Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-01
SATURDAY
April 1, 1916
THE PERSONALITY
OF EUGENE BRIEUX
LOST AND FOUND
Interest in His Play Damaged
Goods" Dwarfs the
Real Man

few years ago Richard Bennett
caused a great stir in the theatrical world
by his production Of Damaged Goods"
the most frank of psychological plays"
The drama created so much talk and the
opinions of It were so varied that the per.
ssnality of the man who wrote II was
obllterated in the discussion Of his preach-
ment. Damaged Goods" returns to the
city next week, at the Walnut. But, inter-
esting as this is. It is equally interesting
at this time to know something of the man
who wrote IT,
Preceding his synopses of the plots OF
THE Plays of Eugene Brieux" In his
volume of that title, p. V. Thomas gives
n brief glimpse of the man himself. When
Mr.. Thomas called upon Brieux "a little r.
before his reception at the Academy" he
was elated, because he found nothing
exotic or pompous about him" On the
contrary he appeared very much as other
men. "Slmple, cordial and very accessi-
BILE; tall, big. easy in manner, with a
sound, practical grip of things, and a
f1ghter-not filled with a fussy pugnacity,
but still a tlghter-not too hard to rouse,
and very hard hitter when reused" In
addition he seemed to be simple, direct,
not modest, not assertive, full of the right
sort of PRIDE and plenty of vanity, doubt
less" He was also "a very human man
in every way. simple and straightforward,
with the absorbing eye of an observer and
the jaw of fighter"
Eugene Brieux was born I'm Paris in
1858, his father carpenter who was able
to give him only an ordinary schooling.
He obtained a position as clerk at the
age of 10, and read diligently in the course
of his quest for higher career. He
spent night after night reading" says Mr..
Thomas. sometimes on the public stair
case of the house in which he lived, by
the light of miserable gas-jet. in order
to save the cost of the candles. He had,
too, n passion for Chateaubriand, the in
fluence of whose 'Christlansme' has been
strong during the whole of the nineteenth
century The young Brieux was filled with
religious ardor and had serious thoughts
of becoming a missionary. The ardor has
remained an essential part of his tempera-
ment, though the dogma has been changed
under the influence of Spencerian philos-
ophy. Gradually he began to read In more
ordered fashion, and started to learn
Latin and Greek without any other aid
than that of grammar and dictionary He
soon gave up Greek, but persevered In
Latin, and acquired fair knowledge OF
It,"
His literary ambitions and his fondness
| for the drama began early. He was soon
hard at work writing plays. and In 1879
| after many dlscouragements one perform
| ance of Bernard Palssy," written in col
laboratlon with his friend NJ. CASTOR
Salandr was given at special matinee
| at the Theatre Cluny. For seven years
| thereafter he worked at journalism in
| Dieppe and Rouen. still continuing to write
| plays, and in 1892 his "Blanchette" as act
| cd by NJ. Antoine made him famous. In
| Mr. Thomas little volume, which Is pub
| lished in this country by John w. Luce Il
| Co.. each of his successive plays Is out
lined and all the essential facts of its
history carefully set down.