The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-29
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..The Countx Chalrman. !"

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 ''The County Chairman"
 The play was The County Chairman" There was no doubt of its worth. It's merit was as firmly fixed as the gold standard
 But the company. What of the company! That was the question the large auoience at the Montgomery Theatre was anxious to see answered last night. when the curtain rose on George Ade,s splendid comedy. The audience was not hurried in making up It's verdict. The first act was crammed with interest and filled with laughs. The sec ond act was decidedly amusing, and .t wound up in . furore of excitement. The audience all along showed the people on tho effort. But the audience was not applaud ing wildly. There might be some hitch. some emphatic weakness. before the thing was over.
 The final verdict came at the close of the third act. It was . prolonged and insistent demand for curtain calls and a speech from the Honorable Jim Hochler, the County Chairman. the sophisticated politician who had sunk the plumb line deep into the weaknesses of human nature. who knew how to fight the devil with fire. and yet whose heart was so generous that for the one love of his life. twenty years old. he could sink the revenge he had iabored for year after when 1t was in his grasp. r.
 The convincing proofs. written and ready 
 Elias Rigby were in his hand the Elias Rigby who twenty years before had cum ningly and successfully deprived him of the woman he loved and who loved him. Ho had staked his all that he might feed fat his ancient grudge. and yet when the wo- man he had loved and who the wife of Rigby begged him for her sake and for the sake of her daughter to withhold the everlasting disgrace. 'he took theF papers and slowly tore them to pieces.
 1t was the great climax to the play. the end of this third act. It had the deep interest aroused by human impulses and human motives. when they are seen working remoselessly to one end. It fired the maga- zine of enthusiasm and there was nothing else for the Honorable Jim Hochler to do but to make a speech after he had bowed to several curtain calls.
 And he did 1t neatly and feelingly. too did Theodore Roberts. who was playing the shrewd Indiana politician. He began by thanking the audience for the agreeable surprise 1t had given him and his asso- ciates and when he had finished he had made as neat stage speech as one would care to hear. '"
 Mir. Roberts made a big. masculine. viv'ie County Chairman. Force and masculinftv are after all the distinguishing character istics of the true politician. the man who sways other mems will to his own. Mir. Roberts found this out somewhere and made @ note of it. The lines MT. Roberts had to speak. clothed in plain and homely Eng fish, had yet within them the x-ray bril- Iancy with which George Ade has re- American life. Mir. Roberts spoke them naturally, effectively and convincingiy. Therefore, if for no other reason. he made good.
 It is a great comedy, a great Americas play that MT. Ade has constructed. His i'm. pulse in doing the work was nothing short of an inspiration. The thing that differ- entiates American life from every other sort of life Is politics. It runs it's way through life as the famous little red thread runs through every piece of rope, however small or however large used in the Brit ish navy.
 In some countries politics is a recreation. In others is privilege that belongs to some class. In other countries politics is a side issue. subordinate interest, ,.-s
 In America politics is national. It is q fire in which everybody has a finger Heat could be divorced from the sun. cold could be divorced from Ice, as easily politics could be divorced from the American citi- zen. The free-born American citizen and his politics are like webster's definition Of the union. ''one and indissoIuble. now and forever" ..
 The element of love is the element of in- terest of all climes and all countries. It is the thing to which all classes of all coun- tries give quickest heed and attention.
 And Mir. Ade brilliant writer that he is in weaving his American play made warp of politics and wool of love. A skilled work man, he interwove and blended them in a harmonious whole that will not rip, ravel or frazzle. but which will endure through the years to come.
 The types he presents are so natural, so common, familiar. Why, 1t must have been easy thing for him to pick up the people he knew and everybody else knew and put them into a play. They so familiar they speak their allotted time upon the stage that one felt that he had gone back to the old home and was look ing through the family album marking the old. time-worn tintypes and daguerrotypes
 The presentation of these types. that Of the shiftiess. worthless but good -natured negro was given to the veteran minstrel. George Thatcher. It could hardly have fal- len into better hands. It could be truthfully said that Mir. Thatcher the lazy sassafras Livingston won more laughs than anybody in the cast.
 That was a splendid piece of character work that Miss Wiliams did the fiirta- tious milliner who met so many travelling gentlemen" and who married the wind mill drummer because she had always wanted to take a trip to Chicago. Miss williams' work was good through and through and the audience felt very kindly towards her.
 Miss smythe was SO pretty and 50 wo- manly as Lucy Rigby that Trford Wheeler was quite justified in falling in love with her even if she was the daughter of his opponent.
 Two character bits as clear cut as cameos were contributed by James H. Bradbury as Briscoe. the store-box orator. and Charles Burke as the old settler.
 Tilford Wheeler was played in a manly way by William Lamp and Elias Rigby was done well and creditably by R. J. Dillon.
 The performance was witnessed by packed house.
 ''On Thanksgiving Day."
 The Interesting rural drama, "On Thanks giving Day." at the Bijou Theatre contin- to give satisfaction.
 A large audience enjoyed the matinee performance yesterday afternoon and gave frequent manifestations of its approval. An appreciative audience was present last night.
 The leading woman Miss Lee; the leading man. Mir. Abbott: the comedians, Messrs. Corners, Cumberland and Willard. and the juvenile. Miss Gibbs. increased their popu- larity in Montgomery by their intelligent painstaking work.
 The songs of Mir. Corners, Mir. Willard and Miss Gibbs again pleased
 The company wilt give It's last per formance of "on Thanksgiving Day. at the BiJou Theatre tonight