New-York tribune., 1911-01-15
PARIS AND "CHANTECLER.

What did the year nearly past bring us
Paris 'aygoers? We cannot for the life OF
us re- ember. just for the moment, alas!
how feeting the plays slip away from US.
But the Paris Of last January suddenly
( comes back to us-foods and "Chantecler."
We shall never be able TO dssociate tho
floods and "Chantecler." Paris was nearly
drowned when "Chantecler" was due 10
crow. A caricaturist (Abel Faivre, I think
showed us NJ. Edmond Rostand as the new
Nero. twanging his harp while Paris
drowned. He was a Noah also, for he had
| gathered his chief animals on a raft about
| him, the cock the hen the pheasant. the
owl the magpic.
| Paris recovered herself, and "Chantecler"
crowed to Parisians come to the Porte St.
Martin in motor cars not boats A curious
fate then befell "Chantecler." Some
months ago | broke gently to French
I friend, who fancies himself for his literary
taste and who was a fastidous "jeune"
, when he and | were "jeunes." the news
that yet another book about France was
coming out. Call II 'Au Pays de Chante-
! cler,'" he said. witherngly. He was with
ering not so much 10 myself as Edmond
Rostand / have stood up heorically for
/ I-uiHOnu fNOSNdnu at many Il ldIlSldll hlI-
| ner table since the first night of "Chante-
cler." The Englishman seemed the only
man in Paris whom the play had not bored
] never met a French Judge critic. man in
| the street or man of taste who had a good
word to say for "Chantecler" NV fasti-
dious 'ex- -jeune" friend implied that France
has fallen very low when, in his estlma-
ton. she becomes worthy to be- called de-
| risivcy the land Of "Chantecler."
Yet the remarkable thing is that Chan
tecler' is peculiarly French We NAV
make allowances for our first night on
thusasms; We had been waiting so long
tseven years. ! believe). and the mere pro-
logue at once saved us from dsappont-
ment The mere lines telling us of the
farmyard behind the still lowered curtain
ru; us into the right humOr. the humor
not for fairyldnd, but for land of neat.
ingenious. sensible, not soaring fancy We
undoubtedly were carried away at the first
night. Discounting fresh enthusiasm. Yet
something real does remain Of "Chante-
clor." Not a French critic acknowledges
that anything does. The puns? We grant
the critic the puns; ne may write them
off as dead loss The magpie does make
heed NJ Edmond Rostand's excuse that he
put had puns in the magpic's beak To make
fun Of the megpe. The bad novelist might
as we'll plead that lis novel is bad because
his characters are unintelligent. But the
puns are not all "Chantecler" "Chante-
cler' has not the poetry of the Jungle Book
or of the old Roman du Renard from which
IL IL derived.
Granted, but whoever looked 10 Edmond
Ecstand for such poetry? Edmond Ros-
tand is like the fair girl Of the French
song, who can give only what she hath.
and like other people besides II he gives
us neat verse fresh. delicate. often anus
ing, sometimes poetic fancy satire that
does not go too deep. poetry that does not
fly too high. human humor and pictur-
esque philosophy Of common sense. why
should we ask him for more? Anything
more unreasonable | cannot imagine than
tho attitude toward "Chantecler' Of French
criticism. which reproached IL for lacking
qualities never sought I'm French verslned
plays. and ignored II in merits which It pos
sessed I'm an equal or even less degree SUI
hcient to send other plays To the skies.
Not so much "Chantecler" (kept going
fIom February to September almost entire
~ by foreign Nisitors) as the attitude OF
the French people toward "Chantecler'
was the chief theatrical event of the pass
ms year in Paris-Paris correspondent,
Daily Telegraph. London.