on 43rd Street, which was vacant. As construction proceeded on the Selwyn Theatre in September 1917, the Selwyn brothers announced two additional theaters . Originally, the two theaters were to be named after actress Margaret Illington and producer Margaret Mayo. The following February, the Shubert family acquired a partial interest in the three theaters that the Selwyns were constructing. By this time, the planned Illington Theatre was to be known as the Times Square Theater. The Selwyn brothers leased the eastern site from Sperry and Hutchinson Co. in July 1918, after the plot had already been excavated. In May 1919, the New York City Department of Buildings approved the Selwyn brothers' plans for a 1,100-seat theater on 42nd Street and a 1,200-seat theater on 43rd Street. The O'Day Construction Company was hired to erect both theaters. The Selwyn brothers intended to use the two theaters exclusively for their own productions. Legitimate use Selwyn years The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Florence Reed starring in Edgar Selwyn's play The Mirage. The production was a relative hit, lasting for 192 performances through March 1921. During that play's run, G.K. Chesterton spoke on the topic "Shall We Abolish the Inevitable?" at the theater. This was followed by the musical comedy The Right Girl, as well as the mhort-lived usical revue The Broadway Whirl. The plays The Demi-Virgin, Honors Are Even, and Love Dreams had short runs at the Times Square in late 1921. That November, the Clemence Dane play A Bill of Divorcement moved from George M. Cohan's Theatre to the Times Square; it was one of the first hits that featured actress Katharine Cornell. The theater also hosted recitals by actress Ruth Draper, who continued her performances there for several years. In 1922, the Times Square hosted plays such as The Charlatan, as well as The Exciters with Tallulah Bankhead. The Fool, by Channing Pollock, opened in October 1922 and ran for over 200 performances through the next year. As an experiment, the Selwyn brothers brought over several visiting companies in mid-1923 to perform The Fool in place of the usual actors. Each company performed for three days before being performing the production at other theaters. The play Helen of Troy, New York, transferred from the Selwyn Theatre in October 1923; this was followed in December by Pelléas and Mélisande with Jane Cowl, which flopped after 13 performances. During