New-York tribune., 1910-01-16
Paris STAGE NOTES.
"Chnntecler's" Feathers and
Fights" "Noblesse Obbge."

Paris, January Z.
"Chantecler" cockfghts are in full
swing long before the play can be pro-
duced. NJ. Edmond Rostand, the au-
thor: NM. Hertz and Jean Coouelin, the
managers of the Porte Saint-Martin. and
M. Baschet. editor of the Illustration"
have modified the Partisan commits
saries of police, have seized tons of news
papers and correspondence and have
brought suits against a score of journals
for $4,000 damages each for alleged in
fringements of the copyrights of Chan
tecler." An "indiscretion" of the "Se-
colo of Milan, which published what
purports to be an analysis of the first
three acts Of "Chantecler." together with
some sixty-three more or less accurate
verses of the play, was the signal for
the first scrinnage.
A couple of Paris newspapers, the
"Eclair'' and the Paris Journal" repro
duced the article of the "Secolo,' and
We're forthwith seized" and sued by the
editor of the Illustration each for $2O,-
600 damages. few days afterward
monthly review, 'La Ronne Chanson,"
edited by Brittany poet, NJ. Botrel,
committed a further 'indiscreticn' by
publishing what was asserted to be a
scenario of "Chantecler'' and upward Of
a hundred verses of the first scene of
the first act of the play. Other alleged
delinduents are the "Cri de Paris the
"Intransigeant" and the Petit Mar
seillais" NJ Edmond Rostand's fury
at these "piracies'' is unbounded.
Of the paris Journal and NJ. Judet.
editor of the "Eclair,'' while fully ap-
preciating NJ. Rostands indignation and
making due allowance for his highly
nervous temperament" says that what
the newspapers have published can GER
tainly cause no damage to "Chantecler,'
II It proves z. success, nor, on the other
hand, can have any effect on the play in
case It should turn out to be failure.
It is said that "Chantecler'' has been
the common talk Of the bou1evards for
the last seven years and that hurlesques
of the play have already been givenin
brief "snatches" and *slices" at the
Montmartre music halls. For instance,
NJ Gerault- Richard says
IF 7 wished to commit a personal in
discretion, it would have been very easy
foy me to have done so. because about
a year ago the late Constant Coquelin
recited to me the first and the third acts
of 'ChantecIer.' I might have revealed
the dialogue between the cock and the
hen pheasant in which the cock tries. to
prove that it is really he, the cock, who
causes the sun to rise, and that he is
thus the master of the sun and the uni
verse. These verses constitute a mas
terpiece which in the whole range of
French literature is not surpassed in
brilliancy, eloquenoe or grace"
The night birds, who want TO have per-
petuaI night, enter into a plot against
the cock, so that the sun may never rise.
One morning. however, the cock is en-
tranced by the bewitching charms OF the
hen pheasant and slurnbers. Neverthe-
less, the sun rises at the usual hour.
The cock is thus seen in his true light
as,merely the husybody fly on the coach
fla naouche du coche"-and the bird
creation at last realizes, to the cocks
shame that his power over the sun is
absolutely nil. Scores OF lawsuits in re-
gard to "ChantecIer'' enliven the cock
pits of the Palais de Justice. and lawyers
are delighted. Meanwhile. the first per
formance of ''Chantecler' is expected be
tween January II and 2s.
NM. Maurice Henneauin and Pierre
Weber have brewed a satirico-political
beverage, "Noblesse Oblige," which,
tapped for the first time last night at
the Theatre des Nouveautes, seemed to
tickle the Partisan holiday palate. This
bright, sparkling little three-act farce is
brimfull of risky but droll sayings, and
teens with amusing cases Of mistaken
identity. The action passes amid an
eleetioneering campaign in a department
near Paris The plot is complicated, but
has q smack of originality, and IS dis
tinctly funny.
Baron Goujon de iEtang (AIinnow of
the Pond) is the typical husband of the
French farce, who thinks of nothing but
fun, frolic and filtration. He is a Roy
alist and "camelot du roy''-a sort of
fancifu, electioneering agent for the
King He dashes about Paris in his so
horsepower motor car, defaces repuh-
lican statues and carries off bits of the
stone noses of Gambetta, ears of Loubet
and plaster casts of Fallieres. He meets
an attractive woman whom he supposes
to be Nine. Dupont, but who in re-
ality is Nine Lebouzier. wife of the
radical candidate in the arrondissement.
The woman imagines that Goujon de
lEtang is a M. Courbois. 1t would take
too long TO relate how intricate chains #
episodes and misunderstanding lead 10
Goujon de fEtang being carried off in
triumph by the Socialist electors of Ie-
bouzier. who suppose him to be their
own candidate, while Lebouzer. who
the police are convinced. is no other than
Goujon de IEtang, is arrested as
"camelot du roy" "Noblesse Obljee" 10
well played by the stock company OF tho
Ncuveautes. where the royalists and rad.
icals are dealt with impartially, each
coming In for equal shares of cast,sa
ton. CIR