Akademik

Tarnish
   Opening on 1 October 1923 at the Belmont Theatre, this drama by Gilbert Emery ran for 255 performances. With a cast of six women and two men, the play deals with strong sexual themes. Tishy, a decent young woman, works as a stenographer to support her sniveling, spendthrift parents. The bootlegger's wife from upstairs lets slip that Tishy's father was seen earlier in the day with a compromised woman, Nettie Dark. It is New Year's Eve but Tishy nerves herself up to track down that woman in hopes of recovering the desperately needed money her father gave Nettie. Meanwhile, by a ruse, Nettie lures to her room a young man she used to know, who just happens to be the one courting Tishy. Tishy is distraught to discover her beau there and breaks off with him. But he truly loves Tishy, and the bootlegger's wife counsels her that all men are somewhat tarnished and that a girl should settle for "one that cleans easy."

The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. .