The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-02-22
shaw Say. she I. Force
by MAY BOWLING.


The Shaw work, "Fanny's First Play"
which is to be revealed here for the first
time at the Belasco Theater this week.
Is peculiarly pertinent just now. when
the young women OF the world are in
a somewhat rebelIious frame OF mind.
and when feminine emancipation is one
OF the absorbing topics. As Is well
known, the one whom 1t has become the
fashion to call the brilliant Irishman,"
has some very adv need ideas on these
subjects himself an. nowhere has he set
them forth so plainly as in the famous
and much-quoted interview which he
gave In London, soon after 'Fanny's
First Play" was produced there. This
deals chiefly with the character of Mar
garet Knox, the rebellious daughter OF
the piece. and regarding her and her
doings, Mr.. Shaw said:
After all. there is nothing new about
the rebellious daughter. Every daughter.
every woman OF any character. rebels in
time. Margaret did not revolt until
she suddenly discovered by accident that
the world was not what she had thought
IL, or what she had been brought up
to believe II was. and what her parents
had always pretended to believe IL was.
In other words. she found out her
parents. That is revolt!
We must all admit that the point at
which children really become independent
Is the point at which they find out their
parents. I do not mean that their par
ents are wicked, but II Is the point when
children are bound to find out sooner or
later. that their parents are not really
superior human beings, but exactly like
other people and like themselves. and. in
the face of that discovery. parental
authority cannot be kept up unless gen.
uine superiority displays itself in the
parent.
In this case. Margaret does not re-
volt against her mother, who is a supe-
rior woman. but against her father, who
has to 90 to the wall because he is
neither equal to his wife nor to his
daughter. That is not revolt. but sravi-
tation. Margaret gravitated to her
mother.
But the rebelIioUs daughter Is not
really the moral of 'Fanny's First Play
The moral ! intended to draw is the
moral pronounced by Mrs. Knox-which
is that the great mass of English people
have really no conscience. no ethical con-
science. They have not the least OBJ
lection to doing anything wrong. They
often have the strongest objections TO
doing anything right. but they invari-
ably object to doing anything which other
people do not do. The consequence Is
that when anything really happens out
OF the way. they are all at sea. II. like
the knoxes. they are respectable shop
keepers, and their daughter gets into
prison for sssaulting the police. even
though she thereby finds her soul. then
they are in a painfully unreal position.
And this incident in my play>Shows that
all these respectable Denmark Hill peo-
pie who imagine themselves to be re-
ligious and TO have notions OF right and
wrong, and to possess principles. sud-
denly discover they have nothing OF the
sort at all. and the moment they are
put out OF their groove, they are at a loss
what to do.
"One is right in asserting that the
young man OF all classes objects to
'rowdiness' in a girl. but Miss Cecily