In January 1936, a municipal censorship ordinance was used to decline granting a performance permit for "The Children's Hour" in Chicago. "Les Innocentes", André Bernheim's French-language translation of "The Children's Hour", was first presented April 21, 1936, at the Théâtre des Arts in Paris. Although the Lord Chamberlain banned the public performance of "The Children's Hour" in Great Britain in March 1935, the play was presented in its entirety on November 12, 1936, at a private performance at the Gate Theatre Studio in London, managed by Norman Marshall. Philip M. Armato, an assistant professor of Northern Illinois University, argued that while members of the public perceived Karen and Martha as overall good characters, he felt the public overlooking the two treating Mary Tilford and Lily Mortar without mercy, prior to the spreading of the rumors. He argued that when Karen forgives Amelia Tilford, this breaks a cycle of vengeance that occurs between those characters. Tanfer Amin Tunc wrote that because Mary Tilford spreads the rumor to deliberately attack the teachers, many reviewers had perceived Mary as "a corrupt and immoral child or adolescent". Screenwriter and playwright Paddy Chayefsky considered "The Children's Hour" to be one of the most carefully structured plays ever written, and learned play-structure in his youth by copying in longhand the entire script. Some readers and critics perceived the work as a "melodrama" with each character being a completely good one or a completely bad one, with a 1942 preface talking about "goodness" and "badness" used as evidence; Hellman responded in a 1965 interview that none of her characters were completely good or bad and that the preface was misinterpreted. "The Children's Hour" was in serious consideration for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for 1934–35. The award was presented instead to Zoë Akins' play "The Old Maid". Accused of rejecting Hellman's play because of its controversial subject—one of the Pulitzer judges had refused to see it—the selection committee replied that "The Children's Hour" was not eligible for the award because it was based on a court case and was therefore not an original drama. Critics responded that since "The Old Maid" was based on a novella by Edith Wharton, it also should have been deemed ineligible. Angered by the Pulitzer Prize decision, the New York Drama Critics' Circle began awarding its own annual prize for drama the following year. Lillian Hellman directed a Broadway revival of "The Children's Hour", produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and presented December 18, 1952 – May 30, 1953, at the Coronet Theatre.