Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1917, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Another order for Gatts and Company.” Gatts and Company was actually Gazzolo, Gatts & Clifford Co., producers of the well-known musical comedy “Katzenjammer Kids.” Moses recorded that Sosman & Landis produced scenery for the show earlier that year.
The production company of Gazzolo, Gatts, and Clifford Inc. formed in the fall of 1916, filing corporation papers on October 6, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to the “Katzenjammer Kids” musical, the firm produced an “educational” piece that spring entitled, “Her Unborn Child.” Registered as a four-act drama by Howard McKent Barnes, the play took a negative position on birth control for women.
Keep in mind that this was in the midst of Margaret Sanger’s continued fight for women’s access to information about basic birth control. “The Fresno Morning Republican” reported, “”His play tells the truth about birth control and shows the cause and effect of the world’s most serious crime” (Fresno, California, 14 May 1917, page 6). “The Vancouver Sun” added “It tells the truth about birth control, for it is the theory of the author that be the education of the masses the slaughter of innocent unborn babies will stop” (18 Jun 1917, page 8). Let’s take a moment to contemplate what this man is suggesting; the great crime of women is to not make every egg a viable candidate for fertilization. Women need to make sure that regardless of their living situation or circumstances they can become pregnant at any point in time, hence they are only a vessel and instantaneously transferring all power to men.
There were four touring productions that carried the message across the country, prompting women to reconsider using any form of birth control.
In Pennsylvania, the show was performed at the New Academy in Scranton. The “Times-Tribune” reported, “There are four acts and the action takes place within twenty-four hours. The principal characters are a rich widow, a wealthy reformer, Beth Forrester, the beloved one; Ted Livingstone, young and heir; and the family physician. Sensationalism is avoided in the play and the subject is handled in a most dignified manner. Birth control is the vital theme and apparently the author made a deep study into the subject before giving this play to the stage. The mother love depicted in the story makes a strong appeal to an audience, and one of the biggest moments of the play comes when the crisis in the welfare of her family confronts her and she is called upon to make a decision in haste. (28 May 1917, page 15). Matinees were performed for women only. Of the female matinees, the “Calgary Herald” noted, “Because of the sacredness of motherhood and out of the courtesy of the ladies, all matinee performances of ‘Her Unborn Child’ will be reserved exclusively for ladies. Gentlemen will be admitted to all other performances” (29 Sept, 1917, page 8).
On April 4, 1917, the “Buffalo Evening News” reported, “A big play with a serious appeal is the attraction at the Majestic Theater all week, with daily matinees, which are for women exclusively”(page 15). Prominent doctors endorsed the play across the country. The “Oklahoma News” published letters from local doctors addressed to Gazzolo, Gatts & Clifford as an advertisement (25 Oct. 1917, page 2). J. H. Maxwell, M.D. wrote, “Gentlemen: I appreciate very much your performance of ‘Her Unborn Child.” The moral is splendid and timely. I wish that every Father and Mother could have the opportunity of seeing this play, it is clean cut all the way through.” S. A. Dooper, M. D. wrote, “Gentlemen: After having the opportunity of attending a performance of ‘Her Unborn Child,’ I take pleasure in recommending it to the public. I wish every one in the world old enough to understand English could see the performance.”
On April 29, the “Fort-Wayne Journal-Gazette” reported, “So great has the success of ‘Her Unborn Child’ on tour that has been found necessary to organize five companies in order to appease demand from all parts of the country for this sincere and frank portrayal of a topic that is second only in importance to the present hostilities in the battlefield” (29 April 1917, page 48). Really?!? The only second in importance to WWI was birth control? What about the crimes of rapists, pedophiles, and murderers?
Like me, not everyone thought the show was fantastic. Lancaster’s “The News-Journal” commented, “The piece neither paints a moral nor adorns a tale, being only a dramatized version of one person’s viewpoint of a much discussed subject. Its dramatic construction is crude, the situations forced, and the final curtain falls on actual absurdity” (25 Oct. 1917, page 5). The newspaper noted, “A few years ago the subject of birth control would not have been discussed in the theatre but with the progress of the playhouses as an educational institution as well as a place of amusement and the desire of the public to be enlightened on subjects which a few years ago they were satisfied to let be known to physicians and those claiming higher education, has made plays like ‘Her Unborn Child’ timely.”
To be continued…
