Jack L'Eventreur - August 1889

[Chris Scott]

A play entitled Jack L'Eventreur, written by Marot and Pericaud (under the pen-names of Bertrand and Clairian) was produced in Paris on 30 August 1889. A review of this play was published in The Era, 7 September 1889. Below is a copy of the cast list. I am typing up this lengthy review and will post it here when done.
Chris

[Chris Scott]

The Era
7 September 1889

THE DRAMA IN PARIS

Paris, Thursday, Sept. 5.
When French playwrights tackle an English theme the result of their lucubrations never fails to be amusing to a British spectator, and, its horrible subject notwithstanding, the tale of Jack the Ripper's atrocities is no exception to the rule. The drama contains such droll caricatures of English manners and customs, such wonderful specimens of English habiliment, that its farcical qualities are not to be gainsaid. I should advise nobody to see the piece, quite the reverse, for it is a tissue of trash from one end to the other. But if any native of Perfidious Albion wanders into the Chateau d'Eau theatre for one of these evenings he will certainly find more food for laughter than for tears. The attention with which the large popular audience endeavour to follow the impossible incidents of the entangled plot is another curious feature to be observed, for in no other European capital, I verily believe, could such a gullible public be brought together. If the authors have not pierced the mystery which underlies the crimes perpetrated by the Whitechapel fiend, they have succeeded at any rate in concocting a regular bloody head and rawbones play for the delectation of the Chateau d'Eau gallery. By scraping together odds and ends from various sources, and cementing those familiar materials with an abundance of more or less pathetic situations that are equally trite, they build up a dramatic scaffolding which stands pretty well on end. Their melodrama resembles a host of others of the same quality, and, to judge by the enthusiasm of the "gods," contains a considerable amount of interest for a section of the Paris public which is thoroughly "transpontine," although it lives at this side of the Seine bridges. Spectators who are more critical, or whose tastes are less truculent, will not look back with any pleasure to this vision of Jack the Ripper in the flesh. To do them justice, however, MM. Marot and Pericaud have invented an ingenious fiction to explain the motive of the Ripper's atrocities. He, that is to say the hero of the piece, Jackson by name, has determined to discover whence the police derived the information which has led to the capture of so many of his gang during a very short period. For he is the leader of a vast confederacy of crime, and within a month a score of his subordinates have dangled from the gallows. Poor London! A capital execution every other morning shows up its boasted civilisation in the proper light to gratify French jealousy. No sooner has Jackson resolved to find out the secret than an opportunity offers itself to his audacity. The chief of the New York police, Peters Wild, is crossing the Atlantic, having come to study the organisation of the English force. Jackson meets this very clear sighted officer on his arrival; hoodwinks him so cleverly that he allows himself to be kidnapped; and while the Yankee is kept in temporary durance by the villain's confederates, our daring hero simply dons his clothes, makes up his face to imitate Brother Jonathan's, puts Wild's credentials in his pocket, and boldly sets out for the head office of the metropolitan police. Needless to say he is received there with profound respect, and immediately ushered into the presence of the Chief Commissioner, whom the authors have knighted. Sir Stevens welcomes his American colleague with more than necessary British stiffness, it seems to me, and the pair scrutinise each other silently for a full minute. After this awkward pause, the pretended Peters Wild coughs loudly - to keep up his courage, most probably - then plunges into the object of his visit, compliments Sir Stevens in the admirable organisation of his department, and requests the fullest details possible as to his system of information. Having shrugged his shoulders modestly, and bowed his acknowledgements in a singular British fashion, the Chief Commissioner suddenly thaws. "Times is money," he says (he pronounces timms), "and neither of us has any to lose. I have no secret to keep from you; my method is very simple; it is founded on the clever French adage, 'Cherchez la femme,' and never fails. The malefactors of London being all at the mercy of their female associates, I suborn the latter, and they tell me everything I wish to know. Some of those women are waiting to be interrogated. So let us call them in, and you will see how admirably my plan works." A couple of those petticoated spies enter, are briefly questioned by Sir Stevens, reveal nothing of any importance, and Jackson ascertains that his comrades had all been betrayed in this way. He, therefore, vows vengeance against all womankind in general, and, without taking leave of the communicative commissioner, skedaddles from the metropolitan police office to start on his career of retaliation. Scarcely has he left when Peters Wild appears, and Sir Stevens discovers that he has been imposed upon, a revelation that sends him into a towering rage. His passion has not subsided when he receives news of Jack the Ripper's doings; he has murdered a woman, and sends a little note to Sir Stevens thanking him for the information he had given him and promising to keep the police busy for some time to come. Such is the explanation vouchsafed by MM. Marot and Pericaud of the motives which prompted the Whitechapel crimes. The other incidents in their bloodstained drama are, as I have said, in the ordinary vein of such pieces, and scarcely call for recital. They are singularly complicated into the bargain, Jack's atrocities being mixed up with a heartrending story of the abduction of a girl of good family from her parents - a crime in which the hero has an interest, for its victim has become his mistress. During his visit to Sir Stevens he has obtained some enlightenment on the subject, for the police are endeavouring to trace the poor girl's whereabouts, but the final act must be reached before this second mystery can be cleared up. Suffice it to say that a horrible drunken harpy called Blackhorn, whose baby son had been kidnapped, revenges herself by stealing the infant daughter of Sir James Plack, a distinguished baronet who bears a striking resemblance to Aminadab Sleek in manners and costume. Poor Ketty grows up among thieves, and falls deeply in love with Jackson, who gives her to understand that he is an Irish patriot (!) hunted by the police. To rescue this poor girl from Mrs Blackhorn, who maltreats her abominably, he takes her under his protection, and she is known to his gang as the "Little Virgin" on account of her sweet disposition and innocent appearance. Mrs Blackhorn continues to follow up both Ketty and Jack, without ever suspecting that the latter is her long lost son. When she at last discovers the truth it is too late; she has betrayed him to Sir Stevens. We first make Ketty's acquaintance, and that of Jack's gang, in a low public house, the "hangman's tavern," where that functionary delivers a jocose lecture on his art, giving his hearers information which may be useful to them regarding the best manner of comforting themselves when they are ultimately "turned off." His speech is warmly applauded, and he stands glasses round with generous condescension. On his departure Jack appears, informs his 'pals' as to the treachery of their female acquaintances, and immediately afterwards settles the account of a girl who boasts that she had sent her lover to the gallows. Her murder is not committed on the stage, but her dead body is duly paraded. I may as well state here that during the five acts the Ripper's victims amount to eight, three of them being executed coram populo. We are spared any semblance of mutilation, however, and Jack merely cuts their throats, if deference, most probably, to the behests of the censorship. One day Ketty, who had never suspected her lover's infamy, is at her window when he murders a woman beneath it, and she overhears him call out, "Go tell Stevens that this is Jack the Ripper's revenge." The poor girl runs away from the house, wanders through the streets, and, by a coincidence that is as inexplicable as most of the incidents of this drama, enters her father's house, where she is tenderly nursed by her sister, although her family are not yet aware that they have discovered their lost treasure. A newsboy crying out "Another murder by Jack the Ripper" removes all doubt from her mind, and she goes out of her senses. She does not denounce the wretch, however, until, her own identity being established, her filial love - which invariably has the upper hand at the Chateau d'Eau - overcomes her scruples. Jack is trapped, surrounded, and, after a desperate struggle, is shot down like a dog. In a dying speech he declares that other Jacks will arise to avenge him, and carry on the war against society, a "sentiment" which brings down the curtain amid loud applause.
There is no lack of incident in this murderous play, but it lacks cohesion, and its only originality lies in its title. The interpretation of two or three roles is tolerably good, M. Dalmy, who has had a long experience in the personification of melodramatic traitors, being quite equal to Jack's villainy; while Madame Dugueret throws great energy into a part which bears a strong family likeness to that of La Sachette, in Notre Dame de Paris. M. Rablet also displays much cleverness in a comic role, that of a London street Arab, who is one of the best sketched figures of MM. Marot and Pericaud's too crowded canvas.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Hi Chris.

This play was mentioned in other newspapers at the time. Here's a short blurb from an American paper:

The Decatur Daily Despatch
22 September, 1889.

STAGE GOSSIP.

Jack the Ripper has been put on the stage in France. It is called there “Jack the Disemboweler,” and is being played at the Chateau Eau theatre to packed houses.

Here's another from London:

The London Observer
Saturday, August 17, 1889.
The Whitechapel Murderer on the Stage.
Jack the Ripper will be able to do what no other assassin has been in a position before him to achieve. Having still complete liberty of action, he can, if it please him, go and behold himself as the hero of a drama. Messrs. Xavier Bertrand and Louis Clairan have written a play entitled “Jack l'Eventreur,” in which the Whitechapel fiend is the principal character; and this piece is to be produced in a day or two at the Chateau d'Eau Theatre in Paris. The legendary Jack will assuredly be wanting in ordinary human curiosity if he fails to avail himself of one of the numerous cheap trips to the French capital, in order to see for himself what a couple of ingenious French playwrights, well versed in the physiology of crime and criminals, have made for him. Seeing what French writers habitually do when they touch English subjects, some of the characters and incidents in “Jack l'Eventreur” will doubtless be very amusing to such English tourists as may happen to stroll into the Chateau d'Eau Theatre to see the play. East London will of a certainty be vested with attributes of a new and startling sort. Quite recently there appeared a serious article in the Gaulois in which Whitechapel was spoken of as the locality where Charles Dickens lived and died. When “able editors” thus err, what is to be expected from playwrights, who at least may claim the poet’s privilege of license?

Most theatre's would kill for this type of exposure today.

Wolf.

[Captain Hook]

New York Times

Greetings from New York!

The local newspaper, the New York Times, ran the following paragraph under Notes of the Stage on 8 September 1889:

“Jack l’Eventreur,” “drame en cinq actes et sept tableaux de MM. Xavier Bertrand et Louis Clairian”, has been produced at the Château d’Eau in Paris. “Jack the Ripper” is not mentioned among the persons of the drama, who include James Plack, Jackson, Sir Stevens, Robinson Brown, La Blackhorn, Ketty, Ellen, L’Irlandaise, and Mary Clarkweek.

Cheers
Hook

[Sam Flynn]

Chris had a sneak preview of this...

The play also gets a brief mention in the NYT of 8th September 1889:



Interestingly, this section of the paper ("Notes of the Stage") starts off with reference to none other than our very good friend Richard Mansfield's production of Richard III...



...and goes on to give two separate mentions....



...to Tumblety's very, very good friend, Hall Caine:



Amazing to find three people with Ripperological connections (four, if "The Deemster" was one Frederick Bailey's nickname ) in an article totally unconnected with the Ripper case!

[Sam Flynn]

The local newspaper, the New York Times, ran the following paragraph under Notes of the Stage on 8 September 1889

Another coincidence! Our posts crossed, Hook, but thanks for yours anyway

[Sam Flynn]

I'm very surprised...

...that hasn't been revived, Chris! What a pot-boiler!

In case anyone wants to stage this, they might like to know that the script is apparently being re-published by the "Black Coat Press in 2010. Be warned, however - judging by Chris's transcript of the review, you'll either need to impose some severe edits, or get enough of a budget to cater for a cast that would put Berlioz' The Trojans to shame.



(From the same column as the foregoing.)

[spryder]

I put together a very rough English translation of this play some 6-7 years back, but never got around to cleaning it up for publication. Its still in handwritten format in some dusty notebook around here. Its not a very good play, but it has a few chuckle-worthy moments.

I can scan the original French version if anyone's interested.

[Captain Hook]

English Version of Jack l'Eventreur

Hello Sam, Stephen,

Stephen, I'd love to see the French version of the play, but I'm afraid it's too late for a translation into English. JACK THE RIPPER - stage play by Gaston Marot & Louis Pericaud adapted by Frank J. Morlock - cover by TBA, is awaiting publication at Black Coat Press of California. You'll know more about it when I do. If I'm not mistaken, the name of the publishing company is derived from "Les Habits noirs", a long and tortuous series by French thriller-writer Paul Feval.

Cheers
Hook

[Captain Hook]

Hello Sam,

Crossing posts again! These kids are fast as lightning! We are even.

Cheers
Hook

[spryder]

I forgot I'd started transcribing my translation into digital format, just found this file on an old hard-drive. Here goes for anyone who's interested:

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/jackleventreur.html

[Sam Flynn]

I forgot I'd started transcribing my translation into digital format, just found this file on an old hard-drive. Here goes for anyone who's interested:

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media...eventreur.html

I think I've changed my mind about the authorship of the Diary, Spry. Take my advice - the smart money's on Bertrand and Clairian...