The San Francisco call., 1904-11-08
THE County Chair
man." By Georgia.
d Success.
Combines Fun and Pa
thOS With Clever
Satire.

dence last night. He had seen The
County Chairman" in New York. Liked
it. Hoped fearfully that the company
that brought it to the Columbia was as
good as the one he saw, still playing in
the East. Thought it was. as the even
ing went on. In fact, modestly crow
ing-evidently as the recommender of
the comedy-he thought the company
might be even a little better than the
other.
That is not usually the person-who-
has-seen-it-in-New York's story. 1t
Will be found true. however, of most Of
the productions Henry Savage sends
out here; and it is Mr.. Savage who in
troduced The County Chairman to US
last night Better cast one could hard
ly picture for the piece, nor-for the
mOment-better piece for the cast.
It is the first George Ade effort to
be seen here-and the best possible
drummer for the next. The com
edy-drama" is the first of anything
outside of the musical comedy genre
with which the humorist first burst
upon the theatrical public, and there
fore more lately representative of
o4AA6 4AaA4 AANGACStAli6 4lS III Ia Tic
American drama. Nor was it only
George Ade's and Mr.. Savage's FLU
neraI'-as Jim Hacker says-last
night. The performance was given in
aid of the Girls Club, and there was
not single uncitizened seat in the
house 10 shame the fair Iasses that
held you UP for 25-cent programmes.
1t was worth every cent Of it.
Inevitably Mr.. Ade will be compared
with Charles Hoyt He refuses, l be-
lieve. the mantle of the dead humorist,
with which some have invested him.
But he has the same keen eye for a
type, the same lively sense of the ridic-
ulOus, the same shrewd nose for the
current absurdity. Yet it is a humor
more genial. more human, deeper
planted. Horseplay is a little in evil
dence-it is less horse, more play-the
fun springing naturally from the clash
of his characters. Politics. county poll
tics. the playwright has made his
theme, the art interest-as Teddy Webb
says-deftly interviewer Herewith.
Not at all new is the human or other
furniture of the piece-there's pump,
a general merchandise store, the fresh
drummer that whistles himself in from
New York. the train the town turns out
TO meet, the lazy stump-speaker with
the shrewish wife, the village miser and
all the other first aids to the tooraI
rural drama But these Mr.. Ade has
vitalized and strung together into most
persuasive story, punctured with much
laughter and a tear or two, of which
none need feel ashamed.
The politics must be quite persuasive.
The campaigners who had turned in
last night laughed grunted and SYM
pathized in every possible key. Jim
Hacker, the county chairman" said
most Of the things that amused them.
They amused every one. Why
shouldn't they? Jim-he's Jim to
every one-says TO his man, who OBJ
jects TO his method Of electioneering,
What have you TO do with it? You're
only the candidate. Your place is to
lay low and follow instructions"
He describes the nomination meet
ing: We agreed upon a harmony pro-
gramme-and then started in to fight"
He tells his man: You can't stick
to boxing gloves when your opponents
fighting with meat ak"
Again: The last week of a cam
paigns no time for bird shot. You've
got 10 get out the artillery"
And so on, the comedy bristles with
dialectic wit and sense. Greatly the
Hacker part gains by being in the
capable hands of Theodore Roberts,
who is simply presented with the
rest of the company by Mr.. Savage.
But Mr.. Roberts needs no large type
here. His work, from the time when he
was Of the old Frawley company
stranded. now. alack, in South Africa
has been favored of his San Fran
cisco brethren. Well with the best of
it stands his portrait of the shrewd,
kindly country politician. He gives
most ably the genial goodness of the
man, his capable scampishness in poll
tics, and when Hacker tells the man
he has been bounding for twenty years
the reason for his pursuit Mr. Roberts
rises TO a high level of power. All
of those with him of their kind are
equally convincing.
George Thatcher-once of the IA
nous Thatcher. West and Primrose
Minstrels-does a lazy negro, who
doesn't know what's the use of be-
ing free If you has 10 work hard all
IQe LlUl6s III rare ldsulOu. WlllldIn
Lamp, once the beauty man" at the
Alcazar, returns as a full-hedged
leading man OF ample conviction, CIV
ing a virile and sympathetic study of
Tilford Wheeler. the candidate. JEFF
ferson Briscoe, the store-box ora
tor, is capitally assumed by James
Bradbury, his shrewish lady as clev-
erly by Florence Gerald
The women are just as good as the
men. Most charming is Florence
Smythe as Lucy Rigby, the heroine;
Grace Romine excellent as Mrs. Rigby
and Florida Kingsley deserves a half
column or so for her stunning bit as
the orphan girl Chic" Elzey. The
whole production, in fact, suggests
the best kind Of stock work, which Is
the best to be had, and you can, on no
count. afford to miss The County
Chairman"