Labiche, EUGÈNE MARIN

Labiche, EUGÈNE MARIN, a French dramatist, was born at Paris, 5th May 1815, studied at the Collège Bourbon, and next travelled in Italy. His first dramatic piece was the popular farce M. de Coyllin (1838), which was followed during the next forty years by a long series of over a hundred comedies, farces, and vaudevilles. These were all marked by rare mastery of stage technique despite the usual droll improbability of the plots, intimate knowledge of human nature, crisp and sparkling dialogue, and a lambent humour that is often caustic but never unkindly. He collaborated at one time or another with Gondinet, Delacour, Legouvé, Augier, and other dramatists. His Frisette (1846) was the original of Morton's 'Box and Cox.' Among the most important of his pieces are Le Chapeau de Paille d'Italie (1851); L'Affaire de la Rue de Lourcine (1857); Le Voyage de M. Perrichon (1860); Les Petites Oiseaux (1863); Célimaire le Bien-Aimé (1863); La Cagnotte (1864); Le plus Heureux des Trois (1870); Doit-on le dire (1873); Les Trente Millions de Gladiator (1875); Le Prix Martin (1876); La Clé (1877). A successful collection of his pieces appeared under the title Théâtre de Labiche (10 vols. 1879), with an introduction by Augier. Labiche was elected to the Academy in November 1880, and died 23d January 1888.