In that one, Martha (Miriam Hopkins) was accused of having a love affair not with Karen (Merle Oberon) but with Karen’s fiancé, Joe (Joel McCrea). But Hollywood also adapted the play back in 1936 into a straight-washed version titled These Three. The 1961 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine was pretty faithful to the play (and, spoiler alert, it doesn’t end well).
Lillian Hellman’s play The Children’s Hour opened on Broadway in 1934 to great acclaim with its story about how two women who run a private girls’ school are ruined when a student starts a rumor that the women are lovers.
