In the first part of his career he featured in operettas in Brussels and later in Paris, creating roles in works by Lecocq, Hervé and Offenbach, among others.
From 1884 he switched to the non-musical theatre, based at the Théâtre du Vaudeville, starring in comedies and farces.
In Brussels he was in three world premieres of operettas by Charles Lecocq: as Sir Jonathan Plupersonn in Les cent vierges (1872), Pomponnet in La fille de Madame Angot (1872) and Boléro d'Akarazar in Giroflé-Girofla (1874).
In those two theatres he created roles in many comic operas including Hérisson de Porc Epic in Chabrier's L'étoile (1877),[4] the Governor in Charles Grisart's Le Pont d'Avignon (1878),[5] the Marquis de rues in Hervé's La marquise des rues (1879),[6] Grippeminaud in Hervé's Panurge (1879),[7] Malicorne in Offenbach's Belle Lurette (1880),[8] Chateauminet in Lecocq's Janot (1881),[9] and Prince Cornikoff in Hervé's Le vertigo (1883).
He was seen there as Duplantin opposite Réjane in Edmond Gondinet's Clara Soleil,[11] and in the leading comic roles in La veuve de Damoclès (1886), Le conseil judiciaire (1886), Les surprises du divorce (1888), La sécurité des familles (1888) and Feu Toupinel (1890).