 The production ran for 114 straight performances before touring major US cities and returning to New York to run for an additional eighty-four performances before closing, in part because of America's declared war on 7 December 1941, which had refocused the nation's attention.The second civil rights drama, "Strange Fruit" (1945), set in a small Georgia town, had been adapted from Lilian Smith's controversial novel.Staged by José Ferrer, the play featured 23-year-old Jane White as Nonnie, a black girl made pregnant by a white boy played by Mel Ferrer.