On New Year's Eve of 1935, the team met to discuss potential projects, and Ferber revived one of their old ideas: to write a play with an all-female cast.
"[5] Joan Bennett played Terry Randall in the 1936 national tour of Stage Door, and Glenda Farrell took on the role in a 1943 Chicago production.
In November 1936, RKO Pictures bought the film rights to Stage Door for "something over $125,000," intending the property as a vehicle for Katharine Hepburn, Burgess Meredith, and Ginger Rogers.
[8] Hepburn and Rogers did indeed appear in the 1937 film adaptation, which was heavily improvised and bore only a superficial resemblance to the original play, prompting Kaufman to quip, "They should have called it Screen Door.
Adapted by Gore Vidal and directed by Sidney Lumet, the live broadcast featured Diana Lynn as Terry Randall and Elsa Lanchester as the landlady.