New-York tribune., 1922-03-07
billiard Seeks
$4,000 in Suit
Against Col,an
charges Broken Agreement
Over Prince There Was;
Mangled by Producer i'm
Rewriting, He Complains
CaIlcd George as Doctor
latter Tells of Hit When Ii
Became Known He Had
Displaced Bob in Part

c.orge M. Cohan, Robert Hilliard,
...or author and manager, IS well "a
,re.ident OF the James Evcrard Brew
no Company, through having married
i.uchtcr Of the late James Everard,
.,resred in the Supreme Court ycster-
sprN, spr In the roles of defendant and plain
osy .;s -asnectively. Mr.. billiard is seek
~ s.n 70 recover $4,000 from Mr.. Cohan
soS G alleged breach of an agreement
nnder which he turned over to the
sctor-producer the rights OF "A Prince
There Was" and under which, 1T Is
cbarred, Mr.. Cohan was to rewrlte
eUonest John OBrien' Tor Mr.. Hill
lizard. Counsel for Mr.. Conan referred
80 tbe action as "temperamental
w 49,, the two actors having been
s.;s,ds before the understanding.
'''u;; Willard complains that the failure
rnhsn 10 rewrite the play left him
u.;.Sout w. an engagement in the middle
" N'.IY I've season. Cohau, who paid $4,000
so~ g. "a prince There Was" says there
w. M agreement with regard to his
arnuiriue the play except the payment
a. sss stba money. Hilliard. according to
Noses L. Maleyinsky, counsel for CO.
han failed to make a success of the
rlsv hit George NJ" went into the
lsaS;ng part and made it hit VIII
i;sm Elliott was Mr.. billiards partner
n "a Prince There Was,' and is un-
aerstood to have sunk $4,000. the
srount later paid for the play by Co
han.
Called Cohap in Consultation
"Tn October, 1918. while playing in
Philadelphia said Hilliard on the wit
ness stand, Il got George to run down
and take q look at the play CA Prince
There WasD because I realized the last
act was not good. George offered to
write some of it for nothing, but as
would not consent to his doing so with
ont compensation he agreed to rewrite
the whole play. After he had re-
written it we agreed on Royalties. I
read it over and found he had left out
much Of the beautiful poetry of Mrs.
Dariah Aldrich, from which I had
originally written the piece with the
.id of Frank Westerlon. George had
stuck into the new version much mat
ter that did not like, especially in my
part. For instance, | was an editor
and was asked Are you an editor? p
Nv answer is, yes to which the answer
in response is, Then what the hell arc
YOU doing in this Dump I didn't like
that kind of language and | told
George so.
But after the play was put on in
Stamford and was brought to the
George NJ. Cohan Theater, in this city,
in Christmas week, 1918, | became even
more disgusted with the part as George
had it fixed up for me. The upshot of
it was that George said he would play
the part and make success of it and
would rewrte for me Honest John
0'Brlen, in which he failed to make a
success, but which he thought would
fit me.
George Estimates Drawing Power
Cohan testified that he agreed to
COOK over "Honest John O'Brien."
4 said that for the first four or five
nights he played in "a Prince There
VAS the receipts were only about $500
night, but that was because no one
knew was in it," The defendant said
he made a little money on the play.
During the course of his testimony
Cohan said II never lost any money
in my life Cohan said he heard that
Hilliard had told fellow members of
the Lambs that he would not act in any
play that Cohan wrote. AS to the
$1,000 week he received for appear
.'5 III Ohc play, conan Sdlu lie COISIu-
cred that small for him, particularly
IN view Of the fact that Hilliard had
received $1,750 week.
Mr.. Cohan also told how he writes
plays. He does a scene at time, he
said, IL come down town with scene.
rehearse that scene and build up the
play as | rehearse it. never even
rave first act" he explained.
The trial will continue to-day.