The Washington herald., 1911-05-03
A MANS WORLD"
AT THE BELASCO
Mary Mannering Appears in
New Social Problem Play.

A womans view of "a mans world"
| expressed in dramatic form in a play of
| that title. was presented at the Belasco
Theater last evening by Miss Mary Man.
| nering. and a supporting company of
exceptionally high caliber. Miss Rachel
Crothers, who gave great promise as a
playwright in The Three of U.s. is the
authoress of this arraignment of the So
called double standard of morals for men
and women
What everyone may think of the argu-
ment advanced. and so bitterly sus-
tained in action by Miss Crother's prin-
cipal character, one cannot fail to be
stirred by the forcefulness of its por-
trayal, nor to admire the cleverness with
which the author has expanded single,
and by no means popularity espoused
idea, into an interesting play of acts.
Miss Crothers makes her spokeswoman
writer and settlement worker, who lives
in one of the old rooming houses near
Washington square, New York, surround
ed by a group of fellow-writers, artists,
musicians, and other dwellers in the mys-
tic and misunderstood land Of Bohemia.
Under the name of Frank Ware, this
woman writer has won recognition with
book treating of East Side sociological
conditions. She has adopted small boy,
who shares with her work all her life'S
intGrests. Her sociological work and the
memory of the boy, mothers disgrace
and suffering, instill in her an unshake-
able belief in the injustice of the world
that lets the man scot free, and makes
the woman bear the burden of blame
She contends that were women to de-
mand the same purity in man that may
demands in women and refuse to marry
them If they fell short Of that standard
the whole social fabric would be cleansed
of stain.
Suspect the Writer.
The jealousy of one of the women liv-
ing the house caused by a young German
musicians friendship with and alteration
of Frank Ware leads to the implication
that the writer is the boys mother. This
suspicion gainst ground when Frank falls
in love with a man, in whose face the
jealous woman first and the other lodg-
ers later see a striking resemblance to
the lady. In the end Frank discovers in
the man she loves the father of her
adopted boy, and her belief in her theo-
ries is put to the test She triumphs over
her love for the man and sends him
away
Miss Crothers takes care not to make
the mans fault more than ordinarily
grievous. He had an affair with a
and no thought of marriage. The woman
left him and he never learned of the
birth Of the boy. There was no ques-
ton of desertion. The man had merely |
accepted the code of the world and, as |
usual, the woma nwas made to suffer |
the consequences. |
When the man is confronted with |
Frank Wares theories he says:
This is a mans world. Man sets the |
standard for women. He knows she is |
better than he is.a nd he demands that |
she be-and IL she isn't she's got to suf-
fer for it. That's the whole business in
a nutshell
Won't Admit His wrong.
The woman pleads with him to admit |
that his aair with the boys mother was
a wrong. She is willing to forgive and
marry him II he will but admit his belief
In her theory Of the mutual purity of
the sexes. Being a strong man, and one
one of the world worldly, he win not ad-
NIT so much, and she sends him from
her.
The weakness of Mrs. Crother's argu-
ment lies in the sweet femininity and In
finite capacity for love with which she
invests her character. Such Z woman
never has and never could send her lover
away for the sake Of an ethical theory,
no matter how excellent Q theory Il 70.
nor how dearly she may have cherished
{. Nor can the average auditor stretch
ais credulity to the extent necessary to
lccept with conviction the mans ill-fs-
vored stubbornness whsn he looks into /,