The Washington times., 1913-12-09
JULIA MURDOCH WRITES OF THE
STAGELAND AND ITS BRIGHT STARS
Cohan Scores Success
In Play Without Song
BY JULIA MURDOCH.

\ oy JO4AN1
~ EORGE CONAN in play without
III song, without a line of chorus
~ girls, without a dance. and
without any reference wbatso-
ever TO the grand old flag or the gentle
nan who stuck a feather in his cap
and called in Macaroni'' has scored q
success = perhaps his greatest - In
Broadway JONES' which Is playing q
weeks engagement in the National
Thearer this week. without any Of
these trappings. young Mr.. Cohan Is
giving his audiences IN excellent play.
which Is extremely funny, and We are
given to understand that while he has
any number OF plays just as good, IL not
better. up his sleeve, this is the last
opportunity We shall have Of seeing this
versatile young man as an actor.
In this latest play from his industrious
pen he has scored another success In
an entirely new form. presenting OF
straight comedy, not one OF the four acts
being Interrupted, for a dance. an en-
semble number. or a SOLO The eagle
doesn't scream once In this play, and
the nearest approach to anything pat
riotic are the portraits of George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln,
which adorn the parlor of Judge Spotts-
woods parlor In Jonesville, and Cohan
waited until the second act before he
introduced these.
IL the enthusiasm or last nights audi
cnce may be taken as any Indication of
how the public likes Mr.. Cohan' s --latest
brain baby, the author will not be al
lowed to retire from the stage, but viii
remain among those present for some
time to come. When he had dismissed
his audience at five minutes of IL last
night those who had enjoyed tc the
fullest the clever comedy that had been
tiished up to them would have been
willing to stay through another act,
even at the risk of being obliged to
stand Up in the street car going home
Mr.: cohan is young ,,,,,.oho mar who
as an actor. That Is the reason that
the love element in Broadway Jones'
Is left to the imagination of the
audience rather than handed to them
The actor author knows that any at
tempt on his part to enter into love
scene would not De taken seriously by
the audience. This is the reason he mas
omitted it In the play until the last END
of the second act When love does come
upon him, he Is as surprised appar-
emily. as his audience, and seems equal
ly delighted at finding himself in this
new role.
The story of Broadway Jones" deals
with a Young man from small town
who gets that uncomfortable desire ior
the bright lights of the Great White
way. he mas
dreamed Broadway until the plain vii
iage folk of the Connecticut village
have tackled to his good old name OF
Jones the un-Christian name of Broad
way" He inherits Father Jones
money, and naturally wanders down to
the Street, has his fling, goes through
a quarter of a million, piles up $4,000
worth of debts, and is up to mis- ears in
trouble His only way out is to marry
money. and this opportunity presents
itself at the end Of one wild night. when
he meets and proposes to one Mrs.
Girard, wealthy, but with face that
would stop clock, and a disposition to
match her face.
Then comes news that his uncle has
died and left him the remainder of the
chewing gum business, from whence
came the money that Broadway has al
ready spent The money comes just at
the time Broadway needs Ii most, and
the sober fact that he was broke prob
ably had its effect on the boy. because,
for the first time, he begins to take life
seriously.
He journeys back to the jay town, in
tending to sell the gum factory to the
trust and to pay his debts and blow"