All the Way Home with Lillian Gish and Jim Patterson

Playbill for Lillian's All the Way Home directed by Arthur Penn from March 1961. This comes from my aunt and uncle who saw the production. The original cover photo is blurred and it appears so here. No cover photos of the main players and no interior photos.

Lillian's name appeared on the second cast line by herself. She played the part of Catherine Lynch and her understudy was Shirley Gale. Her bio note, on page 24, is largely accurate, absent dates, but puts her in film at 12. Assuming a birth date of 1898, she would have been 14 when she made her screen debut in An Unseen Enemy directed by Griffith.

Bio note reads, "One of the most beloved actresses of stage and screen, Lillian Gish began her theatrical career as a tot (Baby Lillian) of five in In Convict's Stripes. Not too many years later (she was twelve)  she became one of the brightest stars of a brad new art form, the motion picture. Alone with her sister, Dorothy, she starred in a number of great silent films including D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, Broken Blossoms, and Way Down East, and for eighteen years she busied herself in Hollywood before returning to the stage. Since then, she has divided her time between stage and screen. Among her foot light appearances have been Uncle Vanya, Camille, The Star Wagon, Hamlet-in which she played Ophelia to John Gielgud's unforgettable Dane-The Trip to Bountiful, The Chalk Garden and Family Reunion. Among Miss Gish's recent films we find Duel in the Sun, Portrait of Jenny, The Night of the Hunter, Orders to Kill and The Unforgiven."


In his New York Times review, December 27, 1960, Brooks Atkinson headlined "Lillian Gish Shines in 'All the Way Home,' as She and Sister Have in Many Things." He continued, "WHEN the curtain goes up on the second act of "All the Way Home" at the Belasco Theatre, Lillian Gish is discovered sitting primly on a sofa, as the deaf and daft mother of a grown family, the audience applauds before she speaks a word."


Interesting features of this production:

Lillian made her Broadway debut at the Belasco Theater.

The production ran for 333 performances from November 1960 to September 1961.

Jeff Conaway, from Grease and the TV show Taxi, has a small part as one of four young boys. Conaway would have been 11 at the time. He died in 2011.

According to Playbill, "The action takes place in and around Knoxville, Tennessee, in May of 1915." Of course, that was the year Birth of a Nation was released and Lillian became an internationally famous "movie star." The production also gave her the opportunity to use her Southern accent.

Famous child actor John Megna is in the play. He died of AIDS in the mid 1990s.

All the Way Home was made into a film in 1963 with Jean Simmons and Robert Preston. Many of the Broadway cast members found parts in the film. Lillian was not in it.

Only one cast member of this production is living as of this writing. I have an interview with that cast member in a few weeks.

Jim Patterson
www.LDGish.blogspot.com