A Man's World

About the Play

Set in a New York house occupied by a number of artists – both successful and unsuccessful – A Man’s World centers on Frank Ware, a writer raising an adopted son. Frank’s books center on the social wrongs endured by women, a commitment intensified by the suffering of her son’s birth mother. Her editor, Malcolm Gaskell, is in love with Frank and she returns his affection, despite his condescending attitude toward her work. Eventually, however, she must confront the radical differences between his acceptance of the double standard and her insistence that men and women be treated equally.

A Man’s World is one of Crothers’ earliest and most daring dramas. Crothers once said in an interview: “With few exceptions, every one of my plays has been a social attitude toward women at the moment I wrote it.” A Man’s World received mixed but generally positive reviews. One critic praised it as “in many vital respects … the best dramatic work ever produced by an American author.” A year later, however, playwright Augustus Thomas responded with As a Man Thinks, in which a main character argues that “there is a double standard of morality because upon the golden basis of woman’s virtue rests the welfare of the world.” Crothers’ drama clearly touched a sensitive nerve in the American male. When A Man’s World was adapted into a film in 1918, the screenwriter added another suitor for Frank’s hand to create a conventional Hollywood ending.

Scenes from the Play

A Man's World, Act I, Fritz and Frank
(1 W, 1 M) In a rooming house of artists, Dutch violinist Fritz Bahn shares his concerns with female writer Frank Ware about her independent lifestyle,… View Scene

A Man's World, Act I, Gaskell and Frank on the independence of women
(1 W, 1 M) Malcolm Gaskell, a newspaper editor in love with Frank Ware, a female writer, challenges Frank’s belief in the independence of women. View Scene

A Man's World, Act II, Clara and Lione prepare for the show
(2 W) Clara Oakes, a painter of miniatures and her roommate singer Lione Brune, prepare their room for a show of Clara’s work & gossip about Frank. View Scene

A Man's World, Act II, Gaskell and Frank on women in love
(1 W, 1 M) Frank, a female writer, and Gaskell, a newspaper editor who is in love with her, express their differing views on the inequalities between… View Scene

A Man's World, Act II, Lione gossips with Fritz
(1 W, 1 M) Lione, a singer who is jealous of Fritz’s attention to Frank, gossips about Frank. View Scene

A Man's World, Act III, Clara and Frank
(2 W) Clara, a painter, shares with her friend Frank her frustration and her disappointment in her efforts to be an independent woman. View Scene

A Man's World, Act III, Frank and Gaskell reach the end
(1 W, 1 M) Frank comes to terms with the truth about Gaskell, the man she loves. View Scene

A Man's World, Act III, Frank confronts Gaskell
(1 W, 1 M) Frank confronts Gaskell, the man she loves, with new information that could end their relationship. View Scene

About the Playwright

Rachel Crothers

Rachel Crothers (1878-1958) had nearly 30 plays produced on Broadway between 1906 and 1937; and she directed most of them herself. “In the last 200 years, a respectable number of women have left their mark on American theater, but few of them have had as impressive a career as Rachel Crothers,” wrote the New York Times in 1980, adding “Although it is rare now to find anyone who has heard of her, Miss Crothers at the apex of her career was the symbol of success in the commercial theater.” Born i…
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