CHAPTER VII
THE TRENTE ANS DE THÉÂTRE AND POPULAR GALAS
The Œuvre des Trente ans de Théâtre claim to have erected such a cathedral, overnight, out of the chaotic ruins of the past.
In this movement we must distinguish the charitable from the purely artistic aims. "It was originally founded to supply emergency funds not only to needy authors and actors, both of whom have their own societies, but to anyone connected with the theater: authors, actors, critics, mechanics, scene-painters, and the like, any one of whom, after thirty years' work and struggle, might apply for assistance. Likewise those incapacitated for work by a death in the family, or illness."[1] Nothing could be more praiseworthy, and it is only surprising that the Parisians were so slow in offering assistance to those who had amused them for a lifetime. M. Adrien Bernheim deserves great credit for having instituted such a movement and devoted all his energies to make it a success. The man who does things, even though he be mistaken, is always better than he who only talks, no matter how well he does it.
- ↑ Adrien Bernheim, in Trente ans de Théâtre (1903).
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