Nobody's Widow

Nobody's Widow (1910), a comedy by Avery Hopwood. [ Hudson Theatre, 215 perf.] When newlywed Roxana Clayton (Blanche Bates) finds her husband (Bruce McRae) kissing another woman, she storms out and announces to her friends that her husband has died suddenly. But wherever she goes there is her “dead” husband quietly trying for a reconciliation. Each time she is about to melt, another incident pops up to fuel her anger. But the husband's persistence finally wins the day. Mounted by David Belasco because Bates insisted on trying her hand at drawing room comedy, the play won critical and public acceptance but widened the breach that saw Bates leave the producer after the show closed.