The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-04-06

Act 1. The Barber shop In THE
American House."
Act 2. The ministers house. The
next day.
Act 8. Jayson's private office in
"The American House." The follow
ing Gay.
Act 4. Same as Act 2. Two weeks
later.
The play is laid in the town Of
.Johnsburg, somewhere in New Eng
land.
George NJ. Cohan Is a graduate OF
the vaudeville stage and the odor Of
1t clings to whatever he produces In
the line of entertainment. AS a writ
er Of plays composed solely with the
idea OF amusing, he stands high In the
appreciation OF the theatergoing pub
lie. as instance Little Johnny Jones"
and the laugh-compelling Seven Keys
to Raldpate." Conan. hank account
has been swelled. just SO much by
every chuckle drawn from those who
pay to witness the antics Of the &C.
tors who impersonate the characters
given to us as creations Of the nimble
brain Of the playwright, and the
whole string of them are remembered
long after more sedate impersona-
IAoAS Lave pdoSSu u Y IAC IoS u IAO
used-to-be. Keokuk warmed to "Sev-
en- Keys to Baldpate" and 1t will long
remember "Hit-the!Trail Holiday"
which was presented at the Grand
Opera house last night. 1t was all
that's Commemorative no time for
sober reflection; it is designed pure
ly for laughing purposes, being a
comedy of such dizzy speed and up
roarious mirth that more than one Of
its four acts may be characterized as
downright farce. "Hit-the-Trail" Hol-
liday" introduces a number of quaint
countryfolk characters into whose
midst comes Billy Holiday, the best
bartender in all New York City. who,
in his environment takes sides
with the prohibition party and Or
ganizes q temperance campaign that
puts the "boozers" to rest.
In the first act Mr.. Cohan repro
duces with Photographic exactness
basement Of a small-town hotel.
!lessly tailored and f1ne-mannered
young ~barkeeper, Holiday, "just from
IN York" Owing to q suddenly
formed and well-founded dfslik. for
his e~mployer-toLbe, Holiday decides
to cast his fortunes with the proprte-
tor of a rival and temperance hotel.
So the second act finds the barkeeper,
who has made q speech for prohibi.
ton. boosting and selling a nearly
beer" product and beloved as the idol
of the town; also, he is in demand on
all sides as a temperance lecturer.
All of which is unusual and stunning
to Billy Hol1iday-but he plays the
part with such success that within
a fortnight he has driven the brewery
out Of business, created q demand for
the newfangled temperance beverage,
which looks like real beer but lacks
the punch. and marries the lovely
daughter of the leading minister
paign, isn't It?
Hit-the-Trail Holiday Is laughable
that's all. Not by any stretch of
the imagination can it be called a tenn
perance lesson. Those who recall
Hoyt's "a Temperance Town" may
recognize some parallel in treatment
Of the "antidrink" question as pre-
scented in "Hitthe-Trail Holiday,
but the Conan farce is much to be
preferred both in construction and ap-
peal to probability.
Frank Otto as Billy Holiday was
the center Of the storm N the stage.
He Is a most nimble young man and
his experience in vaudeville has
given him an assurance that fits well
the character he assumes. The 9th
er members of the company took full
advantage of every line and opportun-
ity to bring out the strong points of
the play and seemed to enjoy them
selves as much as did the people in
front. .."