The San Francisco call., 1906-05-05
FRENCH WRITER
SCORES AGAIN
Graduate OF Cafe
Skilled Dram
dtiSt.
Makes Another Hit
With New Play
"Paraitre."

3 LONDON. May An Paris Maurice
Special Dispatch TO The Cali.
DOnnay-who is frequently referred to
as the most popular Of all dramatists
has quite evidently scored again.
Silent since he made so great hit
with The Other Danger" Donnay
tried q rather daring experiment in
his new piece, "Paraitre," which was
done at the Theatre Francois a few
nights ago, but everyone admits that
he has carried it of with the most
complete success.
It Is. Of course, a hard and fast rule
Of the French theater that no effective
play can deal with more than two or
three leading characters, but In Par
sitre" Donnay has drawn a whole
crowd Of them, beginning with mil
lionaire and ending with a Socialistic
deputy. Appearances" the piece will
probably be called Il it is translated
into English, for it is all about what
IN the United States is known as put
ting Up a front"
FOR SAKE OF SHOW.
For the sake Of show, in other words,
the rich Jean Raidzen drives a motor
car; for show, a bourgeois family
named Marges-when Raidzell has an
accident near their house-throw their
daughter, Juliette, in his way in order
that she may marry him. For show,
Margcs, the elder. when he has sue
cessfully welded his daughter TO the
rich Jean, forgets his good wife and
Initiates the foolish dalliance of idle
people, and for show, Christiane, the
wife Of Paul Marges, the Socialist
deputy and Juliette's brother, wishes
70 be false to her husband and control
the riches of Jean Raidzell. Needless
70 say, the end is tragic, with the mil
liOnaire shot dead by the Socialist, and
everyone else in greater or less mis-
cry, but the piece is full Of wit and
irony and has made a strong impress
sion on all who have seen it.
So Maurice Donnay has added still
another TO his long list of successes,
and the thing must be all the more
agreeable to him if he remembers the
days when, as a young man of %, he
drew the princely salary of five francs
e night for reciting at a Montmartre
cafe-cOncert
ROAR OF APPLAUSE.
It viii be rather interesting to see
what happens on both sides of the
water TO "Mauricette." the English
adaptation of "Jeunness," in which H.
Z. Irving appeared for the first time at
the Lyric Theater under American
management recently. For though
there was lusty applause at the end
OF each act, and quite a roar of en-
thusiasm after the final curtain, on
thinking it all over, one grows less and
less satisfied with this piece by Andre
Picard, which has been translated
from the French by H. B. Irving him
self at the Lyric, it is admirably
played and there is much fine work
manship in the piece, but the author
doesn't in the least convince us that
his characters would have acted as he
makes them act, and SO, though the
piece ends well and with virtue tri-
umphant, it remains to be seen how it
will fare with future audiences both
on this side of the Atlantic and on
the other
In Paris "Jeunness," which, of
course, means Youth, ran for some
thing over hundred nights and was
one Of the most talked of plays of its
season
In London, Irving himself plays
Roger Dautran, while Marion Terry is
the wife and Leslie Faber the young
and successful lover. The part of Mau-
ricette herself is played by Dorothea
Baird, who in private life is Mrs. H.
B. Irving, and who was the original
Trilby ia Beerbohm Trees production
Of Paul Potter's play.