The play was first produced by George C. Tyler, staged by Frederick Stanhope, and starred Lunt with Elsie MacKay, Helen Hayes, and Glen Hunter in support.

It was the breakout role for Alfred Lunt, establishing him as a Broadway star, and for Tarkington provided proof he could write a critically successful play.

Mr. Wheeler is impressed that Clarence could drive mules in the Army without learning to swear,[fn 1] thinking this may be the fellow to ride herd on his family.

Della and Rosie admire his husband potential, while Dinwiddie can't decide whether Clarence is domestic staff or a professional man.

When Clarence's army backpay arrives, he buys a new suit and used saxophone, and leads Cora and Dinwiddie into an impromptu parade.

(Curtain) Producer George C. Tyler[fn 2] said in his 1934 memoir that Alexandra Carlisle suggested a then unknown Alfred Lunt as her leading man for the second season of Booth Tarkington's The Country Cousin.

[2] Lunt had performed a bit role with Romance and Arabella during the Fall of 1917, at the same time as Carlisle was starring in the first season of The Country Cousin on Broadway.

[2] Successful plays had been made by others from Tarkington's novels, such as The Man from Home and Seventeen, but he himself hadn't written a stage work that pleased critics like Alexander Woollcott and Heywood Broun.

Both men had previously insisted Tarkington wasn't able to write a good play, despite his literary stature with novels.

[3] They pointed to his earlier solo stage efforts such as Mister Antonio and Up From Nowhere as "stale and mechanical", but they publicly recanted with the premiere of Clarence.

[7] The local reviewer said the audience laughed from start to finish, calling Alfred Lunt "irresistibly funny".

[12] The New York Herald reviewer reported the "original and whimsical humor" of Tarkington's new play, superior to earlier works like Ramsey Milholland, but felt it "killingly long in its present state".

They also identified the characters of Bobby and Cora as central: "...the sluggish action, since this is a Tarkington play arises from two children just emerging into maturity".

[12] Heywood Broun, in reversing his earlier skepticism on Tarkington plays, said "Clarence is the best light comedy written by an American."

He identified Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, and Glen Hunter as the standout performances in a strong cast, and even praised producer Tyler and director Frederick Stanhope.

He also favored Hayes, Hunter, and Lunt for performing honors, but singled out Mary Boland for the thankless role of the stepmother, reminding his readers of her volunteer work entertaining American troops in France during the late war.

[15] It starred Robert Adams in the title role, with Betty Murray, Gregory Kelly and Ruth Gordon in support.