CERCLE COACH DERIDES AMERICAN PRODUCTIONS

"A French steak with an American gravy, that is the trouble with the French plays produced in this country," said M. Andre Perrin, coach of the Cercle Francais, in discussing the French drama with a CRIMSON reporter yesterday.

"The French plays produced in this country," said M. Perrin, "are by no means exact translations of the plays as they are written. A French play should be translated word for word and paragraph for paragraph if it is to be shown here. So many producers try to put American phrases and touches in the plot to please the audiences, and as a result it is neither French drama nor American drama. It is nothing more than French steak with American gravy.

"American slang is injected into the plays, plots are changed around, endings are shifted, and the plays is ruined. The endings of tragedies are changed from death to love, so that the audience will come out saying, "a kiss at the end, this is life!' It is all wrong.

"A producer who does that is selling his soul for money. An author who writes to satisfy the public is doing the same thing. I would rather die than do a thing like that!"

French Plays Are Moral

"And the French plays are clean morally," he went on to say. "Americans go to Paris and see somewhat vulgar plays. They go to midnight cabarets, and places of that sort. Then they return and say that French morals are low. It is not true. These plays are produced to amuse foreigners, and thus to make money. The French people do not go to them. Besides Paris is not France, any more than New York is the United States. People go to Paris and returns. They think they know France. They're wrong."

When asked to compare French and American producers, M. Perrin said: "The French are better producers than the Americans. With the exception of Mr. David Belasco there are very few American producers or directors who can tell an actor how to say his lines. Most of them leave that part to the actors, themselves, and so the plays are broken up. Instead of a play being the expression of a single man it is the expression of the entire cast, and does not convey the author's meaning.

"French producers, on the other hand, are artists. Before producing a play they study it carefully, and try to determine what the author is attempting to convey. After they have studied the play until they know it thoroughly they call in the cast, and as the production proceeds they tell each actor and actress just how they want each line spoken and accented.

"The French producer is like a painter with the actors as his paints, and in this way the author's meaning is more nearly interpreted."

M. Perrin concluding by volubly attacking the American stage. "With but few exceptions," he declared, "it is not seeking art, it is seeking money. Money is the god of the majority of playwrights and producers, and until this can be remedied the American stage cannot hope to make much progress. Of course there are some real artists, but they are in the minority and their influence is not felt to a large degree. Gold is America's god."