1961

Chosen as the first play of the 22nd season at the Bucks County Playhouse was The Pleasure of His Company starring Constance Carpenter and Murray Matheson. In featured roles were Ralph Bunker and Patricia Bosworth. George Keathley provided direction. It was Keathley's second production at Bucks County Playhouse. Prior to 1961, he directed The Lautrec Print in 1959.
Next up was A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Headlining the cast was Elwood P. Smith and Estelle Hemsley. Bucks County hosted the first summer stock production following the Broadway and tours. The production turned out to be one of the most profitable for the Playhouse in years. It was reported that advance sales for A Raisin in the Sun were far better than for any other show during the season and extra matinees had to be added. Elwood P. Smith had the distinction of previously playing the role of "Walter Lee Younger" both on Broadway and in the touring company in 1960 before reprising it in this production.
Elwood P. Smith

The third production of the season was The Biggest Thief In Town by Dalton Trumbo and directed by Mesrop Kesdekian. In the leading roles were Marc Connelly and Fred Clark. It was Fred Clark's first appearance at the Bucks County Playhouse. He was best known to audiences from his film, stage and television work. Most notably, he was seen for three seasons as "Harry Morton" the television neighbor of George Burns and Gracie Allen on their hit series. Clark had numerous big screen credits including "Auntie Mame" and "Don't Go Near The Water". Marc Connelly had appeared on stage and screen in many roles and was a Pulitzer prize winning author for "The Green Pastures".

The Biggest Thief In Town takes place in an undertaker's parlor in a small town in Colorado. The story centered on the efforts of the local undertaker and his friend to land the burial contract for the richest man in America. Inevitably they have to steal the body only to find out that death is far more complicated than life.
Bottom left: Fred Clark Bottom right: Marc Connelly
One of the Playhouse's most popular performers returned for his annual visit in 1961 when Russell Nype starred in See How They Run. Described as an English farce-comedy, the complicated plot was set in the country cottage of an Anglican cleric. Russell Nype was a two time Tony Award Winner who had been previously seen at Bucks in productions of Petticoat Fever, Anniversary Waltz, Paris and Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? His Tony Awards were given for roles two musicals: Call Me Madam with Ethel Merman and Goldilocks.
Russell Nype
The Interpreter was described as a play about international politics and starred Richard Kiley as Simon Weber and Fred Clark as Jonathan M. Schuyuler. The central character of the play was the Chief Interpreter of the United Nations and the plot focused on a summit meeting between the President of the United States and the Premier of Russia in 1970. A Bucks program printed prior to the show's opening made mention of the recently held Kennedy-Khrushchev meeting and the fact that that meeting was mild compared to the meeting that would take place between the characters of Schuyler and Petrov in the upcoming production of The Interpreter.
Richard Kiley

Two Queens Of Love And Beauty ran from July 10 through July 22. Actress Ann Harding starred as Mrs. Amelia Dampler. Harding last appeared on the Bucks County Playhouse stage in 1949 in Yes, My Darling Daughter and was known for numerous film performances including "Man In The Grey Flannel Suit", "The Magnificent Yankee", "Holiday" and others. The cast also included Georgia Burke as Madam Orange. Burke had last appeared on the Bucks stage in 1940 with Betty Field in Coquette. Harding would undergo vocal chord problems during the run of Two Queens and not be able to appear in all of the performances. It was said that actress Jan Miner, her emergency understudy, performed a miracle by learning the part in such a short time essentially while the production was in its run. Harding underwent a month's rest before requiring surgery on her vocal chords.
Ann Harding
A Man Around The House starred Gerry Jedd in her first Playhouse performance. Written by Joseph Julian and directed by Ralph Bell, the melodrama was set on the lower East Side of New York and centered on the problems of a widow trying to raise two boys, hold down a job and still try to be a woman all at the same time. It was said to hold more aspects of the reality of "today" than any other play seen in a while.
Gerry Jedd
A Whiff of Melancholy was directed by Burgess Meredith and starred Nancy Kelly and Tod Andrews. The play, which had an unprecedented three weeks of rehearsal for a summer stock production, had three characters with a subject matter that was described as "adult". The play spoke openly about the disintegration of the sex relationship in marriage over the years with the subject promising to jolt some audience members while amusing others. Nancy Kelly was making her first Bucks County Playhouse appearance but was already a Broadway and film star. She had appeared in "The Bad Seed", "The Genius And The Goddess" and "The Rivalry".
Bert Lahr
Following a production of The Fantasticks, the final show of the season was the debut of The Beauty Part by S.J. Perelman. Headlining the cast was actor Bert Lahr, most famous as The Cowardly Lion in the movie "The Wizard of Oz. The show was a series of revue-like sketches held together by the idea that every American feels that he must somehow express himself artistically. The show received a great deal of national publicity as the theatrical community was rooting for the show because of its author and its star. Perelman was said to be "horrified" on opening night when Lahr forgot many of his lines and substituted his own thoughts instead. The cast also included Neva Patterson, Mike Ellis's ex wife, Patricia Englund, David Doyle and Larry Hagman who was billed as Larry M. Hagman.