other light entertainments. Théâtre des Beaujolais As early as 1753 a puppet theatre was erected in the northwest corner of the gardens of the Palais-Royal to entertain the children of its owner, the Duke of Orléans. In 1780, desiring to live more privately with his new wife, Madame de Montesson, whom he had secretly married because she was a commoner, he transferred ownership of the palace to his son, Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans (at that time the Duke of Chartres). The latter, wishing to add to his income, decided to enclose the gardens north of the palace on three sides with 6-storey apartment buildings having colonnades on the interior garden side for shops, restaurants, and places of entertainment. Realizing that the theatre would likely enhance the value of his property and the rents he could charge by increasing the number of visitors, Chartres decided to enlarge it and make it more permanent. The architect he chose to design the new apartment buildings was Victor Louis, who was famous for having designed the Théâtre de Bordeaux. Construction began in 1781, and the new garden complex was opened to the public in 1784. The new puppet theatre gave its inaugural performance on 23 October and soon became popularly known as the Théâtre des Beaujolais, since this was the name usually given to sons of the House of Orléans before they became adults. More officially it was known as the Théatre des Petits Comédiens de Son Altesse Sérénissime Monseigneur le Comte de Beaujolais, the Count of Beaujolais being the duke's youngest son. The director of the theatre was Jean-Nicolas Gardeur, and, as puppet plays were falling out of fashion as adult entertainment, he soon realized he would need to modify the nature of his presentations. His license, however, did not allow his actors to speak on stage. To get around these problems, he used a strategy which in part resembled one previously employed by Audinot at Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique: he replaced the puppets with children. Gardeur's innovation was having the child actors silently mouth words spoken or sung by adult actors, who quietly moved in felt slippers behind the scene. As an English tourist of 1788 later reported: "So perfect is this deception, that it has given rise to considerable wagers whether the voices did not actually proceed from persons on the stage." The theatre was later taken over by a director named