PARIS LETTER
639
gether, it was with a definite purpose. The obligations which unite the
Comediens Franc;ais prevent them from earning as much money as their
talent and their fame entitle them to expect. Of course, there can
be
no question of their acting in other theaters. But they do not even have
an opportunity to make a few films a year, so closely are they bound
by the repertory system to an almost constant attendance in their theater.
Adding a second house to the first guarantees them an opportunity to
act more frequently. The actors' salaries fall into two categories: the
douziemes,
calculated on the basis of the gross receipts and the govern–
ment subsidies, and the
feux,
which are actually fees paid for each per–
formance. This latter remuneration retains the name it had at the
period when actors were given an indemnity which permitted them to
light fires to warm their dressing-rooms whenever they were perform–
ing in the theater. The creation of a second theater increased the number
of
feux
for each actor, since there were two theaters for a single troupe
and since each actor was therefore more frequently on stage.
If
we agree that the Comedie-Franc;aise can exist with a single
theater on the Right Bank and if we are gratified to see Barrault com–
fortably established in Paris at last, we cannot fail to notice, neverthe–
less, that the Minister's arguments, as he has set them forth to justify
this measure, are bad ones: "While the Comedie-Franc;aise puts on
Labiche, Barrault at his Palais-Royal theater performs Claudel. I
think
it is time to put on
Le Soulier de Satin
at the Comedie-Franc;aise and
Le Dindon
at the Palais Royal." What does this opposition, which is
felicitious only in the terms of its expression, actually mean? Does any–
one suppose Barrault has been able to support his troupe by perform–
ing Claudel? No, he has supported it thanks to his success with
La Vie
Parisienne,
and if we had the pleasure of seeing the French Cancan
of the Casino de Paris cavorting to Offenbach's sparkling score, we
have also had to see poor Madeleine Renaud show her legs, which is
not, as we say in the theater, in her line. And last year Barrault had
to make up for the failure of Schehade's
Histoire de Vasco
and Kafka's
Castle
(the latter adaptation, unfortunately, quite without merit) by
numerous performances of
Madame Sans-Gene,
which cannot really
be said to be on a higher level than
Le Dindon.
I scarcely need mention
Occupe-Toi d'Amelie,
which Barrault has toured the world over without
anyone's being offended, and rightly so. In other words, Barrault had
to
be
given a theater. There was only the Odeon to give. Why not
simply say so, without looking for leaky arguments.
It was understandably necessary to free Monsieur Descaves for
other activities and give him time to complete a literary production
which no one cares to admit is quite finished already. The new admin-
