Sutton Vane

[2] Vane was haunted by guilt over this event, and once he sufficiently recovered, he returned to the combat area as a civilian, appearing for the entertainment of troops near the front lines during the later phase of the war—he made a particular impression in performances of Bayard Veiller's 1916 hit The Thirteenth Chair, which he did on many stages with artillery bursting well within earshot.

The play came to Broadway in 1924, where it was a similarly huge success in a production starring Alfred Lunt, Leslie Howard, Margalo Gillmore, Beryl Mercer, and Dudley Digges (as the Examiner).

The play was revived in London during 1928, and made into a 1930 film in Hollywood by Warner Bros. under director Robert Milton, with Howard playing Lunt's stage role this time instead of the one he created onstage, Mercer and Digges repeating their Broadway roles, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Helen Chandler — who would appear in the 1938 Broadway revival — Montagu Love, and Alison Skipworth in the cast; the movie set Leslie Howard on the path to screen stardom.

None of Vane's other works, including Time Gentlemen, Please!, Marine Parade, Falling Leaves, Overture, and Man Overboard, ever found the popularity of Outward Bound.

Outward Bound also served as the unofficial inspiration for the made-for-TV movie Haunts of the Very Rich (1972), directed by Paul Wendkos, and it was still being revived by professional regional theatre companies throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century.