After failing several entrance tests for higher-education schools and working as a draughtsman for a while, he went on to become a journalist.
[3] He went on to write humorous pieces for papers such as Gaulois, L'Écho de Paris and L'Illustration.
In 1878, in collaboration with L. Vonoven, he published a volume of short stories; the next year the two produced a one-act piece, Le Mari malgre lui, at the Théâtre Cluny.
[4] His novels, Qui perd gagne (1890), Faux Depart (1891), Année des d'aventures (1895), describe the struggles of three young men at the beginning of their career.
[4] The German film Leontine's Husbands, released in 1928 and starring Claire Rommer, Georg Alexander, Adele Sandrock and Truus van Aalten, was adapted from Capus' 1900 comedy Les Maris de Leontine.