Anne Nichols was born in obscure Dales Mill, in Wayne County, Georgia, to Julie and George Nichols. Her father George was the son of James Nicholas born in 1868. George had the Nicholas surname shortened to Nichols.
To a certain degree, Abie's Irish Rose paralleled the life of its author, who was born into a strict Baptist family, but married (and divorced) Henry Duffy, an Irish Catholic. Nichols
wrote the play during this marriage, and would eventually convert to Catholicism herself.[1]
In 1937 Nichols produced Hey Diddle Diddle, a comedy play written by Bartlett Cormack whose setting was a duplex apartment in Hollywood. The play premiered in Princeton, New Jersey, on January 21 with Lucille Ball as Julie Tucker, "one of three roommates coping with neurotic directors, confused executives, and grasping stars who interfere with the girls' ability to get ahead." The play received good reviews, but there were problems, chiefly with its star, Conway Tearle, who was in poor health. Cormack wanted to replace him, but Nichols said the fault lay with the character and insisted that the part needed to be reshaped and rewritten. The two were unable to agree on a solution. The play was scheduled to open on Broadway at the Vanderbilt, but closed after one week in Washington, D.C., when Tearle suddenly became gravely ill.[2]
