The Washington herald., 1920-03-30
BuiIt.S
NJ EARLE nOHaEY.


By EARLE DORSEY.
'Tis q brave scrivener who COM
mits himself without reserve to-
ward Conan play that experiments
In the provinces. On Monday night
Mr.. Cohan will open with one kind
of q play. BY Thursday, IL bears
the same title and that's about all.
Broadway, In time. sees piece that
resembles neither 'sThe Royal
Vagabond" underwent such a meta
morphosis; The House That Jack
Built" will probably be another ex-
ample OF the same drastic producing
methods.
"The House That Jack Built"
gathers distinction a. the latest
Cohan musical opus. IL revealed
some OF it's charms at the National
last night. buA Mr.. Cohan will
hardly let his new play stand as
II Is. Judged by Irene" and THE
New Dictator" the book of The
House That Jack Built" credited to
Otto Harbach, is an empty work
that needs a vast amount of oxygen
to restore It's tagging energies,
though touches of highly Cohan-
esque satire, flashing here and there
through the dialogue are sympto-
matte of what may yet be done to
that element Of the production.
In its present form. then, "The
House That Jack Built" relies upon
q rather compelling trio Of melodies,
q cast of competent amusement ven-
dors, some blithe. gay dancing num-
bers. a scenic background Of ailur-
ing color. and a fast, incessant tenn
po that carries a weak libretto over
many . rough spot.
1t is not customary, of course. to
bestow particular attention to mu-
sical comedy books. yet there are
signs that q new musical comedy
era Is dawning-an era in which
the story takes higher rank than
this newer era IL
signalized particularly by plays of
the Irene and Dictator order.
The new cohan play Is that type
of piece. It Is not a Royal vag-
abond;" II Is a Cohanesque collec.
tion OF songs, dances and atmos-
phere bound round a story of con-
ventional texture that concerns
rich youngsters love for his moth.
ers social secretary, a consequent
financial blow that makes him
near-pauper and a lucky adventure
In oil that narrowly averts roman
tic disaster.
ling that one usually finds bestowed
on pieces of this type. "The House
That Jack Built" would be nothing
more than an aptly-titled. garden
species musical comedy with three
good songs. several good players
and some scenery. Cohan makes IL
h,,N
effort, as 1t stands today, is not
worthy of that capable producing
mind. It's a good show, but not a
good Cohan show.
Louis Hirsch's score fails to reveal
anything sensational, though in six
teen or more numbers include tom,
Tom Toddle," a dance melody of pro-
nounced contagious qualities; The
Love Nest" the nearest to a theme
the play affords; Mary" introduc-
ing a snatch from two fond old
tunes of "Forty-five Minutes from
Broadway" Money, Money, Money"
a dance number that seems hardly
likely to prosper out of character:
When a Woman Exits Laughingly,"
satiric number that Hirsch prob
ably never wrote, and several 9TH
ers not so likely to attain notice.
The cast bears the Cohan imprint.
which assures a decent standard of
technical ability. Jack MCGOWAN.
last seen here in '"The Little Blue
Devil" brings unexpected appeal to
the role OF the youngster who lost
his fortune and went West to build
portable houses for newly-weds and
ended up by striking oil. His voice
evidenced strong. rnelodic strain,
though he had dificulty synchronix-
ing with the orchestra. The dra-
matte portion of his role was well
handled. JHney Velie. the girl in |
the story. is a beautiful young thing |
with the freshness of q peach blos- |
som and a winsome charm most
pronounced. Charles Judels capti-
waited the audience with a Gallo |
comedy Characterization that includ-
ed some fancy trilling. James Mar
lowe was one of those testy char |
acters so surprisingly funny by in
direction. The entire cast, in fact,
deserves mention, 1t includes AL |
fred Gerard. Georgia Caine, Fred |
erIck Graham and Sybilla Bohan.