Dreyfus, Abraham:

By: Isidore Singer , Maurice Bloch

French journalist and dramatist; born at Paris June 21, 1847. His first literary efforts took the form of two poetic fantasies (1870). To these were added the following plays, mostly comedies: "Un Monsieur en Habit Noir" (1872), in one act and with only one personage, brought out at the Vaudeville; "Mariages Riches" (Vaudeville, 1876); "Chez Elle" (with Charles Narray, Vaudeville, 1877); "Un Crâne sous une Tempête" (Gaîté, 1878); "Pour Sauver une Jeune Femme du Monde," "La Victime," and "La Gifle" (Palais Royal, 1878-80); "Le Klephte" (Odéon, 1881); "L'Institution Sainte-Cathérine" (Odéon, 1881); "Battez Philidor" (Opéra Comique, 1882); and "Une Rupture" (Théâtre Français, 1885); "Les Amis" (Théâtre Antoine, 1898); "De 1 Heures à 3 Heures," a comedy.

Some of these pieces have been collected by the author in three volumes entitled "Jouons la Comédie" (1887), "Scènes de la Vie de Théâtre" (Paris, 1879), and "L'Incendie des Folies Plastiques" (1886). He has published two volumes of notes on the theatrical world, and other articles have appeared in "La Vie Parisienne," "Le XIX ^e Siècle," "L'Illustration," "Gil Blas," "Le Temps," and "Revue Littéraire et Politique." In this last journal, under the nom de plume "Monsieur Yosse," Dreyfus wrote a series of humorous reflections on the city and the theater. Mention may also be made of two lectures given by Dreyfus, one at Brussels—"Comment se Fait une Pièce de Théâtre," and the other before the Société des Etudes Juives—"Le Juif au Théâtre."

Dreyfus is a man of heart as well as of brains, as he has proved during the anti-Semitic agitations and in the celebrated Dreyfus case. He has not hesitated to use his pen in the service of his coreligionists, and his polemic waged in "L'Aurore" was marked by acuteness as well as by a frank expression of opinion; other articles by him on the Jewish question have appeared in the "Siècle" and "Le Soir."