A Lowly Scorned Shopgirl Takes On the Upper Crust
‘Within the Law’ Is a Revival Focusing on Social Justice
Daniel M. Gold
June 8, 2014: However current the issues of income inequality, a living wage and an arbitrary criminal justice system may be, Within the Law reminds us that they have long been fodder for popular entertainment. A Broadway hit in 1912, and adapted several times for the movies, this play by Bayard Veiller and revived by the Metropolitan Playhouse aspires to a Dickensian blend of melodrama and social justice. As it opens, its heroine, Mary Turner (Elisabeth Preston), an honest shop clerk, has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing from the New York department store where she works. Before she is sent upstate, Edward Gilder (John D. McNally), the store’s owner, agrees to meet with her. After protesting her innocence, Mary adds that if he wants to cut down theft at his company, he should raise wages: “An honest girl can’t live on $6 a week.” Gilder responds that the salaries are in line with other stores, and that he will not seek leniency on her behalf. Very well, Mary vows: “You are going to pay.”
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