The Children’s Hour

The Children’s Hour, drama in three acts about the tragic repercussions of a schoolgirl’s malicious gossip by Lillian Hellman, performed and published in 1934. Hellman based the plot on an actual case in 19th-century Edinburgh that was detailed in the essay “Closed Doors, or The Great Drumsheugh Case” in Bad Companions (1931) by William Roughead.

The story concerns an attempt by Mary Tilford, a student at a New England boarding school, to explain to her rich, indulgent grandmother why she has run away from school. Angry over her mild altercation with Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, the women who own and run the school, Mary says that she knows the women to be lesbians, and she successfully blackmails another student into corroborating her accusation. Dr. Joe Cardin, Karen’s fiancé, exposes Mary as a liar, but the school is forced to close. After Karen and Martha lose a libel suit, Karen realizes that Cardin’s trust in her is altered and ends their relationship. Martha confesses her self-doubt to Karen and commits suicide.