The play (of the same title), featuring Morgan Farley and Miriam Hopkins, had a successful run on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in the 1926–1927 season.

[10] His next Broadway production was the original comedy Old Man Murphy which he wrote with Harry Wagstaff Gribble.

It played at the Royale, then the Fulton, then after a hiatus at the Hudson; it ran for 112 performances [11][12] and was later adapted into the 1935 film His Family Tree.

[13] Kearney's final Broadway play was also an original comedy, A Regular Guy, which opened off-season at the Hudson, and which he also directed.

[17][18] Despondent over the failure of his later plays and the consequent financial losses, Kearney killed himself in New York on March 28, 1933, at the age of 39.