[3] The original production was produced by Harry Moses, staged by Guthrie McClintic, had sets and costumes by Stewart Chaney, and starred Judith Anderson and Helen Menken.

[5] Despite reviews that ranged from mild praise[3][6] to negative[7][8] at its inception, the play was awarded the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a decision marked by controversy over the snubbing of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour.

Act I The play opens in 1833, with Delia in her room at her parents' home in New York City, just before her wedding to Jim Ralston.

James Ralston died twelve years previously, so Charlotte and Tina now live with Delia, whose own daughter Dee is married to John Halsey.

Wharton's novella began in 1840, with Delia already married, the mother of two children, and Charlotte's impending wedding to Joseph Ralston a week away.

[11] By the end of November 1934 Judith Anderson and director Guthrie McClintic had been signed,[12] with the opening scheduled for the Empire Theatre on New Year's Eve.

[1] Kirkely also thought the stars' acting uneven, but even worse that the authors failed to make Charlotte's troubles seem important.

[1] Gilbert Kanour from The Evening Sun said Akins' adaption from Wharton's The Old Maid had "literate dignity" but "the drama she tried to ignite from those pages merely spluttered and refused to burn".

[7] "The story seemed impotent and lacked theatrical warmth" he continued, and like Kirkley, remarked on the dampened spirit of the holiday crowd.

[7] Kanour also delivered a low blow: "The costars were handicapped in the beginning as are all mature actresses who try to take the parts of young women".

[7] A journalist for a Baltimore newspaper reported Judith Anderson arriving for an interview "waving a script" and saying "New scene for tonight".

[22] The exact date of this script addition and its content were not reported, but the interview was published in an evening newspaper on the last day of the Baltimore tryout.

[23] To ensure his production got media attention, producer Harry Moses invited the New York critics down to Baltimore to view The Old Maid on January 5, 1938, at the end of its one week tryout there.

"[4] Pollock had high praise for both stars, saying of Anderson and Menken they "play with a rare sensitiveness and tender dexterity", but concluded "It is very beautiful, but I couldn't think of its people as anything but dainty puppets".

In early April Sam Zolotow of The New York Times had estimated odds for each of the top plays that might be under consideration for the award.

[25] However, by early May the consensus had swung to The Old Maid, in expectation that The Children's Hour would be nobbled,[9] and because of the Gold Medal awarded by The Theatre Club.

[27] The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that when word reached the Empire Theatre "The Misses Menken and Anderson went into a little dance of jubilation in the wings".

"[9]Akins' reply to Hamilton, according to The New York Times, was to remind him he had voted for Marc Connelly's The Green Pastures, a 1930 adaption of Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun by Roark Bradford.

[26] The New York Times offered a detailed explanation of how the Pulitzer voting had gone, saying that The Children's Hour was considered, but lost out for having a "poor conclusion" (third act).

[26] It also said the Pulitzer jury (John Erskine, William Lyon Phelps, and Stark Young) had recommended four plays to the Columbia University trustees: The Old Maid, Valley Forge, Merrily We Roll Along, and Personal Appearance.

[30] However, it would be three years after the tour ended before Warner Brothers, rather than Paramount, released the film, starring Bette Davis as Charlotte and Miriam Hopkins as Delia.