New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-02-09
PARIS REPROVES c. B. S.
"You Never Can Tell" ExCOri-
ated by Theatrical Critics.
"BAROQUE" AND IRRITATING
Immoderate, Bitter, Hard-Hu-
NOR Stiff and Jerky-Three
Writers Use Word Clown"

Paris. Jan. 31.-The Theatre des Arts
has just brought out con ne peut jamais
dire" Perhaps you do not recogn'z
George Bernard Shaw's You Ne or Can
Tell" The programme said that the
French version. at the particular request
Of the author. has been made by VI. and
Nine. Hamon" II IS hard 10 say what
"On ne peut jamais dire means. ANY
Frenchman wanting to calculate lou
never can tell" would say ION ne salt
jamais."
II may be questioned whether Mr. Shaw,
whom NJ Hamon persists in calling the
Moliere Of the twentieth century just
as Mr. Shaw persists in calling NJ BrieuX
the Moliere If the twentieth century, and
with about as much reason. will ever be
understood in France. Paris critics lister
ing to you Never Can Tell presented a
curious psychological phenomenon. They
understood that there must he great
deal in the play. but could not for the
life of them tell what IL was.
II they had accepted Mr.. Shaw's humor
merely as humor it might have been all
right. but they could not manage to do 50.
Think what effect is produced upon a
French audience by the play Of an Eng
lish writer who has been fed upon Scho-
penhauer and lhsen. and who unites with
German theology the stiff and rather
clownish ierkincss Of British humor, The
result il something 'baroque,' irritating.
singular: something which for the rest il
extremely remarkable. but which would
find its best chance of success only upon
the theatre OF the Tower Of Babel"
Abel Hermant. the novelist and play
wright, who is the critic of lie Journal.
says: HIS wit does not attract us. and
sometimes even escapes us because II rs
not only certainly not French, but ii IL
also not English He is immoderate, Bit
Ter and hard. And / should not blame
Mr. Shaw for that if he practscd that
cruelty j. il worth while But-and this
Is his worst fault, which makes his jokes
and his sarcasms supremely irritating
Mr.. Shaw's cruelty is out Of all proper
ton 60 the persons and things Of his play.
Mr.. Bernard Shaw has not the least sense
Of proportion
The critic Of lie Matin" exclaims: zone
AIRY qualities Of thought and style are evil
IDENTIFY Of the first order. And with it all
one cannot help feeling that one Is watch
ing clowns i'm a circus. The final result Is
play like nothing else in the world but
play you must all 20 and see"
"Comndia," the theatrical paper. pro-
nounces Mr. Shaw "un homme d'esprit'
who has read Mr.. Pickwick intellleently,
and at times Is poet who remembers the
lyric outbursts of the Shakespearian
theatre. That. indeed. is not 40 bad, and
# is quite unnecessary in order TO make
us appreciate these qualities for him TO
indulge In clownish eccentriclties Mr..
Shaw employs methods of literary intimi-
dalton which would produce lively i'm
preston upon negro tribes
Excelsior" observes that the play
seems 20 be the turn of dramatic and
philosophic clown" Edmond See, in Gil
Bias" cries: II give it up! ! ask for a
less enigmatical dramatic art
one of the most judicious and most
sincere dramatic critics here, Paul Sou
dav. in "L'Eclair." says frankly: There
Is something specifically British in Mr.
Shaw's drama which escapes us lie
thought at first that the philosophic pur-
nose of this delicious but rather dis
concerning, comedy was TO prove that
"only the unexpected happens in HE
and the laws of Nature are contingent.
AZ Emile BoutrouX would say But he
afterward came TO the conclusion that
the real purpose of the play Is to
ridicule romanticism in order to confirm
ccbopenhauer's theories on life. Paul
souday who seems to have been the
Paris critic that enjoyed the play most,
ouotes with obvious gusto as the most
amusing scene in the piece that beween
Valentine and Gloria, when Valentine
rembarks: What's this place? It's not
heaven. it's the Marine Hotel. What s
che time? It's not eternity; It's about
half past i'm the afternoon The play
is very well acted-and acted entirely
wrong Not one OF the players has unler-
stood his or her part In the least. but
every one Is amusing