Fine Feathers (play)  Fine Feathers is a 1912 drama in four acts by Eugene Walter. The play started as a scenario by Walter Hackett called "C.O.D.". Hackett, behind by $3,000 on his board bill at the Hotel Algonquin, negotiated with Frank M. Case, then manager of the Algonquin (he would later buy the hotel in 1932), to settle his account in exchange for twenty-five percent of all royalties on "C.O.D.". Hackett had learned his lesson, when 4 years earlier he landed in jail after trying to pay his hotel bill at the Castleton in Staten Island with forged checks. Eugene Walter was then called to whip the play into shape for production. First produced for the stage as Fads and Frills by Charles Dillingham in 1910, it was abandoned as a failure after a three-week run. Sam Shubert and Lee Shubert thereafter produced the play as Homeward Bound. It premiered in New York on January 28, 1911 at the Daly's Theatre and subsequently went on tour, but was losing money and further performances were suspended. On March 27, 1911 the "New York Daily Tribune" announced that the Shuberts were preparing to make another production of "Homeward Bound", this time starring Margaret Illington. "The New York Clipper" wrote that Walter had changed the title of his play again, to "Who's to Blame?". Whether it was true or a subtle April Fool's joke (it was published April 1), the new title for the third rewrite of the play was Mrs. Maxwell's Mistake. It was anticipated to premiere April 17, 1911 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre but was rescheduled at the last minute for the following week; it ended up premiering at the Park Theatre in Bridgeport CT for one show on April 20. It finally made its Broadway debut on April 24 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre, but was again a commercial failure. After three unsuccessful attempts as a comedy, Eugene Walter decided sometime after May 1911 to rewrite the play as a drama. Theatrical agent and producer Harry Frazee met Walter on a train ride from Chicago to New York City, and convinced him that his latest rewrite of the play, now titled "Fine Feathers", was the best thing he had ever written. He offered the playwright a contract and a royalty check in exchange for significant creative control. His confidence boosted by Frazee's enthusiasm and money, Walter felt that he might finally have a box office hit on his hands and decided to approach Frank M. Case, who was still entitled to twenty-five percent of all royalties, and on June 4, 1912 an agreement was signed by which Case sold all his rights in the play to Walter for $200.