[97] The students played also in the suburbs, at Versailles, Mantes, and Chartres. It was at Chartres, where she had a part in Les Paysans Lorrains, that the playbills first named her Réjane. Till now she had gone by her own name of Réju. She played also, while still a student, at matinées-conférences at the Porte-Saint-Martin, in Le Depit Amoureux and Les Ménechmes.
[98] Her first appearance at the Vaudeville was on March 25, 1875. Her first three parts were small rôles in La Revue des Deux-Mondes, Fanny Lear, and Vaudeville’s Hotel. There followed: Madame Lili, Midi à Quatorze Heures, Renaudin de Caen, La Corde, 1875; Le Verglas, Le Premier Tapis, Les Dominos Roses, Perfide comme L’Onde, Le Passe, 1876; Pierre, Les Vivacités du Capitaine Tic, Le Club, 1877; Le Mari d’Ida, 1878; Les Memoires du Diable, Les Faux Bonshommes, Les Tapageurs, Les Lionnes Pauvres, 1879; La Vie de Bohème, Le Père Prodigue, 1880; La Petite Sœur, Odette, 1881; L’Auréole, Un Mariage de Paris, 1882; all at the Vaudeville. At various theatres: Les Demoiselles Clochart, La Princess, Les Variétés de Paris, La Nuit de Noces de P. L. M., La Glu, 1882; Ma Camarade, 1883; Les Femmes Terribles, 1884; Clara Soleil, 1885; Allo! Allo!, Monsieur de Morat, 1886–87; Décoré, Germinie Lacerteux, Shylock, 1888; Marquise, 1889; La Famille Benoîton, Le Mariage de Figaro, La Vie à Deux, 1889–90; Ma Cousine, 1890; Amoreuse, Fantasio, La Cigale, Brevet Supérieur, 1891; Lysistrata, Sapho, 1892; Madame Sans-Gêne, 1893; Villégiature, Les Lionnes Pauvres, Maison de Poupée, 1894; Viveurs, 1895; Lolotte, La Bonne Hélène, Le Partage, Divorçons, 1896; La Douloureuse, 1897; Paméla, Le Roi Candaule, Zaza, Le Calice, Georgette Lemeunier, 1898; Le Lys Rouge, Mme. de Lavalette, 1899; Le Faubourg, Le Béguin, La Robe Rouge, Sylvie ou la Curieuse d’Amour, 1900; La Pente Douce, La Course du Flambeau, 1901; La Passerelle, Le Masque, Le Joug, 1902; Heureuse, Antoinette Sabrier, 1903; La Montansier, La Parisienne, 1904; L’Age D’Aimer, 1905; La Piste, 1906. At the Théâtre Réjane: La Savelli, 1906; Paris-New York, Suzeraine, Les Deux Madame Delauze, 1907; Qui Perd Gagne, Israël, 1908; Trains de luxe, L’Impératrice, Le Refuge, 1909; Madame Margot, La Flamme, M’Amour, 1910; L’Enfant de l’Amour (at the Porte St. Martin), La Revue Sans-Gêne, 1911; L’Aigrette, Un Coup de Téléphone, Aglaïs (at Comédie Royale), 1912; Alsace, L’Irrégulière, 1913; Le Concert, 1914.
[99] “Her queer little face catches hold of you, by both the good and bad elements in your nature. All the intelligence, the devotion, the pity of a woman are to be read in her wonderful eyes, but below there is the nose and mouth of a sensual little creature, a vicious, almost vulgar, smile, lips pouted for a kiss, but with a lingering, or a dawning, suggestion of irony. Moreover, she is exactly the reigning type, the type that one meets constantly on the Paris pavements when the shop girls are going to lunch. If you happen to be born marquise or duchesse you copy the type, and the result is all the more piquant.”—Augustin Filon, “The Modern French Drama.”
[100] The Boston Courier, May 19, 1895.
[101] Her second American season began in New York, Nov. 7, 1904. During this tour she appeared for the first time in America in Amoureuse, La Passerelle, Zaza, La Petite Marquise, and La Hirondelle.
[102] Originally Madame Sans-Gêne was to have been produced at the Grand-Théâtre, of which M. Porel, Réjane’s husband, was manager. He gave up the house, however, before the play could be given. Other managers begged for it, but of each in turn M. Sardou demanded: “Have you Réjane in your company?” and as the answer was always in the negative, he added: “Then there is no use of our talking about it.” Soon M. Carré admitted M. Porel to a co-directorship of the Vaudeville, and there the play was produced, with immediately great success. M. Sardou was not the sole author. He had considerable help from M. Moreau.
[103] Correspondence of Frederick Roy Martin in the Boston Transcript, November 9, 1904.
[104] Dec. 29, 1906.
[105] In 1906, she attempted, with M. Gaston Mayer, to found a French repertoire theatre in London, but the experiment was not successful and lasted only one season.
[106] It is probably for this comedian that the street Calle Duse in Chioggio, near Venice, is named.