"rare blood disease" and "a subject which hitherto has practically been confined to medical publications". One of the few earlier plays to mention sexually transmitted disease was Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts (1881), which was similarly controversial, though Damaged Goods was the first play staged in the United States to use the word "syphilis". Film adaptations Damaged Goods was the subject of a number of film adaptations. The first, Damaged Goods (1914), was an American silent film in which Richard Bennett reprised the role of George Dupont which he played in the US stage production. It has been credited with sparking a fad of sensational "sexual hygiene" films (sometimes colloquially referred to as "clap operas"), which were seen as precursors to the exploitation film genre. A Victim of Sin (advertised as A Victim of Sin OR Damaged Goods, produced in 1913, had a plot which closely mirrored Brieux's play and was widely regarded as an unauthorized adaptation. A British silent film adaptation was released in 1919. Damaged Lives was a 1933 Canadian/American exploitation film based on the play. Damaged Goods (1937) was an American picture released in 1937 based on Upton Sinclair's novelization of the play, but modernized and set in the United States. References External links 1901 plays French plays adapted into films Syphilis STDs in theatre Censored plays Broadway plays