He made his Broadway in 1912 debut authoring the musical comedySari, an English language adaptation of the operettaDer Zigeunerprimas. Cushing complained to P. G. Wodehouse that he was only paid $500 for the play. In 1921, his play Thank You, co-written with Winchell Smith, debuted at the Longacre Theatre. Dorothy Parker wrote that it was "deftly done..and gently amusing. The small-town characters are not so obtrusively comic as they might be, and you can guess what a relief that is. If ever a play ended at the second act, Thank You is that very play, but there is, of course, a third act, so that the dress suits can be brought in, and the audience can feel that it has had its money's worth." 1925 John Ford directed a film versionThank You. Another 1921 premiere, at the Empire Theatre, was Blood and Sand, his adaptation of the Vicente Blasco Ibáñez novel Sangre y arena. Otis Skinner starred as the toreadorJuan Gallardo, and while his performance was acclaimed, critics thought he was too old for the part. Cushing's play was its adapted into a 1922 silent film version starring Rudolph Valentino. In 1923, his play Laugh, Clown, Laugh, co-written with David Belasco, debuted at the Belasco Theatre. It was adapted from the Italian play Ridi, Pagliaccio by. Lionel Barrymore starred as the depressed clown Tito Beppi. Lon Chaney played the role in a 1928 silent film adaptation. Out O'Luck, a comedy about doughboys in France, was performed by the Yale Dramatic Association in 1925 and later went on tour. Yale alumniCole Porter contributed three songs to the play and its success provided him with badly needed confidence at a time when he considered abandoning songwriting. Cushing's 1926 play The Devil in the Cheese premiered at the Charles Hopkins Theatre. In it, an American couple, played by and their daughter visit Meteora, where they are held for ransom by a Greek bandit posing as a priest and archaeologist and later rescued by the daughter's boyfriend. The second act takes place within the daughter's imagination, and includes adventurous travels in the South Seas and on a desert island, domestic life, and her becoming First Lady. After her father eats a piece of mummified cheese he is made privy to his daughter's daydreams thanks to the Egyptian godMin. The New York Times wrote of Lugosi's performance that he "acts with an authority and cadence worthy of better things". La Gringa premiered at the Little Theatre, starring Claudette Colbert. It was adapted as the now lost filmSouth Sea Rose. Barely Proper was a 1929 play that went unperformed on Broadway during his lifetime – Cushing subtitled it An Unplayable Play – but it was published. The play about a family of nudists was finally performed in 1970 at the Belasco by Ken McGuire to very poor reviews. Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Times that it was "making teensy-weensy headlines as being the first Broadway nudist play. It should probably be the last".
