en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bear_(play)
2 corrections found
Because he is a landowner, Smirnov explains that he needs the sum paid to him on that same day to pay for the mortgage of a house due the next day.
The play does not say Smirnov needs the money for a house mortgage. He says he needs it to pay interest due the next day on a loan from the Agrarian Bank.
Full reasoning
In the text of the play, Smirnov states the reason for his urgency directly: Popova's late husband left him notes for about 1,200 rubles, and Smirnov says he must pay interest the next day on a loan from the Agrarian Bank. That is different from a "mortgage of a house." This plot summary changes the financial detail given in the play.
1 source
- The Boor (Wikisource, 1915 English translation)
"Inasmuch as I have to pay the interest to-morrow on a loan from the Agrarian Bank, I should like to request ... that you pay me the money to-day."
Les Jurons de Cadillac was originally performed by the actor Nikolai Solovstov, whom Chekhov dedicates The Bear to and ultimately plays the role of Smirnov.
This sentence mixes up Solovtsov's connection to Chekhov's play with the French original. Berton's *Les Jurons de Cadillac* was created in Paris in 1865; Solovtsov is the actor associated with Chekhov's *The Bear* and the role of Smirnov.
Full reasoning
The record for Pierre Berton's Les jurons de Cadillac says the play's creation was at the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris on 23 April 1865. A separate source identifies Nikolai Nikolaevich Solovtsov as 1857–1902, which would make him about eight years old at that premiere. So he cannot be the actor who "originally performed" Berton's French play.
What the evidence does support is a different relationship: Solovtsov is the actor tied to Chekhov's play—Christie's description of the 1888 edition says Chekhov dedicated The Bear to Solovtsov and that he first played Smirnov. In other words, the article is conflating Solovtsov's role in The Bear with the original 1865 Paris staging of Les Jurons de Cadillac.
3 sources
- Pierre Berton. Les jurons de Cadillac : comédie en 1 acte. 1865, 1865 (Catalogue collectif de France / BnF)
"Création : Paris, Théâtre du Gymnase, 23 avril 1865".
- A Research Guide to Photographs in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives
"Solovtsov, Nikolai Nikolaevich, 1857–1902."
- CHEKHOV, Anton (1860-1904). Medved'. [The bear]. Moscow: Lithography of Rassokhina’s Theatre, 1888. | Christie's
"Chekhov dedicated the play to Nikolai Nikolaevich Solovtsov ... as well as the actor who first played the character Smirnov."