Edouard Jules Henri Pailleron, born in Paris, was educated for the bar, but after pleading a single case he entered the first dragoon regiment and served for two years. With the artist JA Beaucé he travelled for some time in northern Africa, and soon after his return to Paris in 1860 he produced a volume of satires, "Les Parasites", and a one-act piece, "Le Parasite", which was represented at the Odéon. He married in 1862 the daughter of François Buloz, thus obtaining a share in the proprietorship of the Revue des deux mondes. In 1869 he produced at the Gymnase theatre Les Faux ménages, a four act comedy depending for its interest on the pathetic devotion of the Magdalene of the story. "L'Etincelle" (1879), a brilliant one-act comedy, secured another success, and in 1881 with Le Monde où l'on s'amuse Pailleron produced one of the most strikingly successful pieces of the period. The play ridiculed contemporary academic society, and was filled with transparent allusions to well-known. people. None of his subsequent efforts achieved so great a success. Pailleron was elected to the French Academy in 1882.