Directed by Tom Szalay
Venables Theatre - February 7-15, 2020
Venables Theatre - February 7-15, 2020
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One of our promo trailers (above)
What's the Story?It's September 1946 when crude and shady junk czar, Harry Brock, comes to Washington, DC, along with a much younger ex-chorus girl, Billie Dawn, his cousin and henchman, Eddie, and his personal lawyer, Jim Devery. Brock is a large, vulgar man, accustomed to having, or if necessary, buying his own way.
We soon learn that Devery has set up a meeting with Senator Norval Hedges to discuss proposed legislation to reduce regulations that may interfere with Brock’s ‘free-enterprise’ exploits. Of course, ‘free enterprise’ includes freedom to pay the good senator for his efforts. Brock’s biggest liability seems to be the socially inappropriate behaviour and outrageously ignorant remarks of Billie, a beautiful woman with a deceptively simple facade. Charmed by Paul Verrall, the investigative reporter who is sent to interview him, Brock hires the idealistic newsman to educate Billie, hoping she will acquire enough social polish to prevent embarrassment. Little does Brock realize that beneath her ignorance and apathy, Billie is an intelligent woman with a strong sense of right and wrong, who just needed a kind and patient teacher to blossom into an empowered and informed person. As Billie and Paul tiptoe towards romance, and Billie absorbs Paul’s knowledge and ideals, she begins to question the ways Brock has been using her. In this pointed, yet at times hilarious story, personal and political oppression is exposed and outwitted in the intellectual rebirth of the iconic “dumb blonde”, who ultimately stands up to Brock’s corruption and violent intimidation. |
Cast & Crew CAST:
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The Director Says...
I stumbled on this play at the historic Ford's Theater on a visit to Washington, DC in 2018. What a great show!
Born Yesterday, set in 1946 Washington DC, features Harry Brock, an arrogant, self-important millionaire, his lawyer and fixer, shady business practices, money in politics , and an investigative reporter, Paul Verrall, trying to preserve the ideals of a free democracy. The decades-old political and social commentary in this show could not be more topical in America's politically-charged atmosphere of 2020. Indeed, the “yellowing” of democracy referred to in the script and the ever-present pull of authoritarianism or fascism, today under the guise of far right ‘populism’, is not America’s alone to worry about. Born Yesterday is also (or perhaps primarily) about Billie Dawn’s self-education and her struggle to overcome the abuse and oppression put on her by Brock, who claims to love Billie, but really sees her as little more than a “dumb broad” and a means to hide his wealth. The three main characters are all allegories of the eternal struggle between rich and poor, the selfish and the unselfish, and the role of ignorance in the decay of democracy. Truly, we see that “A world full of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in,” a quote from the play, which today is engraved on the sidewalk outside the New York City Public Library. And yet…this is a great comedy; an easy way to learn and think about current issues and have some great laughs at the same time! We will stage this story in 1940s style: luxury, art-deco hotel suite, period music, costumes and dialogue. Although the story involves corruption, drama, love and violence, the playwright's mid-century sensitivities keep language tame compared to modern shows, making it suitable and entertaining (and potentially, educational) for all audience members over 12 years old. It was a thrill to watch all our characters come to life during rehearsals as we prepared to share great story with you. I feel honoured for the opportunity to work with such dedicated and talented actors and the many others behind the scenes producing, costuming, building and dressing the set, gathering props and helping run the production. We all hope you loved watching it as much as we loved putting it together! - Tom Szalay, Director |
History and Politics of Born YesterdayThis story of Harry Brock and his entourage is firmly set in 1946 Washington DC. World War II has just ended and the Cold War is just heating up. Democratic President Harry S Truman has been in office 18 months, since the death of Franklin Roosevelt, three months into his fourth term as president. Both the House and the Senate are held by Democratic majorities. However, Act 2 takes place in November, following the 1946 elections, which sent Republican majorities to both houses of congress, foreshadowing the long and continuing decline of FDR’s “New Deal” principles.
Born Yesterday first opened in New York in 1946, running for 1,642 performances, still the longest-running show ever at the Lyceum Theatre. In the ensuing decades, this show has been remounted many times on stage and twice in the movies. Although Born Yesterday is first and foremost a comedy, its themes, satire and symbolism have rung as loud through the decades as at its opening, and in many ways, even louder today. Brock comes to represent the thuggery and ferociousness of unbridled capitalism, while Verrall laments the ‘yellowing’ of democracy, decaying in the wake of the war. He says, "The whole damn history of the world is the struggle between the selfish and unselfish," referring to the greed he so loathes in Brock. Hedges is part of a government controlled by big-money interests. Billie, initially the uneducated ‘dumb blonde’ living on her street smarts, is the unwitting victim of her rich oppressor until she finds her own strength through education. What could be a more topical collection of subplots for today’s audience? As an interesting aside, the playwright and the lead actress in the original Born Yesterday were both among the 151 writers, directors and performers in the notorious Red Channels black list published four years after the start of Born Yesterday. Along with others on the list, Garson Kanin and Judy Holliday were accused of communist sympathies and "un-American activities". Was their satire and exposure of ruling class corruption in this show partly why they were added to the list? |
Some Rehearsal Photos
Playwright Garson Kanin (1912-1999)
Garson Kanin worked as an actor on stage and as a director on Broadway and in Hollywood, but his best-known work is as a writer.
During the Great Depression, he dropped out of high school to help support his family by working at Macy’s as a stock clerk, and soon formed his own band, Gar Kay and the Red Peppers, featuring himself on clarinet. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1932 to 1933.
He briefly worked as an actor on Broadway following his studies but then as an assistant to Broadway director George Abbot. In 1937, he joined Samuel Goldwyn's staff but left after a year because he had not been given any directing assignments. He was signed by RKO Pictures and there directed such films as The Great Man Votes (1939) and Tom, Dick and Harry (1941), but he soon became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his films under the studio system.
During World War II, Kanin was drafted into the U.S. Army’s Film Unit in Washington D.C. where he directed training and patriotic films. The military eventually enlisted Kanin in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, and sent him to London where Kanin, with Carol Reed, co-directed General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s official record of the Allied Invasion, a documentary titled The True Glory. The True Glory was named Best Film of 1945 by the National Board of Review and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary that year. Top-secret while in production, it covered the period from the preparations for D-Day to the liberation of Paris.
At nights, while Nazi bombs blitzed London, Kanin wrote a draft of Born Yesterday, still his most widely performed play. Born Yesterday opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater on February 4, 1946. Kanin directed the play, which catapulted the then-unknown Judy Holliday to stardom. The hit comedy ran for four years (1,642 performances), still holding the record for longest-running play at that theater. Kanin later adapted Born Yesterday for the screen, though interestingly, his name appears nowhere in the 1950 movie credits.
He and his wife, Ruth Gordon, collaborated on four screenplays, including Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952). They stopped working on scripts together for the sake of their marriage after 1952, but in 1979 they co-wrote one more, the TV film Hardhat and Legs (1980). Kanin and Gordon were never under contract by any studio as writers. They wrote the scripts on their own and sold them to interested Hollywood studios.
Today there is a bronze plaque on the 41st Street sidewalk across the street from the New York Public Library. The quote is from Born Yesterday, but it reflects Garson Kanin’s personal belief: "I want everybody to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in."
A detailed biography is available at Garson Kanin's official web site, www.garsonkanin.com.
During the Great Depression, he dropped out of high school to help support his family by working at Macy’s as a stock clerk, and soon formed his own band, Gar Kay and the Red Peppers, featuring himself on clarinet. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1932 to 1933.
He briefly worked as an actor on Broadway following his studies but then as an assistant to Broadway director George Abbot. In 1937, he joined Samuel Goldwyn's staff but left after a year because he had not been given any directing assignments. He was signed by RKO Pictures and there directed such films as The Great Man Votes (1939) and Tom, Dick and Harry (1941), but he soon became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his films under the studio system.
During World War II, Kanin was drafted into the U.S. Army’s Film Unit in Washington D.C. where he directed training and patriotic films. The military eventually enlisted Kanin in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, and sent him to London where Kanin, with Carol Reed, co-directed General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s official record of the Allied Invasion, a documentary titled The True Glory. The True Glory was named Best Film of 1945 by the National Board of Review and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary that year. Top-secret while in production, it covered the period from the preparations for D-Day to the liberation of Paris.
At nights, while Nazi bombs blitzed London, Kanin wrote a draft of Born Yesterday, still his most widely performed play. Born Yesterday opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater on February 4, 1946. Kanin directed the play, which catapulted the then-unknown Judy Holliday to stardom. The hit comedy ran for four years (1,642 performances), still holding the record for longest-running play at that theater. Kanin later adapted Born Yesterday for the screen, though interestingly, his name appears nowhere in the 1950 movie credits.
He and his wife, Ruth Gordon, collaborated on four screenplays, including Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952). They stopped working on scripts together for the sake of their marriage after 1952, but in 1979 they co-wrote one more, the TV film Hardhat and Legs (1980). Kanin and Gordon were never under contract by any studio as writers. They wrote the scripts on their own and sold them to interested Hollywood studios.
Today there is a bronze plaque on the 41st Street sidewalk across the street from the New York Public Library. The quote is from Born Yesterday, but it reflects Garson Kanin’s personal belief: "I want everybody to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in."
A detailed biography is available at Garson Kanin's official web site, www.garsonkanin.com.
On June 22, 1950, Counterattack, an anti-Communist journal, published Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television, a pamphlet that named 151 actors, writers, musicians, broadcasters and journalists, accusing them of fostering purported Communist manipulation of the entertainment industry.
At the time, the House Committee on Un-American Activities and Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) already were seeking to purge suspected Communist sympathizers from government service, Hollywood and other arenas. “Red Channels” went further by allegedly exposing what it termed a broad Communist effort to achieve “domination of American broadcasting and telecasting, preparatory to the day when … [the] Party will assume control of this nation as the result of a final upheaval and civil war.”
Joining such well-known names as Edgar G. Robinson, Orson Welles, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller and Dorothy Parker on the Red Channels list were several prominent musical figures, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw and Burl Ives, as well as New York Times music critic Olin Downes.
Red Channels caused some of those it named to be blacklisted while others, who adhered to their political views, including folksinger Pete Seeger, suffered financially. Still others on the list repudiated their political pasts and provided the House panel with names of suspected prominent leftists.
Garson Kanin, his wife Ruth Gordon, along with Judy Holliday, who played BILLIE in the original Broadway production of Born Yesterday, were among the 151 entertainment industry names included on the Red Channels black list.
All those people named in the pamphlet were blacklisted until they appeared in front of the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), headed by Senator Joe McCarthy, and convinced its members they had completely renounced their radical past. Authorities were not interested in letters. They preferred a mix of humiliation and atonement. "You had to to repent any official stand you may have taken, such as signing a petition for something you believed in. You had to repent all those activities that were cited under your name in Red Channels and to swear lifelong hatred and opposition to the Communist Party."
The decline of the blacklist was slow but steady by the late '50s, until it was largely broken by a lawsuit in 1962.
Further reading:
At the time, the House Committee on Un-American Activities and Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) already were seeking to purge suspected Communist sympathizers from government service, Hollywood and other arenas. “Red Channels” went further by allegedly exposing what it termed a broad Communist effort to achieve “domination of American broadcasting and telecasting, preparatory to the day when … [the] Party will assume control of this nation as the result of a final upheaval and civil war.”
Joining such well-known names as Edgar G. Robinson, Orson Welles, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller and Dorothy Parker on the Red Channels list were several prominent musical figures, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger, Artie Shaw and Burl Ives, as well as New York Times music critic Olin Downes.
Red Channels caused some of those it named to be blacklisted while others, who adhered to their political views, including folksinger Pete Seeger, suffered financially. Still others on the list repudiated their political pasts and provided the House panel with names of suspected prominent leftists.
Garson Kanin, his wife Ruth Gordon, along with Judy Holliday, who played BILLIE in the original Broadway production of Born Yesterday, were among the 151 entertainment industry names included on the Red Channels black list.
All those people named in the pamphlet were blacklisted until they appeared in front of the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), headed by Senator Joe McCarthy, and convinced its members they had completely renounced their radical past. Authorities were not interested in letters. They preferred a mix of humiliation and atonement. "You had to to repent any official stand you may have taken, such as signing a petition for something you believed in. You had to repent all those activities that were cited under your name in Red Channels and to swear lifelong hatred and opposition to the Communist Party."
The decline of the blacklist was slow but steady by the late '50s, until it was largely broken by a lawsuit in 1962.
Further reading: