For ten years they have been separated.
The doctor keeps private asylum and
among his patients is the Duke de Chailles,
a degenerate morphinomanac He has a
wife, young, charming, intellectual and of
good principles. She feels bitterly the
wretchedness of her married life and the
Isolation to which 1t dooms her DR. Morey's
stronger passion. She, conscious of her tie
even though 1t is but nominal, resists his
advances, but still she loves him and he
sees 1t.
10 tIle CLERICAL DFOtnef, WnOm without be-
Ing aware of the relationship she has made
her father confessor, she reveals the situa-
ton; the horror of a marriage which Is no
marriage the unlawful love which she re-
sistS but cannot conquer. In her sore TENN
tation she has sought strength from the
faith which she had well nigh abandoned
The priest prays that he may win this
stumbling soul. The doctor enters the house.
having OWNED where the duchess had gone
Summoned to death bed, the able leaves
the two together for a while While the
doctor Is striving to batter down the walls
Of opposition he returns Priest and lover
stand face to face in the duel for woman.
The priests passionate faith is winning
till the lover uses his deadliest thrust This
is not O priest saving SOUL" he shouts.
this is man in love" The priest seeks
to repel the taunt by high words, but his
eloquence falls him. He is overwhelmed by
the discovery thus brutally thrust upon
him, of the true reason why he burns to
save the Duchess de Chailles
The last act reveals the sore trial of the
priest, while fate works kindly for the
other side. The priest resolves to leave the
parish for foreign cline, but the bishop
sets him a harder penance. He must exhort
the duchess to marry the doctor when she
is free. He does 1t. The earthly passion is
again transmuted into the spiritual pas
sion-the passion for her soul The duke
hastens the solution Of the problem for the
doctor by conveniently falling out OF a win
dow.