The story is a conflict between two women, childhood friends from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and now both successful writers.
[3][4] Old Acquaintance was first produced on Broadway by Dwight Deere Wiman, staged by Auriol Lee, with set design by Richard Whorf, and starred Peggy Wood and Jane Cowl.
Milly arrives; since Deirdre wants to stay in Manhattan for the winter, she has rented an apartment on Park Avenue.
(Curtain) Act II (One month later at Park Avenue, about 5:30pm) Kit comes to Milly's apartment to drop off her unrevised proof.
When Kit returns to have dinner with Milly, she encounters an enraged friend who accuses her of wrecking her marriage and trying to steal her daughter.
Kit comes back, Rudd leaves, and Deirdre lets herself be talked round into reconsidering him.
(Curtain) The playwright John Van Druten, producer Dwight Deere Wiman, and director Auriol Lee had collaborated before,[fn 2] on works such as After All, Most of the Game, and Leave Her to Heaven.
[8] He told reporter Marjory Adams that "if you write a play about Europe today it has to be about the war.
[10] Another reviewer agreed it was a hit, attributing its success to the writing, direction, and the performances of the three female leads.
[2] There the reviewer[fn 3] said "How appallingly well Mr. van Druten knows female psychology and with what deadly accuracy he can tell about it!
"[2] However, the reviewer also noted the play was "civilised and warm-hearted, and its people are the sparkling sort you alway hope to meet.
[4] Jane Cowl had top billing in advertising, while Peggy Wood's name was just as large under the title.
[4] Burns Mantle of the New York Daily News said "There isn't a great deal to Mr. Van Druten's comedy aside from its leading characters.
It is regretfully admitted at this point that the story Mr. van Druten is telling is frail and unsubstantial and scarcely worth the trouble every one has taken with it.
[13] The entire company of Old Acquaintance took the train to Washington, D.C., on January 26, 1941, where they gave a command performance at the National Theatre for President Roosevelt and other dignitaries.
[17] The producer continued the policy of foregoing Monday evening performances in favor of an extra matinee on Thursdays.
[21] The play had a revival on Broadway starting with some previews on June 1, 2007, at the American Airlines Theatre.
[7] The production starred Harriet Harris as Milly and Margaret Colin as Kit, with Diane Davis as Deirdre, Corey Stoll as Rudd, and Stephen Bogardus as Preston Drake.
[22] While the play was still running on Broadway, Jane Cowl and Peggy Wood performed a thirty minute excerpt[23] from it over the NBC Blue Network on Sunday, January 19, 1941.
[6] The resulting film was directed by Vincent Sherman and starred Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, with John Loder, Gig Young, and Delores Moran.