LADIES’ DAY
1920
Ladies’ Day is a three-act satire by Edward Peple. It was originally produced and directed by H.H. Frazee.
A breach of promise case comes to trial before the first jury ever seated in any courtroom In the the United States consisting entirely of women, and is argued pro and con by two women lawyers.
The cast consisted of 30 performers, 21 of which were speaking roles. 17 of them were women.
In 1920, the fight for women’s rights was fought on a state-by-state basis. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, women were not allowed on juries until 1921, a year after the play was performed.
“Studies in Expression. When Women are Jurors”, drawn by Charles Dana Gibson in 1902. The idea of women sitting on juries in the United States was subject to ridicule up until the 20th century.
The following year the same artist followed up with "The Jury of the Future. One that Might Temper Justice with Mercy" (1903). It was thought that women were more compassionate than men, an idea that still exists today.
H.H. Frazee had previously produced Edward Peple’s hit play A Pair of Sixes, which scored 277 performances on Broadway in 1914. Peple’s next play on Broadway, Friend Martha in 1917, was a flop, closing after 15 performances.
Ladies’ Day premiered in Atlantic City at the Globe Theatre on the Boardwalk on April 26, 1920. It shared the front end of a split week with All Souls Eve, a supernatural play by Anne Crawford Flexner.
Like so much about the play, it is unclear whether the above listing as Ladies’ Night was a title variation, an error by the Globe Theatre, or a typesetting error at the newspaper. The official title, however, was Ladies Day, not Night. It is ironic considering a play by that title went on to great success on Broadway - something not in the cards for Peple’s play.
Sadly for Miss Bristow, the play never reached Beantown or the Big Apple.
It appears that the ‘futuristic’ idea of a play with an all-female jury and lawyers was greeted with winking derision by the press.
“The play is the best example of real satiric comedy our stage has seen in a long time.” ~ ATLANTIC CITY PRESS
“While the author has not written a great play here, he makes us all grateful for a clean, bright travesty that comes as a grateful relief to the bedroom type of risqué farce that has held our stage for so long.” ~ ATLANTIC CITY PRESS
Shortly after Ladies’ Day premiered in Atlantic City, Frazee made headlines by purchasing Fenway Park in order to save it from bankruptcy. In January 1920, as owner of the Boston Red Sox, Frazee sold their prize player, Babe Ruth (above), to the New York Yankees, thus initiating the legendary ‘Curse of the Bambino’ for the Red Sox. It was well known that Frazee’s baseball dealings helped finance his theatrical endeavors, most notably the play that inspired the musical No, No, Nanette, My Lady Friends (1919). Coincidentally, both plays are partly set in Atlantic City NJ.
Even more coincidentally, the term “ladies’ day” in a baseball context was generally when women spectators were encouraged to attend ballgames, sometimes using promotions or give-aways.
Before leaving the Garden State, the play did a night in Paterson at the Lyceum on May 1st. On May 4th it played also single night at the Lyric in Allentown PA. On May 5th, the play was seen in Wilkes-Barre PA at the Grand Theatre.
This gig at the Grand appears to be where the play closed and all involved turned to other pursuits:
In June 1920, playwright Peple contributed his one-act play “The Golden Egg” to the Annual Lambs Club Gambols in New York City. On June 28th, his new comedy Maggie opened in Rochester.
In August 1920, a film version of Peple’s 1905 play The Prince Chap was released. That same month, a play opened on Broadway titled Ladies’ Night, also titled Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath. It was a huge hit.
In August 1922, it was announced that Frazee would produce Peple’s play The Little Visitor in Boston, a play set in Virginia just prior to the Civil War. It is unknown if this play was related to or inspired by his 1911 play The Littlest Rebel, which was later made into a successful film starring Shirley Temple.