It is most notable for its narrative device of a journalist piecing together a man's life through multiple, contradictory recollections—a framework that Welles would famously employ in his 1941 film, Citizen Kane.

[3][needs update] In March 1932, two months shy of his 17th birthday, Orson Welles returned to Chicago from his post-graduation trip to Europe and his time with the Gate Theatre in Dublin.

[4] Finding that he had few prospects despite his success in Ireland,[5]: 38–39  Welles persuaded Roger Hill, his former teacher and lifelong friend, to collaborate with him on a biographical play about abolitionist John Brown and his efforts to organize a slave revolt in 1859.

"[6]: 119 Though Welles's complete playscript for Marching Song has not been produced,[7] the Todd School for Boys presented an abbreviated world premiere of the play June 7–8, 1950, at the Woodstock Opera House.

Hascy Tarbox, Welles's Todd School classmate and Hill's son-in-law, trimmed the four-hour play to two hours and staged the two performances for the benefit of the Woodstock Hospital.