Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-20
The Foreign Stage.
Correspondence of The Star.

PARIS, October 0, 1907.
In America one of the attractions OF
the new theatrical season IS My Wife
the adaptation of Mile. Josetta Ma
Femme" which was made by that trans
planted American dranatist Michael
Morton. The last-named piece crowded
the Paris Gymnase for months on end,
but no such fortune has come to its sue
cessor. "Joujou Tragic"
Tragic indeed has been the fate of this
'Joujou" Cor Toy, for it had run Of
exactly two nights, one of the shortest
on record in Paris. In its case, i'll fact,
ore Of the most stringent rules of the
Society of Dramatic Authors was broken.
that powerful organization having fixed
three performances as the minimum
which may be accorded to a piece. 1t is
not likely. however. that the Gymnase
manag ement will be penalized, for their
case was desperate. "Joujou Tragic" hav-
ing practically been laughed off the stage.
More's the pity, since the piece was the
first dramatic bantling o. gifted young
authoress. whose years number exactly
twenty JoEanne dOrliac is her
name and her poetry and culture already
have made her soUeth ng of a celebrity;
but she has yet to learn the dramatiStS
art-perhaps also to acquire a sense of
evidence In "Joujou Tragic" Its heroine
was an aunt and for some unknown rea-
son aunts are associated with comedy.
The most famous example is The Aunt
of Charley as they call her in France.
But Mile d Orliac'S aunt, or rather the
ono in her play, was designed to stimulate
our tear ducts rather than our risibilit es.
a mistake, then, to have given the part
to POlaire. whose meter is the comic.
"Joujou Tragic" however. proved to be
nortHr oil font o. I'm 111f
speedily found an adm rer in her nephew,
and there was loYemaking in Venice
and finally discovery by the lady's hus-
band After this scene" between uncle
and nephew and finally the murder OF his
aunt by the latter. Then curtain
The audience at the representation
general"-largely made up of critics and
their friends-laughed uproar!ously, and
this behavior led to a brisk discussion in
the press of Paris. Have critics a right
TO laugh or otherwise express approval of
disapproval in the theatar?" some one
has asked, and columns of opinions pro
and con are solemnly being printed
Luckily for them ii was not In Antoine's
theater that these critics yielded to m rth
for that manager would not have hest
tated to eject the laughers after the first
act 1t is said that the Partisan Mans
field once thrashed critic who had writ
ten a notice which Antoine found often
writer from the Odeon BourChier of
London. of course, went farther by shut
ting out all the critics for a while, but
though the production with which he first
tried this experiment proved success
the actor missed the unpublished mo
tees" and soon capitulated and apollo
gized. But to deny the critic a right to
laugh is quite a new thing.
Loie Fuller has a new play at the
Coincide. 1t is long since La Loie'' has
been seen on the Paris stage. but her re-
Oddly enough, It is made in connection
with yet another adaptation of "Salome"
the work OF Robert D'Humieres, director
of the Theatre des Arts, where this new
version of Wilde's play is given. 1t is
condensed to the last degree, but eff
fectiye; Tls american na,le girl appears in
derfui thing she makes of it, with new
and weird lighting effects and property
serpents crawling about the stage The
rest of the evening bill is made up Of two
playlets, The Race" and The Last
Troubadour." both clever, but it is La
Loie'' who is crowding the house.
The National Theater is packed nightly,
too, its new Offering. 'L'Amour Vieille'
Tor the Old Love-. having delighted Paris
1t is not likely to be translated into Eng
| lish. it deals too consistently with favor
lite French themes for that, but bits of
the business and the really sparkling
dialogue are worth mentioning We be-
gin with a pair of sweethearts, and have
the lady proposing to her swain. II am
very much in love" she tells him. With
whom" he asks, anxiously. and she
hands him a looking glass The thing is
So they marry and their honeymoon is
ideal. What did you see in Spain?" the