SARDOU, VICTORIEN

born Sept. 5, 1831, Paris, Fr. died Nov. 8, 1908, Paris playwright who, with mile Augier and Alexandre Dumas fils, dominated the French stage in the late 19th century and is still remembered as a craftsman of bourgeois drama of a type belittled by George Bernard Shaw as Sardoodledom. His work Les Pattes de mouche (1860; A Scrap of Paper) is a model of the well-made play. He relied heavily on theatrical devices to create an illusion of life, and this largely accounts for his rapid decline in popularity. Madame Sans-Gne, his last success, is still performed. His initial successes he owed to the actress Virginie Djazet, and several of his 70 works were written for her; others were written for Sarah Bernhardt. In 1877 he was elected to the Acadmie Franaise.