Merely Players (1918)

Nadine Trent is rich and interested in amateur theatrics that she has a private theater built in her home, but critic Rodney Gale is not impressed with the attractive widow's acting. She admires Rodney, but when his attack on her protégée, Vera Seynave, leads the young actress to attempt suicide, Nadine denounces him. Hollis Foster's ardent wooing of Nadine arouses the jealousy of his wife Maude, who accuses Nadine of home-wrecking. The next evening, Nadine invites Hollis to her darkened theater, where she tearfully confesses that she has lost all her money but still wishes to elope with him. As Hollis angrily rejects her, she seizes a gun with which to kill herself, whereupon the curtain goes up, revealing Maude, Rodney and a wildly applauding audience. The Fosters leave together, and Rodney, who had rushed on stage to prevent the suicide, is forced to admit that Nadine can act.