1957

No less than 14 shows were produced at the Playhouse during the 1957 Season, four of which were musicals. Opening the season was Out Of This World with music and lyrics by Cole Porter.

Actor Don Murray was set to star in The Lady's Not For Burning beginning on May 20. At the time, Murray was considered Hollywood's hottest young star. He only had two weeks free during the summer and decided to make his only appearance of the season at Bucks County. Audiences knew Murray from his Academy Award nominated role in "Bus Stop" and the movie "Bachelor Party."

Don Murray

Witness For The Prosecution opened for a two week run with an all star line up. Frederic Tozere, Colleen Dewhurst and Jack Cassidy played the leads with Joseph Macaulay, Aileen Poe and Arthur Malet in the supporting roles.

Frederic Tozere

Kevin McCarthy was set to star in Janus with his wife, Augusta Dabney. The production also starred Murray Matheson. The comedy centered on a the problems that befall a married school teacher when her husband finds out that every summer in New York she writes a book with a French professor. The situation becomes more complex when they write best sellers and the tax people try to find out who the author really is and who should pay the tax.

Kevin McCarthy

Anna Russell and Jack Cassidy starred in the musical, Half In Earnest. Written by Vivian Ellis, it was a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Also in the cast was Playhouse regular Sara Seegar. The entire production was staged by Ms. Seegar's husband, Ezra Stone.

Anna Russell

Old Playhouse friends Frances Reid and Philip Bourneuf returned to appear in the comedy Lease On Love for one week. The play was written by Aldo de Benedetti, a Roman dramatist. Ms. Reid and Mr. Bourneuf had appeared many times before at Bucks, most notably in The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker for two performances after The Great Flood of 1955 and for a full week in the same show one year later in 1956.

Frances Reid and Philip Bourneuf

The Mistress Of The Inn was up next at the Playhouse. Composed by New Hope's Don Walker, Walker was best known as the orchestrator of more Broadway shows than any other man in the world. The musical featured an 8 piece orchestra (a first for the Playhouse) and starred Jack Cassidy, Beatrice Arthur, Millicent Martin and Gene Saks among others. Years later, Ms. Arthur went on to star in such television hits as "Maude" and "The Golden Girls".

Don Walker

Beatrice Arthur

Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All The Luck played in July of 1957 and starred Sally Kemp and William Smithers. The story centered on a young man who is deemed to be extremely lucky and becomes so obsessed by the idea that he deliberately courts disaster in order to get it over with.

Sally Kemp

Julia Meade, Norma Crane and Gene Rayburn starred in The Love of Four Colonels written by Peter Ustinov. It was Julia Meade's first appearance at the Playhouse. Norma Crane had appeared in at Bucks County in the 1956 production of Bus Stop.

Gene Rayburn

One important theatrical event that took place in 1957 was Frances Farmer's return to the stage. She chose the Bucks County Playhouse as the venue in which she would return after a 14 year absence from the show business. Ms. Farmer was scheduled to appear for 3 weeks in two different shows. The first was The Chalk Garden followed by The Magic and The Loss. After seeing that the following was The Jamison Affair, she asked if she could stay on to do the female role and starred opposite Joseph Warren.

Frances Farmer

The musical, Mask and Gown played during the first week of September and starred T.C. Jones. Jones was regarded at the time as "the most artful female impersonator of the day." The show consisted of impersonations of many famous singers including Ethel Merman, Judy Holiday and Marilyn Monroe.

T. C. Jones

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? ran for two weeks and starred Gene Rayburn, Jane Kean and Jack Pyle in the leads. Originally actress Julie Gibson was to play the female lead. According to producer Mike Ellis in his Producer's Column "by the end of the first day of rehearsal I had decided that I had made a mistake, that Julie was not really right for the part despite her renown as an object of sex adoration. I thought she was too nice for the part, too young for it, and lacking in both a sense of comedy and the technique to project comedy." Ellis released her from the production and replaced her with Jean Kean who replaced Jayne Mansfield in the Broadway production.

Jane Kean

The final show of the season was Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge. The production starred Chester Morris famous for his portrayal of "Boston Blackie" in a successful string of movies. Also appearing was Colleen Dewhurst who had played earlier in the season in Witness For The Prosecution.

Chester Morris