The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-18
FOUR OCEANS AGAIN
LARGE AUDIENCE ENJOYED
 MUSICAL COMEDY.
New Piece, "Running for ofice," 1" Not So Clever as "The Gov ernor's Scnn-A Talent
 ed Family.

 of spontaneous approval which greeted the Four Cohans two years ago in their first appearance in Montgomery was ac- corded these remarkable entertainers at the Montgomery Theatre last night.
 There was. however. q difference, de- gree less in the enjoyment of the audl- ence. Not that that there was anything lacking in the even artistic work of the four stars. They formed the same con- stellation of briiiiancy that they did on their two previous appearances on the local stage. The man who would find fault with their work Is not to be pleased on this earth, and the one who finds no food for laughter. or inspiration to en- joyment in these gifted stage people Is a hopeless misanthrope, doomed to a rayless gloom of soul.
 It was their new piece Running For once" that was at fault. The faults were not deep as we'll or as wide as a church door. but stiii. they werc faults The firstiact had plethora of platitudes, an over supply of commonplaces. trite- ness of situations and expressions. The book here was distinguished by a lack of originality that boded i'll for the suc- cess of Running For once"
 But these embarrassing drawbacks were only temporary. As the evening wore on the race for office grew in inter- est and it's aspects became decidedly cieverer and more attractive. The sec ond act was unfavurably affected by a series of horsepiay situations. demand ing a number of foot races about the stage. One could not avoid the thought that artists of such fidelity needed no comedy of this sort
 Now this forms the debit side on the ledger. in the account of Running For ofIice. The entries on the credit side arc too numerous and too weighty for enum- eration. The performance of Running For Ofice," may in some particulars have been less meritorious than the clever scintiliating Governors Son. but q large audience spent one of the most enjoyable evenings of the thea trical season. Whatever the defects Of the piece and they certainly were not glaring. the Four Cohans are today more admired, more popular here tan they were yesterday.
 The piece, book and music. for 1t is a musical comedy. Is by George Conan, one of the four young persons forming .the Conan quartette. The things in the piece are done at Tigersville, a New Hampshire village. The principals are John Tiger. running for Mayor who has just married a widow. Tiger has daughter of whose existence he has not deemed it wise to to his wife. She has a son whose existence is also kept secret. These young persons played by George Conan and Josephine Conan have col- lege love affair. They turn up together during the race for Mayor and while the older persons are on their honeymoon.
 At the same time a college foot ball game is on and there is a show at the village "opera house." There was fine for noise in the first act. The opportunity was not lost.
 Clever lines were sprinlkled through the play and some of the music was bright and catchy.
 But it was the Cohans who made tle evenings pleasure. Any old sort of piece would dc for them to delight an audi ence.
 The individuality of each one. the orig inallty of their work. the effectiveness of their comedy is nothing short of remark able. It has been said that there could be no true beauty without strangeness ef one feature. The epigram is equally val uable in describing the art of the stage. There can be no excellence of comedy without the strangeness of some feature. Each of the quartette of Cohans possess es some marked singularity of talents.
 George has hls marked individual traits, his nasal twang, little eccentr'c- lty which brightens fis humor and gives 1t a distinctly American flavor. Then iis gymnastic dances are features of every of the Cohans, as well as his gyratlons in the more legitimate parts of his comedy. But over and above this he is a natural comedian, one who need not fear comparison with the best on the road or in town.
 And his sister Josephine is held by many to be one of the best, if not ihe best, dancer that disports upon the con temporary stage. Miss Cohan's dancing was the single disappointing feature of the performance. There was not enough of 1t, not near enough. Sine was unkihd enough to refuse to respond to more than four or five encores. The audience ap- plauded itself tired before accepting the inevitable. Mss Conan is slender wo- man, of nameless. indescrlbable grace. Her interpretation of the poetry of mo- ion stirred her audience to high pitch of enthusiasm.
 The older Cohans, Jerry. J.. and Helen. are ir their field of endeavor equally ad- nirable. Their work is more in the line 1f legitimate comedy. The old man play ed hy Jerry J. Conan stands out cleAl- cut and distinct. His characterization Is marked by dcllcaey. repression and sub tlety.
 The matron of Helen Conan is fne enough and clear enough for any com pany.
 John Keefe did clever bit in the char