638
PAR TIS
AN
REV lEW
ing military life and the non-commissioned officers of its title. But hav–
ing been dandled, in childhood, on the knees of Jules Renard, of Tristan
Bernard, and of Octave Mirbeau
is
not enough to create talent; though
apparently it is enough to create a career.
As a matter of fact, Pierre Descaves
has
been one of the adminis–
trators most favored by the Comediens Franc;ais themselves: he has left
them alone. But the latter soon tasted the bitter fruits of such liberty.
Since each of them wanted to
win
over the house to his own point of
view, several factions were created within the troupe, each openly war–
ring against the other. Quite recently, one such clan was headed by the
terrible Beatrice Bretty, an excellent actress whose voice
is
as powerful
in the city as on the stage, and whose long liaison with Georges Mandel
(the energetic Minister of the Interior and the disciple of Clemenceau,
assassinated during the Occupation) has haloed her with a kind of glory
that made her invulnerable. The other faction-or one of the others-–
was, and still is, led by Jean Meyer, also an excellent actor, who
has
managed to have himself made director of virtually all the new and
revived plays seen at the Comedie-Franc;aise in recent years.
As
for the Theatre Franc;;ais, then, the Minister found
himself
fac–
ing an initial problem: to re-establish the administrator's authority. To
this concern was added a second, the repertory, and a third, the Salle
Luxembourg (formerly the Odeon), which had lately been re-attached
to our first national stage.
As
a matter of fact, the first two problems–
the administrator's powers and the repertory-were identified insofar
as the company's activity was entirely directed by the actors, the latter
being for the most part comic actors and preferring to stage their spe–
cialities rather than put on tragic works. The result, as Malruax re–
marked, was that Labiche figured on our stage more often
than
Racine,
Corneille appearing, finally, as a kind of "poor relation" of Feydeau's.
On this score, everything Malraux has said and settled can only be
applauded. The Comedie-Franc;;aise, in recent yearg.-and not only the
Comedie-Franc;;aise, for this has also been the case with the Opera–
has decided that it must be "box office" and that nothing need keep
it from such an achievement
if
it used the same methods as the other
theaters: make the audience laugh at all costs, and make it gasp at the
scenery. Now, the role of the Theatre Franc;ais can be interpreted only
as that of a conservatory for the use of the public. It
is,
to a degree, a
museum of traditions, and the actors who perform in it must consent
to relinquish certain audacities which are not suitable on its stage.
As
for the separation of the former Odoon from 'the Theatre Franc;ais, it
corresponds to nothing but the (justified) desire to give Jean-Louis
Barrault a theater. When these two theaters were initially brought to-
