Opening on 8 November 1927 at Maxine Elliott's Theatre, the three-act play by George Abbott and Ann Preston Bridgers ran for 366 performances and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (which it lost to Strange Interlude). Helen Hayes earned praise for her performance as Norma, the flirtatious southern belle who loves a man of lower social status in defiance of her father's strictures. After the young man blurts out that he will marry Norma "because we're just as good as man and wife now," Norma's father shoots him through the heart. With her father on trial, Norma is told that he can be exonerated if he was defending a virgin's honor. Knowing that she is with child, Norma commits suicide. When Hayes left the cast due to a pregnancy, producer Jed Harris sued her; Hayes won, establishing the "act of God" clause in actor contracts.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.