Background
He was born in Dourdan, Essonne.
He was born in Dourdan, Essonne.
École Normale Supérieure.
After some years as schoolmaster, a job for which his temperament was ill-fitted, he entered journalism in 1858. He contributed to Le Figaro, L"Illustration, Le Gaulois, Le XIXe Siècle and other periodicals. But his main interest was dramatic criticism, of which he had his first experience in L"Opinion nationale in 1859.
In 1867 he began to contribute to Le Temps the "feuilleton" with which his name was associated till his death.
His position as dictator of dramatic criticism was unique. He had the secret of taking the public into his confidence, and his pronouncements upon new plays were accepted as final.
He was a masterly judge of acting and of stage effect. His views as to the drama itself were narrow and indifferent to artistic progress.
Between 1886 to 1893, the writer and humorist Alphonse Allais published a notorious series of newspaper columns under Sarcey"s name with titles such as "How I Became an Idiot." Sarcey published several miscellaneous works, of which the most interesting are Le Siège de Paris, an account compiled from his diary (1871), Comédiens et comédiennes (1878-1884), Souvenirs de jeunesse (1884) and Souvenirs d"âge mûr (1892.
Engineer transport, 1893). Quarante ans de théâtre (1900) is a selection (in 8 volumes) from his dramatic Feuilletons edited by Adolphe Brisson. He died in Paris.
Ligue de la Patrie Française.