Firmin Gémier

[1]:88 After leaving school, he studied in a chemist's laboratory, but 'was discharged' for mimicking his employer.

[1]:88 He performed more than 300 roles as an actor, in styles that ranged from Naturalism to Symbolism to more populist work.

[1]:91 The theatre used eight steam-engine tractors that pulled a caravan of thirty-seven trailers that carried the sets, costumes, lighting equipment, electric generator, seating for 1650 people, portable stage proscenium arch, and the double walled tent–supported by five seventeen-meter steel towers–that housed the stage and auditorium.

[1]:91 In 1920 he was made the director of the newly created, and government funded, Théâtre National Populaire.

[8]:4 It stopped functioning in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II, but has been cited as a predecessor to UNESCO's International Theatre Institute.