Comedia published yesterday an amusing scene from this new vaudeville which has the undeniable merit of being of the most immediate relevance.

While noting the happy impression made on an audience concerned above all with laughter, we may nevertheless be allowed to regret that Mr. Georges Rolle, who is not at his first attempt, and of whom we were able many times appreciate the dexterity, the qualities of invention and the knowledge of the theater, was not required by Mr. Gabriel Ténot for a work of a less elementary order, mainly in its construction, and that Mr. Gabriel Ténot, happy director, does not seek to give us now, in the gay department, a play more worthy of the old reputation of the Théâtre Cluny.

I do not intend to incriminate here the idea of ​​this Sospif at the Olympiades, go for Olympiades which is of good comic essence, nor its semblance of sentimental intrigue, which recalls that of Papillon, known as Lyonnais le Juste, but let it be -to go, a little big, of its development, the disjointedness of the first two acts, much inferior to the third, during which the piece decides, a little late, to be vaudevilleesque.

It seems that the authors have worked hastily on a barely sketched outline, deliberately enlarged, intended for a public whose refusal of any critical sense is flattered a little too much and which, be certain, would laugh just as much if the story which The story told to him consisted of scenes linked together by more solid threads, with a clearer appearance of logic,

Sospif is the diminutive of Sosthène... Sosthène is the waiter at the hotel of the "Conger Debout", whose boss, eager to earn a lot by spending little, puts him in every job. Sosthène is in turn a bartender, valet, bathroom attendant and dishwasher. A diver, he is doubly so, in the sense that he is not content with immersing dishes and glassware in the zinc tank, but possesses eminent nautical qualities in his own right. However, we are in the middle of the Olympic Games. The “Conger Standing” hotel is always full; screens, arranged haphazardly, serve as bedrooms.

Among the guests is the diving champion. Coronas, who is not without serious concerns to his manager, who chose him to represent the Republic of San Marino. Coronas. drinker, reveler and admired by women, abandons the obligatory training regime. You can therefore guess that he will be imprudent, will drink more than is reasonable, and that at the last moment, with the complicity of Sosthène, also in charge of his care, he will find it impossible to take part in the test. It is Sospif who will dive in his place and, as the swimming pool is supplied using an adductor pipe which passes under the hotel and which is fitted with a valve, he will come out and re-enter, giving the illusion of 'a formidable respiratory capacity. He will thus benefit from the glory of the winner of the test, will see all the women come to him who, disdaining Coronas from then on, will be asked to marry him and, rich, will only give his hand to the little maid Sophie, the only who, before, did not repel him, on the contrary. Coronas will inherit the various aprons and the boss's admonitions...

I repeat, this subject is worth another. It could have lent itself to an epic satire. We only wanted to make an unpretentious farce out of it. It abounds, moreover, in details, some of which are amusing, such as the invention of the aperitif served in a pacifier, rightly applauded... There are also some pleasantly typical characters.

Mr. Léo Rivière must, however, use all his personal prestige over the public, his constant laughter and the authority that this gives him to give the desired fantasy to the role of Sosthène. Mr. Charles Mahieu silhouettes with great happiness a Belgian, very cousin of Mr. Beulemans; Mr. Robert Bossis adapts with sufficient conviction, let us praise him, to the role of the drunk Coronas. Miss Marthe Lepers caricatures with joyful vehemence a southern miss, sporty and hysterical; Miss Andrée Cahuzac adapts nicely to the role of an eccentric American, undresses and dresses on stage without immodesty, and having once played the Eaglet, understandably takes on an English accent with difficulty.

In order to justify the star, also American, that the management gives him, Mr. Marcel Sablon does what he can in a supporting role. From Mlles Léone Chanet, Suzanne Larzac, Gina Berty, from MM. Paul Forget, Gervais Cotty, Georges Villaret, there is only good to say, as well as the direction by Mr. A. Maurel and the charming sets by Mr. Georges Rolle. The show ends with a session of shadows in relief, some very suggestive, which are very successful.

Armory.