25 October 2021, NY Theatre Wire

In 1905, The New York Times ran a story about the scheduled production of George Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.”

Anthony Comstock, Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, will not accept (producer’s) Arnold Daly’s invitation to attend a rehearsal of the George Bernard Shaw’s play, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, which is to be put on at the Garrick next week. “Why should I?” asked Mr. Comstock yesterday afternoon. “In writing Mr. Daly regarding the play, I desired to impress upon him the fact that there are laws dealing with those who present plays which are in contravention of the morals of the community and offensive to public decency. If, in defiance of the warning, he persists in producing the play and the play proves to be what I am informed it is, then he “will have no excuse to offer, and his punishment will be much more severe.” “Have you read the play?” Mr. Comstock was asked. “I have not,” Comstock responded.

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