Chicken Casey (1917)

A young author, Everett Dryden Hale, has written a book of such strength and originality that it becomes one of the best sellers. The book is entitled "Waifs" and deals with the underworld, a subject of which Hale, who is a New Englander with a Puritanical strain, knows by personal experience, practically nothing at all. The principal character is a girl nicknamed "Rags" by her associates in the dives and haunts of night life. A leading producer is anxious to have the book dramatized and his leading woman, Mavis Marberrv, insists on her right to create the part of "Rags." Hale accedes to the manager's request, but rejects Mavis for the part, as he believes her talent is exclusively of the refined comedy order. With the aid of a dramatic critic Mavis stages a surprise for the author and is introduced as "Chicken Casey," a typical "Rags," in a low Bowery dive. She enacts the part so well that Hale, unaware that she is a famous actress, starts to reclaim her and informs the manager that he has found his ideal heroine and "Chicken Casey" must have the star role. The play is a success. Mavis playing the part of "Rags" with the same realism with which she invested the mock creation "Chicken Casey." Hale recognizes that he has been the victim of a trick, leaves the theater hurt and indignant. Mavis, whose masquerading had given her an insight into the nobility and chivalry of the man, way finds a to earn his forgiveness and secure a happy future for both star and author, and "Chicken Casey" becomes only a memory.