The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-15
THE NEW ABE COMEDY.
Is Love Story Called The County
Chairman"

Few have suspected that George AIDE
could envelop himself so completely
in the mantle of sentiment as to write
a genuine love story. Heretofore love
has been a subject for Mr.. AIDE to shoot
at, and affairs of the heart have been
the foundation for much of the satire
that cropped out in his Fables In
Slang" Indeed, he has had a great
deal of quiet fun at the expense of low
ers. Hence it is rather interesting to
know that in his new comedy drama,
The County Chairman" which will re-
ceive its first production at the Stude-
baker theater, Chicago, on Monday
evening, August 81, he has for the first
time during his career as a writer
joined hands with Cupid and treated
love in the serious way that it affects
most people.
When Mr.. AIDE began writing 1.-The
County Chairman" he had two domi-
mating ideas in mind. One was that it
must in no sense be a zap" drama,
patterned after the numerous other
offerings of this character. The other
was that, in order to awaken the proper
amount of public interest and give it
sufficient carrying weight, the story
should contain a strong love plot, which
would predominant every other element
entering into its structure. Through
out the writing of the piece Mr.. AIDE
worked to these two opposite ends of
elimination and building up. The re-
suit is that he has created a well
moves interestingly throughout the plot
and he has been successful in evading
the stereotyped ruts of rural drama.
The author has woven a good many
political threads into his web of Sentl-
ment. and in this phase of his story
he was confronted with the dangerous
possibility of clashing issues with some
one of the existing political parties Of
the day. He has avoided this rather
ingeniously. and has so constructed his
piece that the hero may be claimed by
those of any political afiliation. Mr..
AIDE also has avoided locality. He has
created a town named Antioch. sup
posed to be located somewhere in the
Mississippi valley. and has made his
story typical of this general section of
country.
1t is in the contrasting of character
that Mr.. AIDE has put forth his keenest
effort in the building of 1.-The County
Chairman" He has assembled the
types common to every village in the
west, and from his knowledge of people
gives each an individual touch of re-
alism. The principal role, that of Jim
Hacker, the county chairman, presents
the shrewd. rough. manipulating coun-
try politician, who runs the county ma
chine. He is honest. hence poor, an
avowed optimist, and looks at the world
in a quantity humorous way His purse
is always open and his sympathies on
his coat sleeve. Contrasted with this
character we have the Elias Rigby
part. Judge Rigby has accumulated a
fortune. He is the village skinflnt,
collects his per cent. a month with a
greedy hand and Is hated with extreme
cOrdiality. So on down through his list
of characters Mr.. AIDE has endeavored
to show both sides of life by sharply
outlined contrast.
The underlying element of the story
is that "alls fair in love. war and poll
tics" 1t tells of a rural contest for
states attorney, in which a young man
is nominated without his knowledge
and is forced to make the race against
the father of the girl he has asked to
marry him.