The Philanderer in 1913. The following year, the theater hosted A Pair of Silk Stockings, which was the Little's first major hit with 223 performances. In addition, in 1914, Ames started hiring musicians to play "new, original, unpublished American music" during intermission. At the end of that year, Ames's physician ordered him to take a twelve-month hiatus from theatrical productions. The Little Theater hosted no productions during the 1915–1916 theatrical season, as Ames did not return to producing until August 1916. Expansion and Morosco/Golden operation By early 1915, the small capacity of the Little had restricted Ames's ability to profit from the venue, even though Ames charged a relatively affordable $2.50 per seat (). That March, The New York Times reported that Ames was planning to increase the capacity to 1,000 seats by adding a balcony, enlarging the auditorium, and replacing the stage. Two months later, Ames leased the dwelling at 244 West 44th Street for the possible enlargement of the theater. The New-York Tribune lamented that the city would "lose its gem among playhouses" with the planned enlargement. A Billboard magazine article that July indicated that the theater would receive a 200-seat balcony, increasing the capacity only to 500 seats. Ames hired Herbert J. Krapp in 1917 to remodel the theater with a balcony. Krapp kept the box office, the lobby, and the auditorium ceiling in their original condition. He removed the wainscoting and wall coverings, since these did not conform to New York City building regulations for larger venues, and added Adam-style decorations in their place. A disagreement with the New York City Department of Buildings delayed the renovation by three years. In 1918, Rachel Crothers's play A Little Journey opened at the Little, running for 252 performances. The plans for the theater's renovation were approved in June 1919, and Ames leased the theater to Oliver Morosco the same month. The same year, Morosco presented Please Get Married, featuring Ernest Truex and Edith Taliaferro. When the theater's expansion was completed in early 1920, Morosco hosted two "experimental dramas": Rachel Barton Butler's Mama's Affair and Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon. John Golden's production of Frank Craven's The First Year, starring Craven and Roberta Arnold, opened at the Little in October 1920; that play ran for nearly two years. In August 1922, Golden acquired Morosco's stake in the lease, partnering with L. Lawrence Weber and F. Ray Comstock. By that