This is a playhouse within an amusement park, up on a mountain, at the edge of a New England factory town. You may not find a more unlikely place for a summer theater than this, but it was a giant in its day. Some great actors--before they were famous, and some after they became famous--performed here.
I am currently writing a book on this place and the companies which performed on Mt. Tom in Holyoke, Massachusetts, from 1895 to 1965. I hope to have it available in December.
Hal Holbrook debuted his the full-length version of his one-man show here: Mark Twain Tonight! He was a member of The Valley Players here long before he won his Tony award, and his fame, for playing that role that he created.
A generation earlier, George Brent, before he came to Hollywood (and before he was George Brent -- he still used the surname Nolan) was the leading man here for a couple summers.
Betsy Drake, before her film career, and her marriage to Cary Grant, performed here as a young ingénue. James Coco was a member of the company here, and Mary Jackson, long before you knew her as Miss Emily Baldwin on The Waltons, played here.
Others performed at this playhouse, long called The Casino, and in later years, The Mt. Tom Playhouse, after they had achieved their fame: Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Alexis Smith and her husband, Craig Stevens, Kathryn Crosby, Eve Arden, Dana Andrews, and Tallulah Bankhead, to name a few.
You may have never heard of Jackson Perkins, or Lauren Gilbert, Jean Guild, or Anne Follmann, Hugh Franklin, or John O'Connor. Maybe some of you will remember Joseph Foley only from his turn as the principal on the Mr. Peepers TV show in the 1950s. I am equally excited to be presenting their stories.
We've discussed in these previous posts the summer theatre work of Ann Blyth, and film stars on stage at the La Jolla Playhouse, and at the Storrowton in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Theatre is such an exciting art form, and it enriches any community lucky enough to have live theatre.
Those who love classic films often follow their favorite stars' career paths into television. Theatre is another world, one that required enormously hard work, self-discipline, and for which they did not always receive a great deal of money. It was done for the love of it. I would encourage all classic film fans to explore the dual heritage of the history of theatre as it may relate to your favorite film stars.
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The audio book for Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. is now for sale on Audible.com, and on Amazon and iTunes.
Also in paperback and eBook from Amazon.
6 comments:
Sounds like a great idea, Jacqueline! I, too, love community theaters and especially the history behind each one of them. I'll look forward to reading your book once it is released.
Thanks, gals! I'm enjoying the project very much, and I hope the readers will, too.
Reminds me of the Ogunquit Playhouse, a summer theater in Ogunquit, Maine (still in operation). A summer theater I went to a few times as a kid. More recently (10 or more years ago) I saw Eva Marie Saint and her husband, Jeffrey Hayden (a director making his acting debut) in Love Letters, there. I think many of the stars you mentioned acted there, and I remember pictures on the wall of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Maurice Chevalier. I saw Van Johnson in a play there when I was a kid. There were various summer theater circuits, I think. These two theaters may have been on the same one. The stars toured the summer theaters with productions, usually - didn't just perform at one. Looking forward to reading more about this theater.
Thank you for stopping by Ross, and sharing your memories of Ogunquit. I've been to that theater, they do a terrific job. I love summer theater, and I'm very excited about the book. Thank you for your interest.
I'm very excited by this project. The theatre has a large part of my heart.
Thanks, CW. Me, too.
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