Summary
In the labyrinthine milieu of early 20th-century urban life, Joan Thursday, a young woman of unyielding rectitude, finds her meager livelihood abruptly rescinded after spurning the lecherous advances of a floorwalker. Cast adrift from her employment and subsequently from a home rendered intolerable by her dissolute, gambling-addicted father, Joan's aspirations pivot towards the footlights, a beacon of escape and self-reinvention. Her initial solitude is broken by John Matthias, a fledgling playwright inhabiting the same boarding house, whose heart, however, is entangled with the affluent Venetia Tankerville. Despite his reservations concerning her wealth, Matthias succumbs to Venetia's overtures, their engagement swiftly sealed amidst the well-wishes of Helena.
Matthias's burgeoning theatrical endeavors find purchase with Marbridge, a silent partner in a prominent theatrical enterprise, whose professional and personal life is intertwined with Nella, his leading lady and mistress. Marbridge, recognizing the potential in Matthias's script, agrees to stage it, swayed by Matthias's plea for a minor role for Joan. Yet, the fickle currents of affection soon redirect Matthias's gaze; captivated by Joan's nascent charm and vulnerability, he abruptly abandons his prior engagement, eloping with Joan.
Simultaneously, a parallel act of cynical opportunism unfolds as Marbridge, driven by avarice, absconds with Venetia, coveting her substantial fortune. The convergence of these two eloping couples precipitates a dramatic confrontation. Marbridge, encountering Joan upon their return, is instantly, overtly, and rather crudely smitten by her beauty, an admiration that casts an uncomfortable pall over Matthias, Venetia, and Venetia's father, Tankerville. Exploiting his influence, Marbridge orchestrates Joan's elevation from a minor role to a more prominent one, a move laden with ulterior motives.
On the inaugural night of the play, Marbridge's predatory intentions culminate as he escorts Joan to his meticulously prepared apartment. Nella, consumed by a tempest of suspicion and jealousy, tracks them, bursting into the apartment to discover Joan in Marbridge's embrace. In a paroxysm of rage and betrayal, Nella discharges a firearm, felling Marbridge. As his valet intervenes, Nella's hysteria gives way to frantic, futile attempts to undo her catastrophic act. Revived momentarily, Marbridge, in a final, dying assertion of control, calls Matthias, entrusting Joan and Venetia to his care, and Nella to Arlington, his business partner, before succumbing to his wound, leaving behind a wake of shattered lives and unfulfilled ambitions.
Synopsis
Joan Thursday loses her job because she refuses to fall for the floorwalker and determines to go on the stage. Her father, a drunkard and poolroom fiend, chases her out of the house. The only two friends she has to go to she finds out of town. but finds a friend in John Matthias, a young playwright, a member of the same boarding house. John Matthias, in love with Venetia Tankerville, does not propose to her because of her wealth, and when she leads him to it he declares his love, she acquiesces, and Helena, who enters then is told and congratulates the couple. Marbridge, a silent partner with Arlington in a theatrical enterprise, of which Nella, Marbridge's mistress, is leading lady, accepts a play which Matthias has written, and they decide to put it on, Matthias getting their promise of a small part for Joan. Matthias, fascinated by Joan's charms, proposes to her and wins a consent. On return of the eloping pair, Marbridge having eloped with Venetia in order to get her money, meets Joan and is struck by her beauty, which he openly admires, much to the embarrassment of Matthias, Tankerville and Venetia. Through his influence her small part is taken away and she is given a bigger part. The night of the first performance he meets Joan and takes her to his apartment, where he has everything prepared for her. Nella grows suspicious, follows them to the apartment, finds Joan in his arms, and her jealousy overcoming her, she fires and shoots Marbridge, who falls unconscious. Realizing what she has done, Nella runs to him and hysterically tries to recall her action. Marbridge's valet takes her away, revives Marbridge, who gets Matthias on the phone, and later, when Matthias and Arlington arrive, gives Joan and Venetia in Matthias's keeping and Nella in Arlington's, he dies.
