New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-10-12
THE DRAMA
NEW CONAN PIECE AT THE NEW YORK
Raymond Hitchcock as Himself in Il.

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Raymond Hitchcock on his entrance last night
received the longest and loudest applause that has
greeted any actor in New York this season II was
so long, so loud, enthusiastic that Mr. Hitch
cock must have felt foolish. He looked it, Had he
Deeh the greatest of comedians returning home
aI'er triumphant tour of the world his reception
could not have been heartier nor longer sustained
In the course of the evening there were loud calls
Tor speech, speech" OF course the star Welded
ana mace fairly foolish and carefully prepared
speech, which delighted the crowded house The
audience was in a mood TO be delighted with any
uHlhS Possibly because this was a Conan night
without George Conan. Yet that may not have
been the reason because audiences before this have
cheered even Cohan
Inc played is billed (why not programmed? p
as "Cohan's Latest Musical Play" 1t is called
Inc Man Who Owns Broadway" II is full of
laughs for those who like Cohanisn There is no
heed TO tell what Conan play is about. II you
take comic supplement and set it TO waltz time.
Warch time and rag time you have a Cohan
play Multitudes are enraptured by IT, AS the
schoolboy labelled his drawing. This Is a Cow"
IN order that IL might not be mistaken for an
earthquake. so the Cohan characters are labelled
10 prevent error. Thus George Burnham, viii
laln' Caroline Curtis, villaness" and so follow
ing.
Conan knows how. to Jingle and tinkle He has
put catchy airs into this piece, as into others.
ana catchy airs are what his public want. The
people in his plays dress In fearful and wonderful
idAheht, ana OCCASIONALLY bear a resemblance TO
humanity Nobody associates any thought of taste
win the Cohanesque. But there is an enormous
Puphc without taste, and it loves Cohan. Ray
mond Hitchcock 'pervades" this piece He has
only 10 be Raymond Hitchcock and he sets his
hearers In roars of laughter The piece is sue
cess II could not be otherwise. 1t was made for
the conan public, and will add to the authors
fortune.
Cohan audience is more interesting than
conan play 1t is so easily pleased. 1t chuckles
boys play in a village attic. The story is as CO.
luminous and the manners are as wonderful as in
any of those Juvenile performances to which Young
sters admit their playmates for cent or few pins
a head. Cohan knows that millions Of Rrovrn-ups
are merely big children in respect to theatrical
matters. They would laugh If he went There are
perverse creatures who weep when he laughs But
not whit cares he He is sagacious when he is
Vulgarest and most inept He knows that the
theatregoing world is divided into three parts
that there is a public with good taste public
with bad taste and a public with no taste at all
The latter is vast and he caters for 1t. He gives
II a wild delight. In Mr.. Raymond Hitchcock and
MS associates, in the persons who select the cos
tunes and choose the persons who wear them, Mr.
conan has able coadjutors. His latest PLAY will
probably run in New York for a year and then
tour the country for three years. There are mill
ions clamortng for 1t, as Colonel Sellers used to
say Of his eyewash 1t is impossible to speak of
the acting In the newest Cohanism. There was no
acting The stage people were merely themselves.
And the big. enraptured audience laughed till its
Flos ached not at these weird ones but with them.
CAST OF THE MAN WHO OWNS BROADWAY"