View source for Georges Feydeau

{{Short description|French playwright (1862–1921)}}
{{redirect|Feydeau}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
[[File:G Feydeau Carolus-Duran Lille 2918.jpg|thumb|alt=Oil painting of a youngish white man with moustache and full head of brown hair|Feydeau in 1899, painted by his father-in-law, [[Carolus-Duran]]]]
'''Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau'''{{refn|Some sources include the hyphens in Feydeau's given names;<ref>Esteban, p. 1</ref><ref name=ox>[https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199574193.001.0001/acref-9780199574193-e-1323 "Feydeau, Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810220723/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199574193.001.0001/acref-9780199574193-e-1323 |date=10 August 2020}}, ''The Companion to Theatre and Performance'',  Oxford University Press, 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2020 {{subscription required}}</ref> others omit them.<ref name=g27>Gidel, p. 27</ref><ref name=n14>Nahmias, p. 14</ref>|group=n}} ({{IPA|fr|ʒɔʁʒ fɛ.do|lang}}; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the [[Belle Époque]] era, remembered for his [[farce]]s, written between 1886 and 1914.

Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parents and raised in an artistic and literary environment. From an early age he was fascinated by the theatre, and as a child he wrote plays and organised his schoolfellows into a drama group. In his teens he wrote [[comic monologue]]s and moved on to writing longer plays. His first full-length comedy, ''{{ill|Tailleur pour dames|fr}}'' ({{gloss|Ladies' tailor}}), was well received, but was followed by a string of comparative failures. He gave up writing for a time in the early 1890s and studied the methods of earlier masters of French comedy, particularly [[Eugène Labiche]], [[Alfred Hennequin]] and [[Henri Meilhac]]. With his technique honed, and sometimes in collaboration with a co-author, he wrote seventeen full-length plays between 1892 and 1914, many of which have become staples of the theatrical repertoire in France and abroad. They include {{Lang|fr|[[L'Hôtel du libre échange]]}} ({{gloss|The Free Exchange Hotel}}, 1894), ''[[La Dame de chez Maxim (play)|La Dame de chez Maxim]]'' ({{gloss|The lady from [[Maxim's]]}}, 1899), ''[[La Puce à l'oreille]]'' ({{gloss|A flea in her ear}}, 1907) and ''[[Occupe-toi d'Amélie!]]'' ({{gloss|Look after Amélie}}, 1908).

The plays of Feydeau are marked by closely observed characters, with whom his audiences could identify, plunged into fast-moving comic plots of mistaken identity, attempted adultery, split-second timing and a precariously happy ending. After the great success they enjoyed in his lifetime they were neglected after his death, until the 1940s and 1950s, when productions by [[Jean-Louis Barrault]] and the [[Comédie-Française]] led a revival of interest in his works, at first in Paris and subsequently worldwide.

Feydeau's personal life was marred by depression, unsuccessful gambling and divorce. In 1919 his mental condition deteriorated sharply and he spent his final two years in a [[sanatorium]] at [[Rueil]] (now Rueil-Malmaison), near Paris. He died there in 1921 at the age of fifty-eight.
{{TOC limit|3}}

==Life and career==
===Early years===
Feydeau was born at his parents' house in the Rue de Clichy, Paris, on 8 December 1862.<ref name=g27/> His father, [[Ernest-Aimé Feydeau]], was a financier and a moderately well-known writer, whose first novel ''Fanny'' (1858) was a ''[[succès de scandale]]'' and earned him some notoriety. It was condemned from the pulpit by the [[François-Nicholas-Madeleine Morlot|Archbishop of Paris]], and consequently sold in large numbers and had to be reprinted; Ernest dedicated the new edition to the archbishop.<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 6</ref>
[[File:Mme-Ernest-Feydeau-nadar-and-Ernest-Feydeau.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Feydeau's parents, Léocadie and [[Ernest Feydeau|Ernest]]|alt=young white woman and bald, bearded middle aged white man]]
Feydeau's mother was Lodzia Bogaslawa, ''née'' Zelewska, known as "Léocadie".<ref>Gidel, p. 23</ref> When she married Ernest Feydeau in 1861, he was a forty-year-old childless widower and she was twenty-two.<ref>Nahmias, p. 8; and Gidel, p. 23</ref> She was a famous beauty, and rumours spread that she was the mistress of the [[Duc de Morny]] or even the Emperor [[Napoleon III]] and that one of them was the father of Georges, her first child.<ref>Gidel, p. 22; and Esteban, p. 2</ref>{{refn|The Feydeaus had a second child, a daughter, Diane-Valentine, born in 1866.<ref>Gidel, p. 32</ref>|group=n}} In later life Léocadie commented, "How can anyone be stupid enough to believe that a boy as intelligent as Georges is the son of that idiotic emperor!"{{refn|"Comment peut-on être assez bête pour croire qu'un garçon aussi intelligent que Georges est le fils de cet empereur idiot!"<ref name=n14/>|group=n}} She was more equivocal about her relationship with the duke,<ref>Gidel, p. 29</ref> and Georges later said that people could think Morny his father if they wanted to.{{refn|"Morny? Soit! Si vous y tenez."<ref name=n14/>|group=n}}

Ernest was a friend of [[Gustave Flaubert]], [[Théophile Gautier]] and [[Alexandre Dumas fils|Alexandre Dumas ''fils'']], and Feydeau grew up in a literary and artistic environment. After being taken to the theatre at the age of six or seven he was so enthusiastic that he started to write a play of his own. His father, impressed, told the family's [[governess]] to let the boy off tuition that day. Feydeau later said that  laziness made him a playwright, once he found he could escape lessons by writing plays.<ref>Pronko (1975), pp. 6–7</ref> He sought out [[Henri Meilhac]], one of the leading dramatists in Paris, and showed him his latest effort. He recalled Meilhac as saying, "My boy, your play is stupid, but it is theatrical. You will be a man of the theatre".{{refn|Mon fils, ta pièce est stupide, mais elle est scénique. Tu seras un homme de théâtre.<ref>Gidel, p. 51</ref>|group=n}}

After the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870 the family left Paris for [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]].<ref name=g42/> They returned briefly to Paris in March 1871 and then moved to the [[spa]] town of [[Bad Homburg]] so that Ernest, whose health was failing, could take the cure.<ref name=g42>Gidel, pp. 41–42</ref>{{refn|Bad Homburg was under Prussian rule, but Ernest received permission from the Parisian authorities to go there for the sake of his health.<ref name=g42/>|group=n}} Soon after their return to Paris in October 1871 the nine-year-old Feydeau, who had so far received only private tuition, was sent to a boarding school.<ref name=g42/> As a pupil he was generally indolent, but devoted time and energy to organising an amateur dramatic group and performing.<ref>Pronko (1982), p. 99</ref> In October 1873 Ernest died and in 1876 Léocadie remarried. Her second husband, nearer her own age than Ernest, was a prominent liberal journalist, [[Henry Fouquier]] (1838–1901), with whom Feydeau got on well.<ref>Gidel, pp. 50–53</ref> In 1879 Feydeau completed his formal education at the [[Lycée Saint-Louis]], and was engaged as a clerk in a law firm.<ref>Gidel, p. 54 and Esteban, p. 4</ref> Still stage-struck, he began writing again. Comic monologues were fashionable in society, and he wrote ''La Petite révoltée'' (The rebellious young lady), a humorous monologue in verse, of about seven minutes' duration,<ref>Feydeau, Georges. [https://archive.org/details/LaPetiteRevoltee "La Petite revoltée], Internet Archive. Retrieved 31 July 2020</ref> which attracted favourable attention and was taken up by the publisher Ollendorff.<ref>Gidel, p. 58</ref>

===1880s===
[[File:Tailleur-pour-dames-1887.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Colourful theatre poster advertising "Tailleur pour dames"|Poster for 1887 revival of ''Tailleur pour dames'']]
The first of Feydeau's plays to be staged was a one-act [[two-hander]] called ''Par la fenêtre'' (Through the window) presented by the ''Cercle des arts intimes'', an amateur society, in June 1882.<ref>Gidel, p. 61</ref> In his biography of Feydeau [[Henry Gidel]] comments that it was not a representative audience, being composed of friends of society members, but it was nonetheless a test of a sort, and the play was enthusiastically received.<ref name=g61>Gidel, pp. 61–62</ref> The typical Feydeau characters and plot were already in evidence: a shy husband, a domineering wife, mistaken identities, confusion and a happy ending.<ref name=g61/> The first professional presentation of a Feydeau play was in January 1883, when ''Amour et piano'' was staged at the [[Éden-Théâtre#Comédie-Parisienne|Théâtre de l'Athénée]].<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 1</ref>  It depicts the confusion arising when a young lady receives a young gentleman who she thinks is her new piano teacher; he has come to the wrong house and believes he is calling on a glamorous [[Cocotte (prostitute)|cocotte]].<ref>Esteban, pp. 80–81</ref> ''[[Le Figaro]]'' called it "a very witty fantasy, very agreeably interpreted".<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k278462b/f3.item.zoom "Courrier des Théâtres"], ''Le Figaro'', 29 January 1883, p. 3</ref>

After completing his compulsory military service (1883–84) Feydeau was appointed ''secrétaire général'' to the [[Théâtre de la Renaissance]],<ref>Nahmias, p. 17</ref> under the management of his friend [[Fernand Samuel]].<ref name=p100>Pronko (1982), p. 100</ref> In that capacity he successfully pressed for the premiere of [[Henry Becque]]'s ''La Parisienne'' (1885), later recognised as one of the masterpieces of French naturalist theatre.<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 1; and Gidel, p. 74</ref> In December 1886 the Renaissance presented a three-act comédie by Feydeau, ''Tailleur pour dames'' (Ladies' tailor). ''[[Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique]]'' thought the play insubstantial, but, it enthused, "what gaiety in the dialogue, what good humour, what pleasing words, what fun in this childishness, what unforeseen things in this madness, what comic invention in this imbroglio, which obtained the most outright success one could wish to a beginner!"<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1887), p. 373</ref> The critic of ''Le Figaro'' said that the piece was not a comedy at all in the conventional sense of the word:

{{blockindent|It doesn't look like anything and it looks like everything. It's made of everything, and it's made of nothing. And it is comic, it is funny! I laughed at it from ten o'clock to midnight. I laughed about it throughout the journey from the theatre to ''Le Figaro''. And I am still laughing about it.<ref name=f1886>"Intérim". [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k279882j/f2.item.zoom "Premières Représentations"], ''Le Figaro'', 18 December 1886, p. 2</ref>|}}
[[File:Marie-Anne Carolus-Duran.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|alt=Young white woman with dark hair looking towards the viewer|Marie-Anne Carolus-Duran, who married Feydeau in 1889]]

The critic [[Jules Prével]] correctly predicted that the young author would struggle to repeat this early triumph: it was not until 1892 that Feydeau had another success to match ''Tailleur pour dames''.<ref>Esteban, p. 87</ref> He had a series of poor or mediocre runs in the late 1880s with ''La Lycéenne'' (a "[[vaudeville]]-[[Operetta#Operetta_in_French|opérette]]" with music by [[Gaston Serpette]], 1887), {{Lang|fr|[[Chat en poche]]}} (1888),  ''Les Fiancés de Loches'' (1888 co-written with [[Maurice Desvallières]]), and ''L'Affaire Edouard'' (1889).<ref>Gidel, p. 89; and Noël and Stoullig (1888), p. 390 (1889), pp. 282 and 305, (1890), p. 165, and (1891), p. 356</ref>{{refn|Respectively the titles translate into English as The high school girl, A pig in a poke, The betrothed of Loches and The Edouard affair.|group=n}}

In 1889 Feydeau married Marie-Anne, the daughter of [[Carolus-Duran]], a prosperous portrait painter. The couple had four children, born between 1890 and 1903.{{refn|The four children were Germaine (1890–1941), who married the playwright [[Louis Verneuil]]; Jacques (1892–1970); Michel (1900–1961), father of the actor [[Alain Feydeau]]; and [[Jean-Pierre Feydeau|Jean-Pierre]] (1903–1970), a film director.<ref>Pascal, Nicolas. [https://www.pressreader.com/france/var-matin-grand-toulon/20200331/282389811582498 "Carolus-Duran est grandpère"],  ''Var-matin'', 31 March 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020</ref>|group=n}} The marriage was ideal to Feydeau in several ways. It was a genuine love-match (though it later went awry);<ref>Gidel, pp. 97–98 and 242</ref> he was an ardent amateur painter, and his father-in-law gave him lessons;<ref>Gidel, pp. 75 and 97</ref> and marriage into a well-to-do family relieved Feydeau of some of the financial problems arising from his succession of theatrical failures and heavy losses on the stock exchange.<ref name=hh>Hacht and Haynes, p. 151</ref>

===1890s===
In 1890 Feydeau took a break from writing and made a study of the works of the leading comic playwrights, particularly  [[Eugène Labiche]], [[Alfred Hennequin]] and Meilhac.<ref>Pronko (1982), pp. 103–104</ref> He benefited from his study, and in 1891 wrote two plays that restored his reputation and fortune.<ref name=hh/> He submitted them both to the management of the [[Théâtre du Palais-Royal]]. They agreed to stage one of them, ''[[Monsieur chasse!]]'', but turned down the second, ''[[Champignol malgré lui]]'' (another collaboration with Desvallières) as too unbelievable for an audience to accept.<ref name=p100/> After receiving this news from the Palais-Royal, Feydeau met an old friend, Henri Micheau, the owner of the [[Théâtre des Nouveautés#1878–1911 (boulevard des Italiens)|Théâtre des Nouveautés]], who insisted on seeing the rejected script and immediately recognised it as a potential winner. Meyer writes, "He was right. ''Monsieur chasse!'' was a success, but ''Champignol'' was a triumph".<ref name=meyer/> When the play opened in November 1892 one critic wrote of:
[[File:His-Little-Dodge-1896.png|thumb|upright|alt=man in overcoat and top hat quailing at a verbal assault from a woman in elaborate evening gown|Feydeau in London: [[Alfred Maltby]] and [[Ellis Jeffreys]] in ''His Little Dodge'' (1896)]]
{{blockindent|… a vaudeville so extremely bright and joyous, and at the same time so irreproachable in its atmosphere, that it obtained an extraordinary success by reason of a kind of mad gaiety which characterized it.&nbsp;... I have never seen an audience give itself up more completely or continuously to unbridled hilarity.<ref>"France", ''The Times'', 7 November 1892, p. 5</ref>|}}
Another critic said that it had been  years since he heard such laughter in a Paris theatre – "I could return to it again and again with pleasure". He predicted that the piece "will have an interminable run",<ref>"Champignol malgré lui", ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'', 12 November 1892, p. 9</ref> and it ran far into the following year for a total of 434 performances.<ref name=champ/> An English version of the play, called ''The Other Fellow'' opened in London in September 1893 and ran for three months.<ref>"Court Theatre", ''The Morning Post'', 11 September 1893, p. 6; and "Theatres", ''The Times'', 21 November, p. 8</ref>  Feydeau's next play, ''[[Le Système Ribadier]]'' (The Ribadier System, 1892), had a fair run in Paris and was successfully produced in Berlin,<ref>"The Drama in Berlin", ''The Era'', 18 November 1893, p. 8</ref> and subsequently (under the title ''His Little Dodge'') in London and New York.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Standard'', 28 October 1896, p. 4; and [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/his-little-dodge-405523 "His Little Dodge"], Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 2 August 2020</ref>

In 1894 Feydeau collaborated with Desvallières on ''Le Ruban'' (The ribbon), a comedy about a man desperately manoeuvring for appointment to the [[Légion d'honneur]].<ref>Gidel, pp. 138–139</ref> At the same time, after a certain amount of similar manoeuvring on his own account,<ref>Gidel, p. 126; and Esteban, p. 8</ref> Feydeau was appointed to the legion, at the early age of thirty-two, joining a small élite of French playwrights to receive the honour, including Dumas, Meilhac, [[Ludovic Halévy]], [[Victorien Sardou]] and Becque.<ref>"The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 5 January 1895, p. 10</ref>{{refn|Appointed as chevalier of the Legion in 1895, Feydeau was promoted to officier in 1912.<ref>Gidel pp. 238–239</ref>|group=n}}
[[File:La-dame-de-chez-Maxim-1899.png|thumb|upright|left|alt=Theatre poster depicting a young white woman in late 19th-century costume showing what at the time would be thought a risqué amount of bare leg|''La Dame de chez Maxim'', 1899]] ''Le Ruban'' ran at the [[Théâtre de l'Odéon]] for 45 performances.<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1895), p. 224</ref>  Feydeau and Desvallières returned to winning form in the same year with {{Lang|fr|[[L'Hôtel du libre échange]]}} (The Free Exchange Hotel). The ''Annales du théâtre et de la musique'', noting that the laughter reverberated inside and out of the auditorium, said that a reviewer could only laugh and applaud rather than criticise.<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1895), pp. 361–362</ref> Another critic, predicting a long run, wrote that he and his colleagues would not be needed at the Nouveautés in their professional capacities for a year or so, but would know where to come if they wanted to laugh.<ref>"L'Hôtel du libre échange", ''The Era'', 8 December 1894, p. 11</ref> The play ran for 371 performances.<ref name=ns95/> An English adaptation, ''The Gay Parisians'', was staged in New York in September 1895, and ran for nearly 150 performances;<ref>"The Theatres", ''The New York Times'', 29 December 1895, p. 12</ref> a London version, ''A Night in Paris'', opened in April 1896 and outran the Parisian original, with a total of 531 performances.<ref>Gaye, p. 1535</ref>

During the rest of the 1890s there were two more Feydeau plays, both highly successful. ''[[Le Dindon]]'' (literally "Turkey" but in French usage signifying "Dupe" or "Fall guy")<ref>[https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9D2544 "Dindon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925154746/https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9D2544 |date=25 September 2020 }}, ''Dictionnaire de l'Académie française'', 9e édition. Retrieved 3 August 2020</ref> ran for 275 performances at the Palais-Royale in 1896–97,<ref>Stoullig (1897), p. 248 and (1898), p. 318</ref> and at the end of the decade Feydeau had the best run of his career with ''[[La Dame de chez Maxim (play)|La Dame de chez Maxim]]'', which played at the Nouveautés from January 1899 to November 1900, a total of 579 performances.<ref>Stoullig (1900), p. 275 and (1901), p. 283</ref> The author was used to working with and writing for established farceurs such as [[Alexandre Germain]], who starred in many of his plays from ''Champignol malgré lui'' (1892) to ''On purge bébé!'' (1910);<ref>Gidel, pp. 110; and Stoullig (1911), p. 396</ref> for ''La Dame de chez Maxim'' Feydeau discovered [[Armande Cassive]], whom he moulded into his ideal leading lady for his later works.<ref name=p2/>

===1900–1909===
The Feydeaus' marriage, happy for its first decade or so, had begun to go wrong by the early years of the 20th century. Feydeau gambled and lost large sums and in 1901 had to sell some of his valuable art collection;{{refn|Feydeau's art collection included, at various times, works by [[Cézanne]], [[Sisley]], [[Corot]], [[Monet]], [[Pissarro]], [[Renoir]] and [[Van Gogh]].<ref>Pronko (1982), p. 102</ref>|group=n}} his wife was said to have become bitter and spendthrift.<ref>Esteban, p. 15</ref> Finance became a continual problem. Feydeau never regained the success he had enjoyed with ''La Dame de chez Maxim''. A collaboration in 1902 with the composer Alfred Kaiser{{refn|Alfred Kaiser (1872–1917) was a Belgian, later British, composer, a pupil of [[Anton Bruckner]]. He composed two more operas after this.<ref>Slonimsky ''et al'', p. 1806</ref>|group=n}} on a serious romantic opera, ''Le Billet de Joséphine'', was not a success, closing after 16 performances.<ref name=s307>Stoullig (1903), p. 307</ref> Of his first four plays of the 1900s, only ''La Main passe!''{{refn|Literally "The hand passes", as in card games, where play moves from player to player, variously rendered in English versions as "Your Deal"<ref>Esteban, p. 187</ref> and "Chemin de Fer".<ref name=p2>Pronko (1975), p. 2</ref>|group=n}} (1904) had a substantial run.<ref name=s340/>  ''[[La Puce à l'oreille]]'' (A flea in her ear) (1907) won glowing reviews, and seemed set to become one of the author's biggest box-office successes, but after 86 performances a leading member of the cast, the much loved comic actor [[Joseph Torin]], died suddenly and the play was withdrawn;<ref>Gidel, p. 202</ref> it was not seen again in Paris until 1952.<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=110 "La Puce à l'oreille"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728200408/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=110 |date=28 July 2020}}, [[Les Archives du spectacle]]. Retrieved 4 August 2020</ref>

[[File:Occupe-toi-d'Amélie-1908.jpg|''[[Occupe-toi d'Amélie!]]'', 1908|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Contemporary drawing of a scene from the play: a young man is sitting up in bed addressing a young woman in 1908 day-wear (including large hat), while another young woman, in a nightdress, hides on the other side of the bed]]
In 1908 ''[[Occupe-toi d'Amélie!]]'' (Look after Amélie) opened at the Nouveautés. The reviewers were enthusiastic; in ''Le Figaro'', [[Emmanuel Arène]] said:
{{blockindent|M. Georges Feydeau has a spirit, a devil in him which it is impossible to resist. With him, you have to laugh, laugh again, laugh always. We are not deprived of that here. Even those who are not keen on vaudeville or that kind of theatre cannot escape from the contagion. What can one do when surrounded by such unleashed madness and delight?<ref name=f1908>Arène, Emmanuel. [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k288029m/f4.item.r=Occupe-toi%20d'Am%C3%A9lie.zoom "Les Théâtres"], ''Le Figaro'', 16 March 1908, p. 4</ref>|}} 
In ''Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique'' Edmond Stoullig wrote:
{{blockindent|The mighty, yes the mighty, vaudevillist who is M. Georges Feydeau! Ah, the hilarious farce, first cousin of the ''Lady from Maxim's'', and destined, like her, to attract legions of spectators to the Nouveautés … laughing out loud, as we did without constraint and shamelessly.<ref name=s385>Stoullig (1909), p. 385</ref>|}}
The piece ran for 288 performances at the Nouveautés during 1908–09,<ref name=s392>Stoullig (1909), p. 392 and (1910), p. 370</ref> and at the [[Théâtre Antoine]] for 96 performances later in 1909.<ref>Stoullig (1910), p. 292</ref>{{refn|The first run, at the Nouveautés, like that of some other long-running Feydeau pieces, was not continuous, but had a break in mid-run before resuming for its total tally of performances. ''Occupe-toi d'Amélie'' ran from March to November and then continued its run In December and January.<ref>Stoullig (1909), pp. 384, 389 and 392</ref>|group=n}}

===Last years===
[[File:Feydeau-ernhardt-guitry-printemps-1919.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=outdoor wedding photograph of middle-aged man (Feydeau), middle-aged woman (Bernhardt) and young couple, all laughing or smiling|Left to right, Feydeau with [[Sarah Bernhardt]] as witnesses at the wedding of [[Sacha Guitry]] and [[Yvonne Printemps]], April 1919]]
In 1909, after a particularly acrimonious quarrel, Feydeau left home and moved into the Hotel Terminus in the [[Rue Saint-Lazare]]. He lived there, surrounded by his paintings and books, until 1919.<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 3</ref> He and Marie-Anne were divorced in 1916<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 10</ref> and in 1918, now aged fifty-five, he embarked on an affair with a young dancer, Odette Darthys, whom he cast in the lead in revivals of his plays.<ref>Gidel, pp. 253, 263 and 268</ref>

''Occupe-toi d'Amélie!'' was the last full-length play Feydeau wrote on his own. ''Le Circuit'' (The road race, 1909) with [[Francis de Croisset]] made little impact. ''[[Je ne trompe pas mon mari]]'' (I don't cheat on my husband, 1914) with René Peter did well at the box office, with 200 performances, but in the view of Feydeau's biographer [[Leonard Pronko]] it has signs that "the dramatist had almost reached the end of his brilliant inventiveness".<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 187</ref> From 1908 Feydeau focused chiefly on a series of one-act plays, which he envisaged as a set to be called ''Du mariage au divorce'' (From marriage to divorce). Pronko describes the last of these, ''Hortense a dit: "je m'en fous!"'' ("Hortense says 'I don't give a damn'", 1916) "astringently funny … Feydeau's last dazzling gasp".<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 188</ref>

Feydeau had long been subject to depression, but in mid-1919 his family, alarmed at signs of a severe deterioration in his mental condition, called in medical experts; the diagnosis was [[dementia]] caused by tertiary [[syphilis]].<ref name=g266>Gidel, p. 266</ref> The condition was incurable, and Feydeau's sons  arranged for him to be admitted to the Sanatorium de la Malmaison, a leading sanatorium at Rueil (present-day, [[Rueil-Malmaison]]).<ref name=g266/><ref name="Lefebvre">{{cite journal |last1=Lefebvre |first1=Thierry |title=Menier en DVD |journal=Revue d'Histoire de la Pharmacie |date=2009 |volume=96 |issue=364 |page=468 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/pharm_0035-2349_2009_num_96_364_22115 |access-date=4 October 2025}}</ref> He spent his last two years there, imagining himself to be [[Napoleon III]] appointing ministers and issuing invitations to his coronation.<ref name=g271/><ref>Esteban, p. 17</ref>{{refn|In one of his lucid moments Feydeau complained that he was incarcerated for saying he was Napoleon III, but that another patient supposed himself to be President of France: the patient ''was'' the President of France, [[Paul Deschanel]].<ref name=g271>Gidel, pp. 271–272</ref>|group=n}}
 
Feydeau sank into a coma and died in the sanatorium at Rueil on 5 June 1921, aged fifty-eight. After a funeral at [[Sainte-Trinité, Paris]], he was buried in the [[Montmartre Cemetery]].<ref>Gidel, p. 274</ref>

==Works==
Feydeau wrote more than twenty comic [[monologues]],<ref>Gidel, p. 277</ref> and provided librettos for the composers [[Gaston Serpette]], Alfred Kaiser and [[Louis Varney]],<ref>"The Drama in Paris", ''The Era'', 31 December 1887, p. 7; and Gidel, pp. 86–87 and 193</ref> but his reputation rests on those of his plays known in English as [[farce]]s.<ref>Marcoux (1988), pp. 131–132; Bermel, Albert. [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001/acref-9780198601746-e-1284 "farce"], ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance'', Oxford University Press, 2003. Retrieved 1 August 2020 {{subscription required}}; and Baldick, Chris. [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198715443.001.0001/acref-9780198715443-e-450 "farce"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517181321/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198715443.001.0001/acref-9780198715443-e-450 |date=17 May 2022 }} ''The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms'', Oxford University Press, 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2020 {{subscription required}}</ref> He did not use that term for any of his works: he called them vaudevilles or comédies.<ref name=ox/><ref>Meyer, pp. 9–10</ref> The vaudeville, a genre that originated in the middle ages as a satirical song, evolved into a play in verse with music, and by Feydeau's time had split into two branches: [[opérette]]s, such as those by [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]], and, in the words of the writer Peter Meyer, "the vaudeville itself&nbsp;... akin to what we would call slapstick farce, where movement was more important than character".<ref name=meyer>Meyer, p. 10</ref> Reviewers in the French press in Feydeau's time used both terms –"vaudeville" and "farce" – to label his plays.<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1896), p. 255 ("vaudeville"); and (1897), pp. 241 and 244 ("farce")</ref>

[[File:La-puce-à-l'oreille-Act-2-1907.png|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Stage scene in a hotel bedroom, with one man pointing a gun at another, while a woman drags the latter out of the room|''[[La Puce à l'oreille]]'' (A Flea in Her Ear), 1907]]
Between 1878 and 1916 Feydeau completed twenty full-length and nineteen one-act plays. Eleven of them were written with a co-author, and not all were farcical; ''Le Ruban'' (The ribbon, 1894, in collaboration with [[Maurice Desvallières]]), is a comedy about a man's strenuous efforts to gain a state honour,<ref>Gidel, p. 89</ref> and ''Le Bourgeon'' (The bud) is a comedy of manners with serious moments.<ref name=bourgeon>Gidel, pp. 199–200</ref>  The latter had a respectable run of 92 performances,<ref name=bourgeon/>{{refn|A run of more than 100 performances was regarded as a "hit" in the Parisian theatre of the time.<ref>[http://www.operette-theatremusical.fr/2015/07/04/edmond-audran/ "Edmond Audran"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818114219/http://www.operette-theatremusical.fr/2015/07/04/edmond-audran/ |date=18 August 2020}}, Opérette – Théâtre Musical. Retrieved 29 July 2020; and Esteban, p. 7</ref>|group=n}} but Feydeau's greatest successes were in farce. He said that he made so much money from ''La Dame de chez Maxim'' that he could afford to take two years' break from writing and devote himself instead to his hobby, painting.<ref>Esteban, p. 144</ref> That play remains a favourite with French audiences; in English-speaking countries ''A Flea in Her Ear'' became the most popular.<ref>Pronko (1975), pp. 1 and 13; and Hacht and Hayes, p. 591</ref>

===Farcical style===
The critic S. Beynon John contrasts Feydeau's farce with that of the English theatre of the same period – the latter "cosy and genial", and Feydeau's "sharply subversive". John also contrasts Feydeau with the earlier French farceur, Eugène Labiche: "Labiche's world, though fantasticated, is rooted in ordinary life; Feydeau's is cruel, claustrophobic, and smacks of mania".<ref name=beynon>John, S. Beynon. [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198661252.001.0001/acref-9780198661252-e-1783 "Feydeau, Georges"],  ''The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French'', Oxford University Press, 1995. Retrieved 30 July 2020 {{subscription required}}</ref> Discussing his technique, Feydeau said, "When I sit down to write a play I identify those characters who have every reason to avoid each other; and I make it my business to bring them together as soon, and as often, as I can."<ref name=ox/> He also said that to make people laugh "you have to place ordinary people in a dramatic situation and then observe them from a comic angle, but they must never be allowed to say or do anything which is not strictly demanded, first by their character and secondly by the plot".<ref name=meyer/> Although in private life he was known for his wit,<ref>Esteban, p. 12</ref> he carefully avoided it in his plays, holding that witty theatrical dialogue interrupted the action.<ref>Pronko (1975), p. 41; and Meyer p. 10</ref>{{refn|When preparing the first English version of ''Occupe-toi d'Amélie!'' [[Noël Coward]] commented that only the visual action was funny.<ref>Coward, p. 381</ref> His attempt to inject some wit was regarded by some critics as misguided.<ref>"Coward Play in London; 'Look After Lulu' Opens", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 30 July 1959, p. 20; and Lesley, p. 388</ref> [[John Mortimer]] admitted to adding "a collection of verbal jokes" in his Feydeau translations, but only in the first acts: in the second acts, he said, the action was all-important.<ref name=m11>Mortimer, p. 11</ref>|group=n}}

The critic W. D. Howarth sums up Feydeau's typical dramatic template as "a nightmare sequence of events in otherwise unremarkable lives".<ref name=ox/> In general the vaudeville or farcical events are confined to the second of three acts:<ref name=meyer/>
{{blockindent|A typical plot establishes in Act I the need for secrecy on which the subterfuge and duplicity of the leading characters will depend; in Act II we move to a public meeting place – most notoriously a hotel of not very savoury reputation … Act III restores things to a somewhat precarious status quo.<ref name=ox/>|}}
[[File:Je-ne-trompe-pas-mon-mari.png|thumb|upright=1.25|left|alt=Theatre poster depicting man sitting up in bed, gesticulating wildly, with cheerful blonde lying next to him and a man in morning dress and a woman in day wear each side of the bed looking shocked|''Je ne trompe pas mon mari'' (I Don't Cheat on My Husband), 1920 revival]]
Howarth observes that "The nightmare quality of Feydeau's middle acts" depends not only on  "frenzied comings and goings", but also on mechanical stage accessories such as the revolving bed in ''La Puce à l'oreille'', which conveys its occupants into the adjoining room, seemingly at random.<ref name=ox/>{{refn|At the Hôtel Coq d'Or, where "only married couples come" but "not at the same time" a front bedroom has a bed next to a wall. If a couple making use of it are about to be intruded upon (by e.g. an outraged husband) the press of a button has the wall, and the bed and occupants with it, revolving horizontally 180 degrees into the back room, thereby bringing whoever is in the bed there into the front room.<ref>Feydeau and Mortimer, pp. 31–32 and 40–41</ref>|group=n}}

When Feydeau took a break from writing to study the works of his most successful predecessors, he focused in particular on three playwrights: Labiche, Hennequin and Meilhac.<ref name=p104/> From Labiche he learned the importance of close observation of real-life characters, lending verisimilitude to the most chaotic situations.<ref name=p104/> From Hennequin – who had started as an engineer – Feydeau drew the intricate plotting, described by Pronko as "endless mazes of crisscrossing couples, scurrying from door to door, room to room in every possible and impossible combination".<ref name=p104/> From Meilhac he learned the art of writing polished dialogue, sounding elegant but natural.<ref name=p104/> From these three influences, Feydeau fashioned what Pronko calls "the last great masterpieces of the vaudeville form".<ref name=p104>Pronko (1975), p. 104</ref>

Contemporary opinions of Feydeau covered a wide range. [[Catulle Mendès]] wrote, "I continue to deplore the fact that M. Georges Feydeau uses his truly remarkable talent on plays that will be performed four or five hundred times but that will never be read".<ref name=m11/> For some, his late one-act plays are misogynistic;<ref>Marcoux (1994), p. 16</ref> for others, they were his finest achievements, comparable with [[Strindberg]] in their naturalism; Feydeau was seen here as a moralist as well as an entertainer.<ref>Pronko (1982), pp. 146–147</ref> For the authors of ''Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique'', and critics in ''Le Figaro'' his farces were what made Feydeau incomparable.<ref name=f1908/><ref name=s385/> Later critics including Gidel, Pronko, [[Marcel Achard]] and [[Kenneth Tynan]] have judged that in his farces Feydeau was second only to [[Molière]] as France's great comic dramatist.<ref>Gidel, p. 276; Pronko (1975), p. 140</ref>

===Full-length works===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: left; margin-right: 0;"
|+ {{Sronly|List of full-length works by Georges Feydeau}}
! scope="col" |Title
! scope="col" |Feydeau's description
! scope="col" |Year
! scope="col" |Theatre
! scope="col" |Perfs
! scope="col" |Title in English
! scope="col" |Notes
|-
| ''Eglantine d'Amboise''
| pièce historique en deux actes et 3 tableaux
| 1873
| –
| –
| The wild rose of Amboise
| Juvenilia: not staged in Feydeau's lifetime
|-
| ''{{ill|Tailleur pour dames|fr}}''
| comédie en 3 actes
| 1886
| Renaissance
| 79<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1887), p. 376 and (1888), p. 354</ref>
| Ladies' tailor
|
|-
| ''La Lycéenne''
| vaudeville-opérette en 3 actes
| 1887
| Nouveautés
| 20<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1888), p. 390; and (1889), p. 282</ref>
| The schoolgirl
| music by [[Gaston Serpette]]
|-
| {{Lang|fr|[[Chat en poche]]}}
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1888
| [[Théâtre Déjazet|Déjazet]]
| 36<ref>Gidel, p. 89</ref>
| A pig in a poke
|
|-
| ''Les Fiancés de Loches''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1888
| [[Théâtre de Cluny|Cluny]]
| 64<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1889), p. 305</ref>
| The fiancés from Loches
| with [[Maurice Desvallières]]
|-
| ''L'Affaire Edouard''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1889
| [[Variétés]]
| 17<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1890), p. 165</ref>
| The Edward affair
|
|-
| ''Le Mariage de Barillon''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1890
| Renaissance
| 26<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1891), p. 356</ref>
| Barillon's wedding
| with Desvallières
|-
| ''[[Monsieur chasse!]]''
| comédie en 3 actes
| 1892
| Palais-Royal
| 114<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1893), p. 234</ref>
| Monsieur is hunting!
|
|-
| ''[[Champignol malgré lui]]''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1892
| Nouveautés
| 434<ref name=champ>Noël and Stoullig (1893), p. 278 and (1894), p. 410</ref>
| Champignol despite himself 
| with Desvallières
|-
| ''[[Le Système Ribadier]]''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1892
| Palais-Royal
| 78<ref>Gidel, p. 114</ref>
| The Ribadier system
|with [[Maurice Hennequin]]{{refn|The play was revived in 1909 with a new title: ''Ni vu ni connu'' (roughly "What the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve over").<ref>Shapiro, Norman Richard. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40526465 "Georges Feydeau: note sur deux énigmes résolues"], ''Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France'', January–February 1980, pp. 90–93 {{subscription required}}</ref>|group=n}}
|-
| ''{{ill|Le Ruban|fr}}''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1894
| Odéon
| 45<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1895), p. 224</ref>
| The ribbon
|with Desvallières
|-
| {{Lang|fr|[[L'Hôtel du libre échange]]}}
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1894
| Nouveautés
| 371<ref name=ns95>Noël and Stoullig (1895), p. 363 and (1896), p. 260</ref>
| Free Exchange Hotel
| with Desvallières
|-
| ''[[Un fil à la patte]]''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1894
| Palais-Royal
| 129<ref>Noël and Stoullig (1895), p. 335</ref>
| Tied by the leg{{refn|Variously rendered in English adaptations as "Cat Among the Pigeons", "Not by Bed Alone" and "Get Out of My Hair".<ref>Pronko (1982), p. 103</ref>|group=n}}
|
|-
| ''[[Le Dindon]]''
| comédie en 3 actes
| 1896
| Palais-Royal
| 238<ref>Stoullig (1897), p. 248</ref>
| The dupe
|
|-
| ''[[La Dame de chez Maxim (play)|La Dame de chez Maxim]]''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1899
| Nouveautés
| 579<ref>Stoullig (1900), p. 280 and (1901) p. 285</ref>
| The lady from Maxim's
|
|-
|''Le Billet de Joséphine'' 
|opéra
|1902
|[[Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)|Gaîté]]
|16<ref name=s307/>
|Josephine's letter
|music by Alfred Kaiser
|-
| ''{{ill|La Duchesse des Folies-Bergère|fr}}''
| comédie en cinq actes
| 1902
| Nouveautés
| 82<ref>Stoullig (1903), p. 351 and (1904), p. 386</ref>
| The duchess of the Folies-Bergère
|
|-
| ''{{ill|La Main passe!|fr|La main passe}}''
| comédie en quatre actes
| 1904
| Nouveautés
| 211<ref name=s340>Stoullig (1905), p. 340</ref>
| The hand goes round
|
|-
| ''L'Âge d'or''
| comédie musicale en 3 actes et neuf tableaux
| 1905
| Variétés
| 33<ref>Stoullig (1906), p. 230</ref>
| The golden age
| with Desvallières; music by [[Louis Varney]]
|-
| ''Le Bourgeon''
| comédie de moeurs en 3 actes
| 1906
| Vaudeville
| 92<ref>Stoullig (1907), p. 202</ref>
| The bud
|
|-
| ''[[La Puce à l'oreille]]''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1907
| Variétés
| 86<ref>Stoullig (1908), p. 418</ref>
| A flea in her ear
|
|-
| ''[[Occupe-toi d'Amélie!]]''
| comédie en 3 actes
| 1908
| Nouveautés
| 288<ref name=s392/>
| Look after Amélie
|
|-
| ''Le Circuit''
| comédie en 3 actes et quatre tableaux
| 1909
| Variétés
| 44<ref>Stoullig (1910), p. 220</ref>
| The road race
| with Francis Croisset
|-
| ''[[Je ne trompe pas mon mari!]]''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
| 1914
| [[Théâtre de l'Athénée|Athénée]]
| 200<ref>Stoullig (1915), p. 386</ref>
| I don't cheat on my husband
| with René Peter
|-
| ''Cent millions qui tombent''
| pièce en 3 actes
|
| –
| –
| 100 million falling
| unfinished
|-
| ''À qui ma femme?''
| vaudeville en 3 actes
|
| –
| –
| Whose is my wife?
| not staged in Feydeau's lifetime.{{refn|According to Jacques Lorcey in his 1972 study of Feydeau, the failure of ''La Lycéenne'' caused the playwright to suppress ''A qui ma femme?'', which was complete, but remained unstaged and unpublished.<ref>Lorcey, p. 95</ref>|group=n}}

|}

===One-act pieces===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
*''L'Amour doit se taire'' (drame, "Love must be silent", 1878)
*''Par la fenêtre'' (comédie, "Through the window", 1882)
*''{{ill|Amour et piano|fr}}'' (comédie, "Love and piano", 1883)
*''{{ill|Gibier de potence (Feydeau)|lt=Gibier de potence|fr|Gibier de potence (Feydeau)}}'' (comédie-bouffe, "Gallows-bird", 1883)
*''L'Homme de paille'' (comédie-bouffe, "The straw man", 1884)
*''Fiancés en herbe'' (comédie enfantine, "Unripe fiancés", 1886)
*''Deux coqs pour une poule'' (comédie, "Two cocks for one hen", 1887)
*''Un bain de ménage'' (vaudeville, "A household bath", 1888)
*''C'est une femme du monde'' (comédie, "She's a society lady"; with Desvallières, 1890)
*''Notre futur'' (comédie, "Our future", 1894)
{{col-break}}
*''{{ill|Les Pavés de l'ours|fr}}'' (comédie, "Save me from my friends", 1896)
*''{{ill|Dormez, je le veux!|fr|Dormez, je le veux !}}'' (vaudeville, "Sleep, I insist!", 1897)
*''{{ill|Séance de nuit|fr}}'' (comédie, "Night session", 1897)
*''Monsieur Nounou'' (pochade, "Monsieur Nounou"; with Desvallières, 1900)
*''{{ill|Feu la mère de Madame|fr}}'' (vaudeville, "Madame's late mother", 1908)
*''{{ill|On purge bébé!|fr|On purge bébé}}'' (comédie, "Purging baby", 1910)
*''{{ill|Léonie est en avance|fr|Léonie est en avance ou le Mal joli}}'' (comédie, "Léonie is ahead of time", 1911)
*''{{ill|Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue!|fr|Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue !}}'' (comédie, "Don't walk about stark naked", 1911)
*''On va faire la cocotte'' (comédie, "We're going to play cocotte", unfinished, 1911)
*''{{ill|Hortense a dit: "je m'en fous!"|fr|Hortense a dit : « Je m'en fous ! »}}'' (comédie, "Hortense says 'I don't give a damn'", 1916)
{{col-end}}

===Monologues===
====For female performer====
*''La Petite révoltée'' ("The rebellious girl", 1880)
*''Un coup de tête''  ("A whim", 1882)
*''Aux antipodes'' ("Poles apart", 1883)

====For male performer====
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
*''Le Mouchoir'' ("The handkerchief", 1881)
*''J'ai mal aux dents'' ("I've got toothache", 1882)
*''Le Potache'' ("The schoolboy", 1882)
*''Trop vieux'' ("Too old", 1882)
*''Un monsieur qui n'aime pas les monologues'' ("A gentleman who dislikes monologues", 1882)
*''Patte en l'air'' ("Paw in the air", 1883)
*''Le Petit Ménage'' ("The small household", 1883)
*''Le Billet de mille'' ("The 1,000 note", 1884)
*''Les Célèbres'' ("The famous", 1884)
*''Le Volontaire'' ("The volunteer", 1884)
{{col-break}}
*''Le Colis'' ("The parcel", 1885)
*''Les Réformes'' ("The reformers", 1885)
*''L'Homme économe'' ("The Thrifty man", 1886)
*''L'Homme intègre'' ("The man of integrity", 1886)
*''Les Enfants'' ("The children", 1887)
*''Tout à Brown-Séquard !'' ("Everything to Brown-Séquard", 1890)
*''Le Juré'' ("The juror", 1898)
*''Un monsieur qui est condamné à mort'' ("A gentleman who is condemned to death", 1899)
*''Complainte du pauv' propriétaire'' ("The poor owner's complaint", 1916)
*''Madame Sganarelle'' ("Madame Sganarelle")
{{col-end}}

==Legacy==
[[File:L'hôtel-du libre-échange-1906.jpg|{{Lang|fr|[[L'Hôtel du libre échange]]}}, 1906|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Stage scene in hotel bedroom with fully dressed man looking frantic, surrounded by young women in nightgowns]]
After his death Feydeau's plays were neglected for many years. It was not until the 1940s that major revivals were staged in Paris, after which Feydeau gradually became a staple of the repertory in France and abroad. The [[Comédie-Française]] admitted a Feydeau work to its repertoire for the first time in 1941, with a production of the one-act ''Feu la mère de Madame'', directed by [[Fernand Ledoux]], starring [[Madeleine Renaud]] and [[Pierre Bertin]].<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=16949 "Feu la mère de Madame"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708070146/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=16949 |date=8 July 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> At the [[Théâtre Marigny]] in 1948 Renaud starred in the first production of ''Occupe-toi d'Amélie!'' since Feydeau's 1908 original, with the company she co-founded with [[Jean-Louis Barrault]].<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=21400 "Occupe-toi d'Amélie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702103842/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=21400 |date=2 July 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref>  They took the production to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 1952, and the [[West End theatre|West End]] in 1956, playing in the original French and gaining enthusiastic reviews from the New York and London critics.<ref>Matthews, Herbert L. "French Farce Acted by Renaud-Barrault Troupe", ''The New York Times'', 25 November 1952, p. 35; Chapman, John. "French Players Turn to Farce", ''The Daily News'', 26 November 1952, p. 15C; and Sheaffer, Louis. "French Actors Still Superb in Rowdy Bedroom Farce", ''Brooklyn Eagle'', 25 November 1952, p. 4</ref><ref>"Palace Theatre", ''The Times'', 17 November 1956, p. 2; Tynan, Kenneth. "At the Theatre", ''The Observer'', 18 November 1956, p. 13; and [[Trewin, J. C.]] "The World of the Theatre", ''Illustrated London News'', 1 December 1956, p. 942</ref> In the meanwhile the Comédie-Française staged its first full-length Feydeau production, ''Le Dindon'' (1951).<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=15839 "Le Dindon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708063042/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=15839 |date=8 July 2020}}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> English adaptations had been familiar in Feydeau's day,<ref name=mm475>Mander and Mitchenson, p. 475</ref> and in the 1950s new versions began to appear, including [[Peter Glenville]]'s ''Hotel Paradiso'' (1956, from {{Lang|fr|L'Hôtel du libre échange}})<ref>"Winter Garden Theatre", ''The Times'', 3 May 1956, p. 9</ref> and [[Noël Coward]]'s ''[[Look After Lulu!]]'' (1959, from ''Occupe-toi d'Amélie!'');<ref name=mm475/> both were seen in the West End and on Broadway.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/hotel-paradiso-2627 "Hotel Paradiso"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113015828/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/hotel-paradiso-2627 |date=13 November 2020}}, Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 July 2020; and Mander and Mitchenson, p. 469</ref>
[[File:04.04.1975. Jacques Charon. (1975) - 53Fi2746 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|alt=plump white man of middle age looking benignly at camera|upright|[[Jacques Charon]], a leading Feydeau director of the 1950s and 60s]]
The 1960s saw two celebrated productions by [[Jacques Charon]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWYtaQZR9EgC&q=Feydeau+&pg=RA7-PA2 "Paris en parle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517181321/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZWYtaQZR9EgC&pg=RA7-PA2&dq=Feydeau+AND+Un+Fil+%C3%A0+la+patte+AND+jacques+charon&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd4pKWgPXqAhVzoXEKHSEAD1UQ6AEwAXoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=Feydeau%20&f=false |date=17 May 2022 }}, ''French News: Theatre and arts'', French Embassy to the United States, Spring 1965, p. 2</ref><ref name=charonobit/> The first was ''Un Fil à la patte'' (1961) for the Comédie-Française, which the company took to London in 1964.<ref>"Superb Acting in a Feydeau Farce", ''The Times'', 23 March 1964, p. 6</ref> This led to an invitation from [[Laurence Olivier]] to Charon to direct [[John Mortimer]]'s adaptation of ''La Puce à l'oreille'' as ''A Flea in Her Ear'' for the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] (1966).<ref>Mortimer, p. 103; "French Producer for Farce", ''The Times'', 21 January 1966; and "M. Charon on the Feydeau Behind the Farces", ''The Times'', 3 February 1966, p. 18</ref> Charon followed this with Mortimer's version of ''Un Fil à la patte'' (''Cat Among the Pigeons'') in the West End (1969).<ref name=charonobit>"M. Jacques Charon", ''The Times'', 16 October 1975, p. 16</ref> In the 1970s the Comédie-Française added two more Feydeau plays to its repertoire: ''Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue!'' (1971) and ''La Puce à l'oreille'' (1978), both directed by [[Jean-Laurent Cochet]]. In New York there were productions of ''Le Dindon'' (1972 as ''There's One in Every Marriage''),<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/theres-one-in-every-marriage-3633 "There's One in Every Marriage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412163547/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/theres-one-in-every-marriage-3633 |date=12 April 2020 }}, Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> ''La Main passe'' (1973 as ''Chemin de fer''),<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/chemin-de-fer-2525 "Chemin de fer"], Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> and ''Monsieur chasse!'' (1978, as ''13 rue de l'amour'').<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/13-rue-de-lamour-4048 "13 Rue de l'Amour"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805075321/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/13-rue-de-lamour-4048 |date=5 August 2020 }}, Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> In London the National Theatre presented a second Mortimer adaptation, ''The Lady from Maxim's'' (1977).<ref>Mortimer, p. 201; and [http://catalogue.nationaltheatre.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Performance&id=369&pos=3 "The Lady from Maxim's"], National Theatre Archive. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref>

During the last two decades of the twentieth century interest in Feydeau continued. The Comédie-Française presented four more of his plays: ''La Dame de chez Maxim'' (1981) directed by [[Jean-Paul Roussillon]], ''Léonie est en avance'' (1985) directed by Stuart Seide, ''Occupe-toi d'Amélie!'' (1995) directed by [[Roger Planchon]], and ''Chat en poche'' (1998) directed by [[Muriel Mayette]]. There were numerous Feydeau revivals in theatres in Paris, cities across France, and Brussels, including seven productions of ''Le Système Ribadier''<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=162 "Le Système Ribadier"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805085248/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=162 |date=5 August 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> three of ''Monsieur chasse!'',<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=513 "Monsieur chasse"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728185203/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=513 |date=28 July 2020}}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> five of ''La Dame de chez Maxim'',<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=202 "La Dame de chez Maxim"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728185205/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=202 |date=28 July 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> and four of ''La Puce à l'oreille''.<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=110 "La Puce à l'oreille"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728200408/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Oeuvre=110 |date=28 July 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> In London the National Theatre presented Mortimer's adaptation of ''L'Hôtel du libre-échange'' (1984, as ''A Little Hotel on the Side''),<ref>Mortimer, p. 17; and [http://catalogue.nationaltheatre.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Performance&id=608&pos=2 "A Little Hotel on the Side"], National Theatre Archive. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> which was later played on Broadway.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/a-little-hotel-on-the-side-4658 "A Little Hotel on the Side"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229044452/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/a-little-hotel-on-the-side-4658 |date=29 February 2020}}, Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> Other English adaptations included [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]] and Nicki Frei's versions of ''Le Dindon'' (1994, as ''An Absolute Turkey'') and ''Occupe-toi d'Amélie!'' (1996, as ''Mind Millie for Me'').<ref>Hall, p. 94</ref>

During the first two decades of the 21st century, the Comédie-Française presented seven Feydeau productions: ''Le Dindon'' (2002, directed by [[Lukas Hemleb]]),<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=84039 "Le Dindon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728215216/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=84039 |date=28 July 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> ''Un Fil à la patte'' (2010 [[Jérôme Deschamps]]),<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=30270 "Un fil à la patte"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629081116/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=30270 |date=29 June 2020}}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref>  ''Quatre pièces'' – a quadruple bill of one-act plays and a monologue (''Amour et Piano'', ''Un monsieur qui n'aime pas les monologues'', ''Fiancés en herbe'' and ''Feu la mère de madame'', 2009, Gian Manuel Rau),<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=21643 "Quatre pièces de Georges Feydeau"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606201052/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=21643 |date=6 June 2020}}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> ''Le Cercle des castagnettes'' (monologues, 2012, Alain Françon),<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=39065 "Le Cercle des castagnettes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728191904/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=39065 |date=28 July 2020}}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> ''Le Système Ribadier'' (2013, [[Zabou Breitman]]), ''L'Hôtel du libre-échange'' (2017, [[Isabelle Nanty]])<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=73297 "L'Hôtel du libre-échange"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628181611/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=73297 |date=28 June 2020}}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> and ''La Puce à l'oreille'' (2019, Lilo Baur).<ref>[https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=98827 "La Puce à l'oreille"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626193204/https://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=98827 |date=26 June 2020 }}, Les Archives du spectacle. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> The [[Internet Broadway Database]] records no Feydeau productions in the 21st century.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/georges-feydeau-5878 "Georges Feydeau"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203125841/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/georges-feydeau-5878 |date=3 December 2020 }}, Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 28 July 2020</ref> Among British productions were Frei's 2003 version of ''Le Système Rebadier'' (as ''Where There's a Will'') directed by Hall<ref>"Theatre Week", ''The Stage'', 24 April 2003, p. 39</ref> and Mortimer's ''A Flea in Her Ear'', revived at the Old Vic in 2010, directed by [[Richard Eyre]].<ref>Billington, Michael. [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/dec/15/a-flea-in-her-ear-review "A Flea in Her Ear – review"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728201159/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/dec/15/a-flea-in-her-ear-review |date=28 July 2020}}, ''The Guardian'', 15 December 2010</ref>

==Adaptations==

{{main|Screen adaptations of plays by Georges Feydeau}}
Several of Feydeau's plays have been adapted for the cinema and television. Although he was active well into the early years of film he never wrote for the medium, but within two years of his death in 1921 other writers and directors began to take his plays as the basis for films, of which more than twenty have been made, in several countries and languages. At least fourteen of his plays have been adapted for television.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=first&filt=is_tv&q=Georges+Feydeau#top "Georges Feydeau"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430104145/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=first&filt=is_tv&q=Georges+Feydeau#top |date=30 April 2022}}, BBC Genome. Retrieved 30 April 2022</ref>

==Notes, references and sources==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=n}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |last=Coward| first=Noël|editor1 = [[Graham Payn]]|editor2=[[Sheridan Morley]] |year = 1982 |title = The Noël Coward Diaries (1941–1969) |location = London |publisher = Methuen |isbn = 978-0-297-78142-4 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last=Esteban | first=Manuel | title= Georges Feydeau| year=1983 | location= Boston| publisher=Twain | url=https://archive.org/details/georgesfeydeau0000este/page/n7/mode/2up| isbn= 978-0-8057-6551-9| ref=none }}
*{{cite book | last =Feydeau | first = Georges| author2=John Mortimer| title =A Flea in Her Ear | date =1968 | location =London | publisher = Samuel French| isbn =978-0-573-01148-1|ref=none }}
*{{cite book|editor-last= Gaye|editor-first=Freda  |year= 1967|title=Who's Who in the Theatre |edition=fourteenth|location=London |publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons |oclc=5997224 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last =Gidel  | first= Henry | title= Georges Feydeau | year= 1991 | location= Paris | publisher= Flammarion | isbn= 978-2-08-066280-4 |language=fr|url=https://archive.org/details/georgesfeydeau00gide/page/n5/mode/2up| ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Hacht | first= Anne Marie |author2= Dwayne D. Hayes |chapter=Feydeau, Georges|title= Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature, D–J| year= 2009| location = Detroit | publisher= Gale | isbn= 978-1-4144-3135-2| ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Hall| first=Peter | title=Making an Exhibition of Myself | year=2000 | orig-year= 1993|edition=second|location= London| publisher= Oberon| isbn=978-1-84002-115-8| ref=none }}
* {{cite book |last = Lesley |first = Cole |year = 1976 |title = The Life of Noël Coward |location = London |publisher = Cape |isbn = 978-0-224-01288-1 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Lorcey | language=fr| first= Jacques | title= Georges Feydeau | year= 1972| location= Paris | publisher= La Table ronde | oclc=669869 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book |last = Mander |first = Raymond|author-link=Mander and Mitchenson |author2 = [[Joe Mitchenson]] |year = 2000 |edition = second |orig-year = 1957 |title = Theatrical Companion to Coward |location = London |publisher = Oberon |isbn = 978-1-84002-054-0 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Marcoux| first=J. Paul | title=Farce |chapter=Georges Feydeau and the 'serious' farce | editor=James Redmond | year=1988 | location= Cambridge and New York| publisher= Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-521-35347-2 | ref=none }}
*{{cite book | last = Marcoux | first =J. Paul | author-mask=1| title =Five By Feydeau|chapter=Introduction | date =1994 | location =New York | publisher =Lang | isbn =978-0-8204-2390-6| ref=none }} 
* {{cite book | last= Meyer | first =Peter|chapter =Introduction | title=Feydeau | year= 2003| location= London | publisher= Oberon | isbn= 978-1-84943-993-0| ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last=Mortimer | first=John | title=Georges Feydeau: Three Boulevard Farces | year=1985 | location= London| publisher= Penguin| isbn=978-0-14-048191-4 | ref=none }}
*{{cite book | last= Nahmias | first= Robert | title= Tout l'humour de Feydeau | year= 1995| location= Paris | publisher= Grancher | isbn= 978-2-08-066280-4 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3326102w|language=fr| ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1886| year=1887 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k549609| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1887| year=1888 | location=Paris | publisher= Charpentier| url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54961n| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1889| year=1890 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9675431p|oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1890| year=1891 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k616859| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1892| year=1893 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k616870| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1893| year=1894 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2046235| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1894| year=1895 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61689p/f237.item.zoom | oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}              
* {{cite book | last= Noël| first=Edouard |author2=Edmond Stoullig| author-mask=1| author2-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1895| year=1896 | location=Paris | publisher=Charpentier | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9611797k| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Pronko | first= Leonard | title= Georges Feydeau | year= 1975| location= New York | publisher= Ungar | isbn= 978-0-8044-2700-5| url=https://archive.org/details/georgesfeydeau00pron/page/n5/mode/2up|ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Pronko | first= Leonard | author-mask=1| title= Eugene Labiche and Georges Feydeau| year=1982 | location= London| publisher= Macmillan| isbn= 978-0-333-28897-9| ref=none }}
* {{cite book|last=Slonimsky|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicolas Slonimsky|author2=Laura Kuhn|author3=Dennis McIntire|editor=Laura Kuhn|title=[[Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians]]|chapter=Kaiser, Alfred|edition=eighth|year=2001 |location=New York|publisher=Schirmer|isbn=978-0-02-866091-2| ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1896| year=1897 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff |url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k616917| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1899| year=1900 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k549729| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1902| year=1903 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k76189q| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1903| year=1904 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k549740| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1904| year=1905 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9767107k| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1905| year=1906 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54976p| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1906| year=1907 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k549771| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1907| year=1908 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54978c| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1908| year=1909 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54979q | oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1909| year=1910 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k76189q| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1910| year=1911 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k549818| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}
* {{cite book | last= Stoullig | first= Edmond | author-mask=1| title= Les Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1914| year=1915 | location=Paris | publisher=Ollendorff | url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb32694497t/date1914| oclc=172996346 | ref=none }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Georges Feydeau}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Georges Feydeau}}
* {{Librivox author |id=134}}
* {{IBDB name|5878}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0275492|name=Georges Feydeau}}

{{Georges Feydeau|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feydeau, Georges}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1921 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:19th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Burials at Montmartre Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:Belle Époque]]