He and She

He and She (1920), a play by Rachel Crothers. [Little Theatre, 28 perf.] Ann Herford (Crothers) and her husband, Tom (Cyril Keightley), are architects whose seventeen years of happy marriage seem threatened when each submits a separate entry to a contest for a frieze design. Ann wins the $100,000 prize but soon comes to recognize that she has won it at the cost of probably losing her husband and of neglecting her daughter, Millicent (Faire Binney). She declines the prize, prepares to spend time with Millicent in Europe, and knows that she has lost neither the money nor Tom, since he was second and will now be the winner. The play had an interesting history. Originally produced as The Herfords (1911), it failed, and Crothers blamed the failure on miscasting. However, she was not able to find another producer until she persuaded the Messrs. Shubert to produce it with her. Even then she was unable to find an actress to play Ann so took the part herself. The play was hailed by almost every major critic, who looked on it as a fine study of the plight of the modern, emancipated woman. Yet the play did not find an audience, although (or because) an equally fine play on the same theme, The Famous Mrs. Fair, had succeeded earlier in the season. He and She has received some revivals, most recently in 1980 with Laurie Kennedy as Ann.