Willard Mack's crime melodrama based upon Adela Rogers St. John's novel of the same title opened at the Playhouse Theatre on 12 January 1928 for a run of 100 performances. George Cukor directed Lester Lonergan as a hard-drinking attorney with unsavory connections whose daughter marries a gambler (Melvyn Douglas's* New York debut role). Producer William A. Brady moved into Lonergan's role during the run and played the big courtroom scene with theatrical flair.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.