Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-25
BULL FIGHTING
GAINING FAVOR
AMONG fRENCH
Mines Court Decision
on War Tax Believed
to Legalize Sport.
Some Parisians Claim 1t
Is a Stupid Enter
tainment at Its Best.
BY NORMAN MATSON
Special Correspondent Of Great Falls Tribune
Snaciai Cable to Ihe Great Falls Tribune

Special Gable to The Great Falls Tribune
Copyright. 1921. The Great Falls Tribune
Paris, Dec. 24.-There is joy in the
toreador cafes of Madrid and Barcelona
these days only equalled by the satisfac-
ton expressed in select sporting circles
of towns in the south of France
Mines, Toulouse, Bayonn and else
where. just as one used to say in
New York-'boxing is coming. back''
they are saying lies courses des taur-
taux avec mise amort" are coming
back
Spain is generally thought to be the
one European contry where the brutal
sport of bull fighting remains popular.
but southern France has irked under
government interdiction for 20 years
and has frequently broken it. Bull
fighting, with the killing of horses and
bulls-that is to say, real bull fighting
was prohibited in France in 1899. But
year ago the law imposing new post
war taxes including one of 25 per cent
on receipts of ''spectacles," including
bull fighting. Promoters saw the loop
hole and tried it out. The court at
Mines has just decided that, govern
decision that is taken to legalize the
sport.
Paris Horror Theater
An attempt will certainly be made by
bull fight promoters of Spain and
southern France to invade Paris next
spring or summer. But this addition of
a new vice to the many that Paris
knows, will meet with Formidable op-
position from those who think it
decadent and (Which is greater crime
in the eyes of Parisian) stupid sport.
And the sadistically inclined are already
rather well served by ''le grand guig
nof' among other things.
lie grand guignor" is of course the
horror theater of Paris. It's program
consists Of three short plays, at least
one of which is always ''shocker."
a shocker, the like of which only hardy
nerves can stand. A mad man strips
ment cuts her slowly with IL knife
while she screams in agony: stft
voiced old men bind a youth upright
in chair and burn his eyes out with
red hot pokers.
Writers with diabolical imaginations
contriye new horrors for the jaded
nerves of the theater's clientele. But
it must always be artistic horror That
is why the audience recently all but
mobbed the players because of gull
Iotine play. An Apache kills his sweet
heart in a dive; he is arrested. con
demned to die: the last act is his ex-
ecution. A realistic guillotine is placed
on the stage; the prisoner, bound and
naked. is brought on. He kneels to
the knife, which drops with the char
acteristic thud. and bloody head
of papier mache-falls into the has-
ket. quick and a clever substitut-
ton having been made.
Name Of the devil" cried the irate
audience. do you call that a decapita-
ton? A concierge could do better"
Plea for Dueling
France. however, is a country of
er-ending contradictions. while bull
fighting comes back, dueling must 60
But the new edict against all dueling
has not entirely discouraged the fenc-
ing enthusiasts. Even the absurd and
hoax of a young newspaper
reporter who under n nom de plume
himself to duel. then he
returned the challenge so that a crowd
Of curious and the police went out to
4 certain field to see him duel himself.
lid not put the last die hards out of
Nj. Joseph -Renaud, a veteran of q
number of famous duels. comes to the
defense of the sword with some rather
curious arguments. Fencing. he point
ed out is the one sport in which France
has gained international leadership.
Permit duelling and you will remove
the incentive to learn fencing. Before
1905, when boxing was prohibited in
France it was said in foreign countries
that Frenchman could not stand up
under good punch but as soon as
pugilistic boxing was permitted the
world was astonished by their pro-
gress.
Duelling is not really dangerous.
says NJ. Joseph Renaud In 30 years
there have been but two deaths in
France as the result of duels. BOX
ing has taken many more than that.
The prohibition Of duelling, he terms
the work of merchants and parvenus.
And he clinches his arguments with
the assertion that there are more than
5000 professional swordsmen in
France who earn their living by teach
ing the young how to fence. What will
become of these experts if they can no
longer "se batre? en- duel?"