1959

The 20th Anniversary Season of the Bucks County Playhouse opened in May of 1959. Audiences would see 10 shows during the course of the season.
The season opened with The Tunnel of Love by Joseph Fields and Peter DeVries and starred Rita Gam, Scott McKay, Sono Osato and Jack Pyle. It was Ms. Gam's first appearance at the Playhouse, having previously appeared on Broadway in Montserrat, Quiet Comedy and The Young And Fair. Pyle had previously appeared at the Playhouse two seasons before in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and was known locally as a radio personality on Philadelphia's WIP radio station.
Jack Pyle
Rita Gam
Summer of the 17th Doll, followed The Tunnel of Love and starred James Whitmore. The play revolved around a town and concerned itself with the eventual realization that the two central characters aren't as young as they used to be. Opposite James Whitmore was Art Lund.
James Whitmore

The third offering of 1959 was Tiger at the Gates starring Hurd Hatfield, Philip Bourneuf and Frances Reid. It was the first time that the play was produced professionally in the region and in the supporting cast was a young actor named Robert Redford.
Hurd Hatfield
Gene Rayburn and Russell Nype returned to the Playhouse in Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? from June 15 through June 27.
Gene Rayburn
A special show was mounted for the 20th Anniversary of the Bucks County Playhouse. Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's The Man Who Came To Dinner ran from June 29 through July 11. The cast featured many Playhouse favorites including Gale Gordon, Frances Reid, Ezra Stone, Sara Seegar, Viola Roache, Gene Blakely, Charles White , Frank Milton and T.C. Jones. Gale Gordon portrayed Sheridan Whiteside and T.C. Jones played Lorraine Sheldon. Jones was a well known female impersonator who had wowed Playhouse audiences the previous year in Mask and Gown.

Julia Meade starred in Once More, With Feeling from July 13 through July 25. Ms. Meade returned to the Playhouse stage having previously appeared in Boston Love Story in 1958. The convoluted plot of Once More, With Feeling centered on a woman in love with a man to whom she should have been married only somehow never got around to it. Now the woman wants to marry another man she thinks, and has to marry the first man in order to get a divorce from him.

Julia Meade
Next up was Cradle and All which ran from which ran from July 27 through August 8. The play starred Loring Smith, Una Merkel and Dick Van Dyke. It was the first new play of the season and all of its stars were making their first appearances at the Bucks County Playhouse. The comedy centered on a couple, married for thirty years, who find out they are pregnant. Their lives are suddenly readjusted because of the news. Cradle and All marked Dick Van Dyke's first stage appearance.
Una Merkle
Loring Smith
The Lautrec Print was a new addition to the 1959 schedule and starred Vicki Cummings, Murray Matheson and Lee Bergere. The play was billed as "a new suspense play that will hold you on the edge of your seat to the final curtain" and was making its world premiere. Ms. Cummings was making her first appearance at the Playhouse and was known to audiences for over 200 television appearances.
Vicki Cummings
The Queen and the Rebels ran from August 24 through September 5 and starred Uta Hagen, Joseph Wiseman and Mildred Dunnock. It was billed as "the most important new play the Playhouse has ever presented." The play was directed Herbert Berghof who was the husband of Ms. Hagen. It was the first time she had been directed by her husband. Ms. Hagen had previously appeared at the Playhouse in 1954 in The Cocktail Party.
Uta Hagen
The final production of 1959 was a musical entitled Say, Darling. It starred Carol Bruce and featured music and lyrics by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The production ran from September 7 through September 19. Ms. Bruce previously appeared at the Playhouse in Pal Joey. The musical was billed as an insider's look at how a musical is put together.
Carol Bruce