Joseph Hayes was born August 2, 1918, in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is where this play takes place. In 1938, he married Marrijane Johnson, a freelance writer, who has been his frequent collaborator throughout the years. He attended Indiana University from 1938 to 1941, and then worked as an assistant editor for Samuel French Inc. of New York from 1941 to 1943. He authored a series of plays, beginning in 1944: The Thompsons (1944); A Woman's Privilege (1945); The Bridegroom Waits and Home for Christmas (both 1946); and Too Young, Too Old (1948). In 1949, for the first time, Hayes had a play produced on Broadway: Leaf and Bough. He is the solo author of eleven plays and the co-author, with his wife, of another fifteen plays. He has also produced several Broadway plays, as a partner with Erskine and Hayes Productions.

Hayes's first novel was The Desperate Hours, published in 1954. It was chosen as a Literary Guild selection. The...