Feydeau, Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie

Feydeau, Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie (1862–1921), French dramatist, son of the novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau, and author of more than 60 farcical comedies. He had his first success with Tailleur pour dames (1887) and continued writing until his death, his last play, Cent million qui tombent, being produced posthumously. Among his more notable plays were Le Système Ribadier (1892), Le Dindon (1896), La Dame de Chez Maxim (1899), and some one-act farces, including Feu la mère de Madame (My Late Mother-in-Law, 1908); On purge bébé (Time for Baby's Medicine, 1910); Mais n'te promène pas toute nue! (For God's Sake, Get Dressed!, 1912); and Hortense a dit: J'm'en fous! (Hortense Couldn't Care Less, 1916). Feydeau was an outstanding writer of classic farce, whose reputation has been consolidated by productions of his plays at the Comédie-Française and elsewhere. Several of his masterpieces have been seen in London in translation, among them L'Hôtel du Libre Échange (1899) as Hotel Paradiso (1956), starring Alec Guinness; Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1908) as Look after Lulu (1959) by Noël Coward, with Anthony Quayle and Vivien Leigh; Une puce à l'oreille (1907) as A Flea in Her Ear (1965), Un fil à la patte (1908) as Cat among the Pigeons (1969), and The Lady from Maxim's (1977), all adapted by John Mortimer.