Representative American Plays/He and She

by Rachel Crothers

Layout 2

HE AND SHE
BY
Rachel Crothers

Copyright, 1911, by Rachel Crothers

All Dramatic Rights Reserved by the Author

Printed for the first time by permission of the author, Miss Rachel Crothers.

 

HE AND SHE

He and She represents the drama of married life in which the relations of husband and wife are modified by the rival claims of professional jealousy. It is one of the most striking of the plays which deal with the general question of woman's rights and responsibilities, of which its author has stood for some time as a representative in drama.

Rachel Crothers was born in Bloomington, Illinois, and graduated from the State Normal School. Her father. Dr. Eli Kirk Crothers, was a friend and contemporary of Lincoln, while her mother studied medicine after she was forty years of age, and became the first woman physician in that part of Illinois. In a letter to the editor written in response to his request for biographical details. Miss Crothers says:

"My interest in the stage was entirely foreign to the deeply religious conservative traditions of my family but began when I was very small, asserting itself through the writing of plays—the first one to be produced being Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining, or the Ruined Merchant, all five of the characters played by myself and a friend at the age of twelve—to an invited audience of amazed and admiring friends."

After her graduation from school. Miss Crothers studied dramatic art in Boston and New York and was for three seasons on the stage. She then began seriously writing plays. Her first play to be professionally produced was a clever one-act sketch, The Rector, played at the Madison Square Theatre, New York, April 3, 1902, dealing with the choice of a wife by a young clergyman. Then followed The Three of Us, performed at the Madison Square Theatre, October, 1906; The Coming of Mrs. Patrick, at the same theatre, October, 1907; Myself Bettina, first played by Maxine Elliott at Powers Theatre, Chicago, January, 1908; A Man's World, played by Mary Mannering at the Comedy Theatre, New York, Feb. 8, 1910; The Herfords (He and She) (1912); Young Wisdom, played by Mabel and Edith Talliaferro at the Criterion Theatre, New York, January, 1914; Ourselves, played by Grace Elliston at the Lyric Theatre, New York, November, 1913; The Heart of Paddy Whack, played by Chauncey Olcott at the Grand Opera House, New York, November, 1914. Old Lady 31, after a try out on the road, opened at the Thirty-ninth Street Theatre, New York City, on October 30, 1916, and had a successful run. Her most recent plays were A Little Journey, which was first played at the Little Theatre, New York, December 26, 1918, and 39 East, which opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, May 12, 1919.

He and She was first tried out on the road during the fall of 1911. It was then renamed The Herfords and was first played by the cast as here given at the Plymouth Theatre in Boston, February 5, 1912.

After extensive revision, the play was revived and produced at the Little Theatre, New York, February 12, 1920, under the title He and She. At this revival Miss Crothers herself played the part of "Ann Herford," Mr. Cyril Keightley that of "Tom Herford" and Miss Faire Binney that of "Millicent."

The most significant of Miss Crothers' plays are those in which she deals with a problem created by some demand of woman's nature. In The Three of Us she shows the strong sisterly affection of a woman for her younger brother who is hardly worthy of it but who is saved by the power of her love. In A Man's World she attacks the basis of social and moral law which treats the woman unfairly. In Ourselves she shows the responsibility of good women for the so-called double standard of morality. In He and She she draws in a masterly way the effect which the rivalry of a wife in an artistic profession has upon the relations of her husband and herself and also upon her treatment of her daughter.

A Man's World has been published by Richard Badger; The Rector, Young Wisdom and The Three of Us by Samuel French. He and She is now printed for the first time through the courtesy of the author, from a manuscript prepared especially by her for this collection. In order to reflect the changes made in the revival of 1920, in the Revised Edition, the entire play has been reprinted from a revised manuscript furnished by Miss Crothers.