The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-02-09

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,Ls IN GEORGE coHAN,s L1rTLE J
/ types of unusual interest in 9TH
County Chairman" The chairman him
self, Jim, Hacker. is Il forceful an,
audience by his dominant spirit
!, There is the miserly Judge Rigby, tn
promising young lawyer Tillfor'
Wheeler Wheeler and ,i the great comedy char
stone. the eolored politician, who has ,
strong dislike for anything that is II
the nature, OF work. Sassafras, upol
the arrival at his home of little
names the pickaninny for each of the
candidates, for. prosecuting attorney
an honor which he thinks will be re-
4 cognized by some financial return. His
amusing. Clint G.. Ford is cast in this
I role. and is said to play it well. The
/ play would not be complete without
the old settler who has told so many
them himself, nor should one forget
the grocery store politician, whose
harangue is heard from morning until
| night, and who pictures the country
who is too busy talking politics. to
split the kindlinG for his overworked
wife.
| OF course, there is love story and
ie,es Lucy ov the ,t daughter of
lawyer. Tuiford Wheeler. Rigby and
| Wheeler are the rival candidates in
the race for the office of prosecuting
attorney. Jim Hacker has grudge
of long standing against Rigby.
and as county chairman, he is using
all of his influence to secure the cleo
ton of his enemy's opponent. Wheel
er. between his love for Lucy and his
political fight with her father, is placed
in rather an embarrassing position. but
| Hacker in his forceful way, will not
hear of his sacrificing his chance for
| the office. tE.
A climax is reached in heated de-
bate, when Rigby denounces his young
rival and the latter. losing control of
his temper. makes reply much after
| the same manner In the last act
| Wheeler wins the fight, aud is elected.
| That he also wins the girl goes with
out saying.
| William Chatterton is cast as Jim
HaclSler. and is said to give a most
convincing portrayal of the role An
evenly balanced company is promised
for tho production.
He Was Too Ugly.
The actor who played sam Johnson
(neyer mind his nance In The Fast
crner' is going to lose his job. II he
has not already done so. because he
does not come up to the specifications
which George Broadhurst thinks are
necessary in order to make an audi
in love with a man. Sam Johnson, 1t
will be remembered, Is the man who
marries the wronged woman, and who
gets killed off in the first act. The
actor who played the role was GER
tainly not good looking. He was large
of frame, with an awkward gait, and
a countenance that beamed with good
nature until he set his heavy jaw. as
he does when he hears his wife's story,
and strides off the stage. He was I'M
certain ruggedness about him and
lack of artifce that one does not often
find upon the stage. In other words.
he did not suggest the acton but
quite refreshing sight, and would
seem an Illusion much TO be desired
upon the stage The actor-like man is
the conventional thing. One becomes
just little tired of him, and longs for
the sight of man who Will give the
into the scene from some real walk in
every day life. instead of from the
theatre dressing room, where he has
gone through the usual process of
an actor makes the picture life-like.
He seems to live and breathe, and gives
a color to the scene which cannot be
Impaired by the everyday, common
place. smooth faced, regular featured,
hve-feet-ten, 160-pound man. who puts
a coat OF grease paint on his face and
walks into the part as precise and as
faultless as the dummy in the haber-
dasher's window.
Mr.. Broadhurst. who wrote "The
IASternpr' and who N n 1itIlc Z.
more mclodrama than was necessary,
perhaps, objected to the actor who
WAS cast as sam johnson because he
did not suggest the type Of man with
whom grl would fall in love. His
tory would rather Indicate that girls
fan in love with almost any sort OF
man, there being no general rule gov
ernlns a Woman's fancy which Is gem
capricious things in the world In the
case of THE FASTENER" however, 1T
would seem that the author had every
excuse for allowing the girl in question
to fall In love with n man who did
not belong to the tyne which is sup
posed TO be the accountable one to wo-
for this particular girl had
already had love affair with man
who met every requirement as to APP
pearnnce and manner, ana 1T had been
Il failure, and therefore, she was In n |
position 10 know that many n bad |
egg looks good from the outside.
The Standard Drnmn.
Bronson Howard, speaking at the |
Playgoers club, In New York |
asst week, said there was no such |
hing as the standard drama of our
,wn day. There ~ not much left of
The, drama if you take away the his.
,,orictl drama that led up 10 It.. George |
Adc never wrote n play that was less |
ilsnihed than. anything Aristotle eyer
wrote and Aristotle never wrote play |
more diEnIlcd than anything Weber
inu tlelds ever produced,
he English drama IL the greatest |
mat ever existed next to the Greek. |
indorstand tho standard drama to mean
ne historical drama, and the play
Spers of New York do not understand
mar historical drama England ana
a'neriGa are the only natIons that have
Iwn language"
Mt Howard Thought the newspaper
rl'lcs showed Il lack of Knowledge or
ne drama He said they take exrep-
'o!'s TO comic Interpretations inlserious
llhys' claiming such Interpretations to
20 without precedent lie then cited
IN instance In one Of C'ongroyc's great
n.JI Dti