New-York tribune., 1920-09-07
Bv Haywood Broun

George NJ. conan mas leu lnealef-
ooers to expect surprises from him
Thev came last night when Genius
and the Crowd" was produced at the
cohan Theater. The new comedy by
John T. Mcintyre and Francis Hill is
,aneuid and obvious and for three acts
Il seemed certain that there must pop
out some unexpected twist or turn
which would explain Mr.. Cohan's mo-
lire in choosing this particular piece
10 mark his return to the theater as o
produced. Finally, late IN the second
act the assistant hero announced that
he had a plan to save the hero from
the intense depression into which he
had fallen. And presto, he revealed to
the audience scheme whereby he
would make the hero think the girl
was in love with somebody else. In
other words, the surprise, which is
traditional in Cohan's productions, lies
In the fact that this time there isn't
any surprise at all.
doesn't that sound like an approach
ing horseman? asked one of the char
acters in Cohan's "A Royal Nagabond,'
to which the comedian replied, "Not
exactly, but it's darn coed effect"
This time Cohan has kept the shells
and thrown away the comment. Genius
and the Crowd" is cramped with Off
stage tenor solos and stringod quar-
tets and muted concertos. A character
had to do no more than mention an
opera to have an aria waited in, borne
we suppose, on the wings of magma
ton. 1t was fortunate that nobody was
obliged. to mention the Battle of Bun
ker HILL:
The genius of the play is Philippe
Trava, young violnist, and great
one, whose nerves are worn to a fraz-
zla by the continuous adulation of
female admirers who stop in to tell
him how much they adore his music
and him. His objection to this
was not altoc ether unreasonable. The
visitors came not less than two to the
minute, and one group which popped
in suddenly numbered fifteen. Accord
ing to the program Trava's suite was
in a building called the Argentine. 1t
was not clearly indicated whether it
vas hotel or an apartment house,
but from the number of visitors and
the casual nature of their comings and
eoings it must have been a walkup,
connecting with the Times Square sub
way station. If there had been so
much as q single man at the switch
board of the elevator there could have
been no play
However, distracted and oppressed
y the constant stream Of visitors,
philippe Trava, the great violinist,
sWears that he will play no more. This
Is On the eve CT an important concert
at Carnegie Hall. One of his friends,
ayoung automobile salesman, promises
70 make him appear, and does it by tell
ing Trava that he is going to marry
MS secretary, beautiful young blonde.
Immediately Trava realizes that he,
!ae great vio!inist, has always loved
this beautiful and self-efacing young
secretary, and he dares the automobile
salesman to let her come to the con-
cert HIS violin, he says, will speak as
II gas never spoken before. Formerly
hs had nothing but technique Now he
going to cast technique aside and
play with his heart
vi course, the girl has loved him all
sae time, even in the days when he had
EIstalng but technique, and so after
sae concert the, agree to get mar
reg. This simple story is told and re-
sola with infinite patience. Genius is
aepesed as something akin to feeble
asneedness. The gaps are filed in
WIN old tenors declaiming on what
happened in the opera house when they
were young, and still more aged violin
MAKERS expanding the theory that
ssefy instrument has soul. We won
sc w. wnat Cohan, the satirist who set
common Clay" to ragtime and de-
s.sea "A Royal Eagabond," would say
=. play IN whicn the violin maker
psaHea pointedly just before his exi:
" !" pat his violin on the lower part of
~ back and exclaim that he felt
baby. N A'eA w q "
OCCASIONALLY, Mr.. Cohan has felt the
. .ssa o. enlivening the play, and there
i as Few snatcaes Of crude and vio-
s sns comedy in which the humor rises
..om the fact that one characte
ssSsan all his lines just half an inch
t'm the face OF another character.
kss hensEent is Pleasant as the
e, eesIo, o9t none oe the acting is good.
s0@e Of it is bad. Wright Kramer, as
81 oid tenor, played an entire scene
.hsa I'sa nis right hand high In the air
,i.at S H. |an r. ng II tt"
a.sht he sang before the King, but he
A. s|ea e.. rather more like d. pedestrian
fi1sn Avenue who was suffering
"y.n boycott Of bus drivers.
80. seems 70 uA that Mr. Cohan has
80 go over a poor play and left it no