Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1912-04-24
AUTHORS OF LOUISIANA LOU"
Addison Burkhardt, Frederick D0na-
Shey, and What They Have Been
Doing i'm the Theatre and
Elsewhere.


opera house, Chicago-it was ther
called the La Sale theatre, and 81
was the highest price charged for Z
seat, whereas So is now the charge
the musical comedies produced
there were generally written by three
men. Adams, Hough and Howard
for some seasons provided all the
plays and music; there were inter.
walls when others tried the task OF
supplying fun and tunes for the most
critical clientele in the world OF
musical comedy. But there was a
return to the three men idea, when
Harry Askin took over the manage
ment of the La Sale in 1910. Three
men wrote Louisiana Lou" which
will be played by Mr.. Askins special
company on Thursday, May I'd, in
the Grand opera house.
The authors of Louisiana Lou
are Addison Burkhardt and Freder-
lex Donaghey, who wrote the play
and songs, and Ben NJ. Jerome, who
provided the music; all three have
been associated with the La Sale at
its best.
mus, Mr.. Burkhardt wrote the
first of the La Sale hits. 1t was
called "ChowChow," when he wrote
1t. and The Runaways," when, later
1t was staged in the New York Ca
sino, being the first of the Chicago
hits to get a New York hearing on
lis merits. AS THE Runaways," ii
was played for seven years on tour,
and has probably been seen in every
cay and town of the United States
and Canada Nh. pnrI- bar J rotuc,,
ed to the La Sale in 1910, under
the Askin regime, to write the
libretto of THE Sweetest Girl in
Paris" which ran there throughout
the season Of 1901. His collabor-
ator on that success was Joseph E..
Howard Of the Adams, Hough and
Howard trio.
Mr.. Donaghey became Mr.. Burk-
hardt's collaboration in March, 1911,
when the two authors associated
with them Mr.. Jerome, who had
given some big musical hits to the
La Sale repertoire. Among the
Jerome pieces that scored there and
had long Chicago runs and great sue
cess on tour were The Isle of Bong
Bong" The Royal Chef" The
Isle of Spice" and THE Yankee
Regent"
This trio, Burkhardt, Donaghey
and Jerome, worked steadfastly and
in perfect unison and harmony on
the play, songs, and music of Louis
lana Lou" until it went into re-
hearsal, and then, instead of turning
their backs on that important period
in the preparation of musical COM
edy, worked every day for six weeks
in conjunction with Frank Smithson,
the famous stage director, in getting
their work ready for the public.
And this is the secret of the sue
cess of Louisiana Lou" said Harry
Askin, the managing director of the
La Sale, when called before the cur
tain of his theatre on the Chicago
opening night of the piece-''the fact
that these men, the authors. began
their work in time, and kept at it
until it was finished, and did not de-
pend too much on their actors. The
result has been, as you have seen
tonight, that there has been some
thing for the actors 10 do, whereas
in the average musical comedy the
actors are expected to supply the
fun, and the singers are looked to
get for themselves good songs be-
cause the composer is too lazy or
Indifferent to work in harmony with
the authors.
| am confident, here midway in
the first Chicago performance, that
Louisiana Lou will prove to be the
greatest hit of any musical comedy
ever produced in Chicago; and | I'M
hesitatingly give credit to the Messrs.
Burkhardt, Donaghey and Jerome"