The Intimate Strangers (play)

The Intimate Strangers is a 1921 play by Booth Tarkington. It is a three-act comedy with two settings and eight characters. The action of the play takes place within 24 hours. The story concerns a naive old-fashioned bachelor, teased by a pretend spinster, with a younger couple serving as competition. Tarkington wrote the play with Maude Adams in mind, but when she was unavailable, it became a vehicle for Billie Burke.

The play was produced by a consortium including Abe Erlanger, Charles Dillingham, and Florenz Ziegfeld. It was staged by Ira Hards, and starred Burke, with Alfred Lunt, Frances Howard, and Glen Hunter. It had a tryout in Washington, D. C., a week before it premiered on Broadway during November 1921. It ran through January 1922 for 91 performances, before going on tour.

The play was never revived on Broadway, but was adapted for an episode of Kraft Television Theatre in 1951.

Characters are listed in order of appearance within their scope.

Lead

Supporting

Featured

The humor revolves around the complicated family relationship, which is only partially revealed during the course of the play, and the competition between Isabel and Florence. William Ames was on a vacation when he was stranded at an isolated station north of Utica, New York, by a storm that washed out a bridge and communication lines. Also stranded is Isabel Stuart. Though they noticed each other on the train, they didn't speak until marooned at the station. When the play begins, they had been at the station for ten hours, with their only company the station master's brother-in-law, who has since departed.