David Belascos four-act play, which opened on 9 December 1903 for 206 performances at Belasco Theatre, was adapted from Agnes and Edgerton Castle's The Bath Comedy. The simple romantic plot centers on the efforts of an Irish girl, Kitty Bellairs, originally played by Henrietta Crosman, to find social acceptance in 18th-century Bath. Kitty's motives never become fully clear, but when she and her archrival are forced to hide behind the bed curtains in the rooms of her sweetheart, a young soldier, Kitty takes responsibility, thus sparing her rival a social disgrace. The result is that Kitty wins her soldier and the social position she craves. Sweet Kitty Bellairs was adapted into a Rudolf Friml operetta, Kitty Darlin' (1917).
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.