The Paley Centre for Media on W52nd St is a wonderland archive of television and radio. Today I paid $10 to see the original 1953 "live" telecast of THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL starring Lillian Gish, Eva Marie Saint and Eileen Heckart. Most people will be familiar with the 1986 film for which Geraldine Page (pictured with Rebecca De Mornay) won the Oscar for Best Actress.
The teleplay by Horton Foote and directed by Vincent J. Donahue led to a stage version on Broadway later the same year with Gish and Saint repeating their roles. It is thought that Gish's brilliant performance led to her being cast in Charles Laughton's landmark film NIGHT OF THE HUNTER in 1955.
Eva Marie Saint was a veteran of the "Golden Age" of live television drama. Because there were only four tv stations in New York at the time, she would leave her West 9th St flat the morning after a broadcast to buy her groceries and everyone she ran into would say "Hey, Eva Marie! We saw you on tv last night!" It was a time when American tv viewers shared common values because everyone watched the same things every week.
It was a fascinating experience to sit in a comfortable modern cinema and be transported back in time, to be enthralled by the power and immediacy of the performances in spite of the technical limitations and the quaintness of the live commercials for the programme's sponsor Dunlop tyres. I'll be keeping my eye on future events at the Paley.
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