58 FRANCE In the first issue of Les Quar'zlarts, readers can find two scatological notices, as well as a collection of short fables with a final pun called ‘Fables-Express, signed ‘LE MUR’ (‘THE WALL), a collective pseudonym that apparently needed no explanation. A curious and unique invention according to Le Figara,”” Le Mur was in fact the wall-journal (journal paroi’) of the Quat’Zarts cabaret, and more exactly the parodic performance of a newspaper, which undermined not only the content and the form of contemporary newspapers, but also the entire publishing business.* Le Murwas performed from 1894 to 1905, at first for four days a week, and then, from September 1895, everyday. Daily editors who occasionally signed with the name of their day or an equivalent pun—Vendredi Dubreuil’ for Friday or “sa me dit, 6 combien’ for Saturday—collected materials that artists prepared in advance or produced on the spot and pinned them randomly to a small panel covered with a red cloth on a wall of the cabaret. The editors, also called semainiers, were major contributors to Le Mur and Les Quat’zarts: Numa Blés, Hugues Delorme, René Dubreuil, Yon Lug, Charles Quinel, Gaston Sécot, and Edmond ‘Teulet. This hap- pening-like bulletin board enabled artists to present themselves and their views in a humorous, interactive manner and encouraged collective productions. ‘Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recovered at will, wrote