The Temperamental Journey, originally titled Such Is Life, is a 1913 play by Leo Ditrichstein, adapted from Pour Vivre Heureux by André Rivoire and Yves Mirande.

The story concerns an unhappy artist who fails to commit suicide but is assumed to have really died, and finds the commercial success in "death" that escaped him in life.

The play was produced by David Belasco, staged by Ditrichstein who also starred, with Isabel Irving, Josephine Victor, Richie Ling, and Cora Witherspoon in support.

It had a tryout in San Francisco under its original name in June 1913, and another in Rochester, New York in late August 1913, before it's Broadway premiere in September 1913.

Lead Supporting Featured Bit Players The play was never published; this synopsis is compiled from contemporaneous newspaper and magazine reviews.

Depressed, with evening dark approaching, Jacques wanders down to the pier where he leaves his hat and coat, the latter with a suicide note in it.

Wearing a disguise and calling himself "M. Lenoire", an art collector, Jacques has brought thirty original Dupont canvases to America.

The practical Fanny and calm Billy broker a peace agreement: Jacques and Delphine will get a quiet divorce, he will give her some money, then he and Maria will marry and return to France.

(Curtain) Pour Vivre Heureux by André Rivoire and Yves Mirande had its premiere at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris, on January 16, 1912.

Because the original tryout for The Temperamental Journey was done in California under the title Such Is Life, New York newspaper theatrical departments weren't aware of it.

Ditrichstein produced and staged Such Is Life with the permission and financial backing of David Belasco, who owned the American rights to Pour Vivre Heureux.

Ditrichstein used four performers of his own company for the play: Isabel Irving, Cora Witherspoon, Madge West, and Anne Livingston.

[9] Following the San Francisco tryout, the production went on hiatus until August, when it started rehearsals at the Belasco Theatre, with many new cast members.

The play was generously received by the audience, while the local critic complimented Ditrichstein, Isabel Irving, Richie Ling, Josephine Victor, Cora Witherspoon, and Frank Conner for their performances.

[fn 3] The judgement of The New York Times reviewer was that aside from the idea of an artist faking their death, there was little in common between Arnold Bennett's The Great Adventure and The Temperamental Journey.

[13] The reviewer for The Brooklyn Daily Eagle acknowledged the novelty of the main situation, but said the play "is thin, superficial and utterly unreal".

[14] The New-York Tribune critic was positive about the play: "a thoroughly amusing comedy, ingenuously invented, well constructed, soundly and cleverly written, well acted and mounted".

[24] As time passed, Ditrichstein's condition was found to be more serious than thought, leading Belasco to cancel the tour and close the production.