1964

The second show of the season was called Linda Stone is Brutal and starred Kim Hunter, Andrew Duggan and Scott McKay. The show was described as a comedy about a psychiatrist who writes a play and the problems that the play causes in his personal life. The program for the show had a cautionary note in it which read "it's clean, but not recommended for children." This was the first time that such a note was printed in connection with a Playhouse show.

Mike Ellis scored another casting coup when he signed Liza Minnelli to do the revival of Time Out for Ginger with Chester Morris. Morris was an old Playhouse favorite having appeared in A Frenzy of Peace and Quiet in 1958 and A View From The Bridge in 1957. Ms. Minnelli had already made her professional debut two years before in an off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward. She spent the rest of the Summer of '64 touring as The Girl in The Fantasticks.

One of the hits from 1958 returned for the 25th Anniversary season. Shelley Berman starred in A Perfect Frenzy by New Hope, Pennsylvania playwright, John D. Hess. This play was a reworked version of A Frenzy of Peace and Quiet that told the story of a city theatrical producer who moved to the country to produce summer theatre. The plot was loosely based on Mr. Hess' experiences when he was the playwright-in-residence at Bucks. Renamed A Perfect Frenzy, it had a rewritten first act, an improved third act and a new cast. The dates that the show ran, June 29 through July 11, coincided with the date the theatre opened, July 1.

James Whitmore made his first appearance at Bucks in 1959 when he appeared in Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll. This time he was starring in A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner. Described as a delightful comedy, A Thousand Clowns centered on a free-lance writer who lives with a young boy to whom he tries to be a father. Mr. Whitmore returned to Bucks again in the 1970's to perform the world premiere of Give 'Em Hell Harry.

Following a murder mystery entitled The Choice Is Murder starring Louis Edmonds and Gerald S. O'Loughlin, a production of William Inge's Bus Stop could be seen from August 10 through August 20. Bus Stop starred Johnnie Ray who was famous throughout the world as a recording artist, night club and concert performer. This was Mr. Ray's dramatic stage debut.

Following a production of Sunday In New York starring Alan Alda, the final show of the season and the final show of Michael Ellis' time at Bucks was a production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town starring Arthur Godfrey. It succeeded in breaking the Box Office record set by Merv Griffin's Broadway only months before. Arthur Godfrey was famous for his CBS Radio show, Arthur Godfrey Time, a program that was broadcast daily from the Bucks County Playhouse during the time he was in Our Town.

Another significant entry in the 1964 notebook was that actor and director Rob Reiner worked as an apprentice at the Bucks County Playhouse during the season. He worked on such shows as Sunday in New York, Bus Stop, The Choice is Murder, Broadway and A Perfect Frenzy.

A very special thank you to Alice Gray of McAdoo, PA for donating the advertisement below. Originally printed in Philadelphia's Sunday Bulletin Magazine on June 28, 1946, the supplement featured some of the Playhouse's favorite stars to date and congratulated Playhouse producer Mike Ellis on the theatre's success.