Omaha daily bee., 1906-10-07
Gossip About Plays Players and PlayhOuSes

fTs GEORGE NJ CONAN a genius?
Id8l This young man, whp SIX years
kAAl ago was a song-and-dance man.
EoGNaOI deinR the vaudeville circuit and
49, appearing on an sorts Of stages.
Is Just now the most successful OF American
producing managers. as well as being an
Immensely popular success in q line Of work
that is far ahead of what he ever seemed
capable Of. Ne one will be rash enough
TO claim that he has achieved anything
permanent. uniess II be his bank account
But in these degenerate days a bank roll
n one measure Of SUCCESS, and the man
no does get rioh quick and does It with
! q semblance Of honesty IL the one who is
looked UP to. Conan has gotten rich, and
he has dene II in a way that puts him be-
| yond any question as to his methods. Once,
Nome two seasons since, It was. cited as a
remarkable evidence Of his popularity that
Clyde Fitch had six plays running in New
York at one time. This is a remarkable
tribute to the popularity OF one man. but
when the fact that at least three OF the six
plays we're failures, some doubt as TO man
agerial persplcuity arises. At present
George NJ. Conan is the storm center Of
four OF the biggest financial successes ever
sent out. and six companies are presenting
the capacity OF whatever theater they hap
pen to be housed in. Little Johnny Jones'"
"FortyF1v Minutes from Broadway"
George Washington. Jr," and Popular
ity'' have been produced in order named
and within three years. and each one has
won from the first. The first two are be-
ing played this season by two companies
Mr.. Cohan is leading the company in
George Washington, Jr.." a fact that
argues for his sanity
No presense to prosundity or effort at
ethical discourse mars the Cohan output
1t is admittedly to laugh when he writes
or collates for stage uses. His taste may
be confined TO a narrow range, but his
judgment in selecting material is good,
ana his sense Of what will prove popular
is so unerring that It might almost be
called inspiration. He has been criticised
belabored, almost denounced. "Egotlst"
is a mild eplthet for his detractors. but he
has succeeded. and he points to his vogue
4 as his justification. His frankness is his
gahiefest charm. and his courage his
greatest recommendation. He has had the
business judgment to take hold of an idea
at the right time and the courage to do
what many others might have thought of,
but hesltated to put into action. II
genius is q capacity for hard work. as has
been said, and for taking pains, then
George Cohan is genius, for he has
worked harder than any one on his pay
roll, and It is q big ona He has not only
prepared his plays for the stage, writing
dialogue, songs and music, devising the
stage business ana the situations, but he
has attended personally to the painting of
the scenery. the manufacture of the set
pieces, and the arrangement Of every do
"a - -.
its presentation. has rehearsed the COM
panies and directed the orchestras until
he has MADE each all but perfect. And
the SUCCESS Of the cehan plays depends on
attention to detail. His characters are not
broadly outlined, but are carefully drawn.
None of them deserve to be listed among
the immortals. but in each OF his plays,
30 far. one or tive percentages stand cut
sAstrong as being drawn very close to ma
tiire. They all como from the humber
walks Of life. but they are all good like
nesses. and intensely human. And II is all
enjoyable. Cohan's genius may be Of the
svanescent serti II is hardly to be desired
otherwise. but one thing Is certain, and
that is when his day has passed he will
not be IN q position where he can be
chided for falling to, get in his hay while
yet the sun was high in the heavens. And
the viriie acidity Of his wit viii be re-
membered for long time. at that.
Another sort Of genius is that Of lincoln
.. Carter. In only one material regard
does It resemble the Cohan quality, and
that is in its thrift. Carter is a money
maker. too. Here they diverge. One APP
peals TO the intellectual. the other to the
material senses. True, no effort IL made
by Cohan to stir a deep emotion. or to
arouse a subtle train OF reasoning thought,
but he doesn't depend entirely on mechanics
for his effects. Carter bases his claim to
success solely on the adaptation of saw
!, mills. tornados, shipwrecks. automobile
races and the like to stage use. He gave
as blue Jeans" in which sawmill was
operated in full view OF the audience, SO
realistic and effectually that at one time
the hero actually lost arm because the
mill wasn't shut of in time. Then he gave
us ''The Fast Mall" with an interlocking
signal tower as>the scene of the chief ac-
ton of the play An so on. His hit last
season introduced a fire in one act vivid
representation Of yonng woman sinking
/ through the waters of Lake Michigan while
i A the assistant hero dived after and swan
back to the surface with her in another;
an automobile jumping the gap between
the uplifting ends of a bascule bridge and
nnally, tOIuduO eWcpI away the Olu
homo and discovered the hiding place OF
the papers, while the villain and his &C.
completes met a deserved death in the
storm. This season he has conquered a
new field and presents thrilling race be-
tween the Overland Limited and a chue
wagon. The villain Is on the train with
the Inevitable papers. and the heroine and
her brother make the run between two sta.
tions in an automobile, starting after anC
finishing ahead OF the train The contest
is watched over several miles of the course
by the people who pay to see rascality
punished and virtue rewarded. and th'
enthusiasm engendered by II excels ever
that aroused by the Ben Hur'' chario
race, Neil Burgess really made this seen,
possible, and from his little dinky Coli
Molasses horse race in THE County Fair
has grown all sorts of races. and he draws
a neat little royalty each week from tn,
various producers who are using his pat
eut. Carter doesn't care a continental
about art for arts sake. He will let any
SA6ne have fame II he can get the money
and as long as ne can turn out a thriller
with nice working machine In It eacl
season he Is reasonably sure OF a stead-