The County Chairman

County Chairman, The (1903), a comedy by George Ade. [ Wallack's Theatre, 222 perf.] Jim Hackler (Maclyn Arbuckle), the county chairman, is determined to defeat the shady Judge Rigby (Charles Fisher) in his bid for the prosecuting attorney's office. To that end he nominates his young partner, Tillford Wheeler (Earle Brown), to run against the judge. This creates a dilemma for Tillford, who loves Rigby's daughter, Lucy (Miriam Nesbitt). Hackler has a story that could destroy Rigby if given to the local paper, but the tearful pleas of Lucy and her mother prompt him to tear it up. Yet Tillford wins anyway. Typical of Ade's minor figures was the jingoistic Jefferson Briscoe (Edward Chapman). He has firm and belligerent opinions on the Bering Sea controversy, but when asked where the Bering Sea is, replies, “Don't make no difference where it is. The question is, air we, the greatest and most powerful nation of earth, goin' to set back and be bully‐ragged an' hornswoggled by some Jim Crow island that looks, by ginger, like a freckle on the ocean!” Henry W. Savage produced Ade's first nonmusical play. Arthur Hobson Quinn noted, “As is usual with Ade, the minor characters establish the atmosphere of the town and provide rather obvious comedy. The plot is of no real significance. What carried the play was the character study of Jim Hackler, who represents the politician that dominates his town by his personality. . .and has the saving grace of decency which marks him out from the herd.”