New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-21
FOR PARIS PLAYERS.
A Pleasant Retreat Provided When
Incapacitated By Age.
Paris. May 8.

Paris, May .
Exactly two years ago Coquelin, the idol of
tho paris stage was struck with a generous
ida. which he has now succeeded in material
tzing and it bids fair TO be a great boon for
the particular persons it is intended to benefit
tJts scbeme was to found pleasant retreat for
actors and actresses whom old age found unable
m support themselves, to provide a very ma
terial and practical supplement TO the tiny PEN
sjons which the Association Of Dramatic Artists
r,a+es out to its subscribers after certain
period of time
Actors ALWAYS have been. and always will be.
probably about the most improvdent class OF
neople on the face OF the earth. In their little
dav of popularity money is so quickly and easily
made that few think 1t worth while to refrain
from dissipating it quickly. with the result
that superannuaton finds them all unprepared.
Salaries in Paris nothing like as high as
those given in New-Yorl1 London to a star
PLAYER but 1.-The profession" remains neverthe-
less one of the best paid callings and is I'M
comfortably crowded in consequence. Coquelin's
device however, will rob old age of most Of It's
terrors for he has provided his less fortunate
fellow artists with ideal retreat in a beauti-
full part of the country about an hour and
half from the capital
To benefit by the new asylum, candidates have
to fulfil two conditions; they must have been
less than thirty years, and they must have
exercised their calling for the same length Of
time With these two stipulations, there Is only
the necessary age limit. Women must be at
least ffty-fve years old, and men sixty. Now,
the pension given by the association to it's sub
scrlbers of thirty years standing is only 900
francs a year $500, totally inadequate sum to
provide the necessaries Of life TO the annuitant.
When elected to the retreat, domiciled in the
old convent of Pont Danes, each contrib
utes $50 froncs $40 to the general fund tow
ard defraying expenses, 81 month being left
to the inmate for pocket money. But from the
moment they enter the building the boarders
find every comfort provided for them, and the
air of the place, surrounded as IT is by pretty
Ieafy park. is rather that of a smart watering
| place
| One hundred and twenty years ago the old
! house had for a tenant the fair and frail Nine
Du Barry when she was banished from the court
| on the death Of Louis XIV. Rearranged. suita-
| ably and prettily furnished decorated with many
| artistic gifts from persons whom Coquelin in
| terested in the work. the old convent purchased
for the sum of $4,000 francs. is as we'll adapted
to it's object it we'll could be. The house Is Just
such a specimen of architecture may be seen
| all over France, the somewhat bald looking
walls and insignifcantly sloped roof with mar
row windows calculated TO let in only the mini
mum of air and light, offers accommodation for
| sixty persons The women will occupy one
wing and the men the other, while the main
body of the building, the only part OF the orlgl-
| nal house now standing, has been arranged TO
| receive ten married couples. Outside the house
| there runs a long, broad terrace, commanding
| the pleasure garden, which has been laid out IN
what is known in France as the English style.
| But it is after ALL the inside Of the building
| which is the most interesting. Since the open
| ing day April 3, nineteen inmates have been re-
ceived They include one decayed theatrical
| manager one 'ingenue'' of seventy-one, one
'star' Of second or third magnitude, who had
| fallen on such evil days that she had been
| glad to fill the humble role Of attendant in
| the very house in which she had formerly
| nIaved and one a distant cousin of the great
| Rachel herself a dancer of the Paris Opera
House and Of Covent Garden. in London now
a gray haired old woman with very little agility
left in her limbs
| With all the same trait is nouceable-they i've
| in the glorious past, and never weary of relat-
/ ing to each other the tale of their bygone con-
| quests. 1t would appear that they cannot live
even now without theatre so is TO be
shortly erected in the park, and here it is to be
| supposed that each will in turn appear before
| the most critical of audiences, one composed
entirely of rivals. At the present moment of
| writing these aged folk are looking forward 10
the yearly festival of the little village, which
falls on Sunday, and which is to be the occasion
of a dance Apparently. they all intend to
| shake the leg" for all the weight of their adj
| vanced years Freed from anxiety for their
daily bread, they all seem to have relapsed into
their lighthearted selves of earlier days, and
Couuelin's guests look the picture of content