HOLLYWOOD TELEVISION THEATRE: AWAKE AND SING! (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series, originating from KCET in Los Angeles. Lewis Freedman introduces "Awake and Sing!" by Clifford Odets, first produced in 1935 by the Group Theatre and shown on television for the first time in this production. This Depression-era play portrays a Jewish family in a Bronx tenement and their boarder Moe Axelrod, a cynical World War I veteran who lost a leg in the war. The play opens on the Bergers -- the strong-willed Bessie, whose thoughts are constantly on the advancement of her family in these straightened times, and her meek but optimistic husband Myron; their son Ralph who wants to "be something"; their daughter, the family beauty Henna; and grandfather Jacob, an intellectual with Marxist leanings who has been paralyzed by inaction for most of his life. While the family struggles to survive, Jacob exhorts them to "Awake and sing, ye who dwell in the dust," quoting a passage from the Bible in his attempts to move the family beyond their concerns with society's definition of "success." In Act I, Ralph confides to Jacob his attachment to a girl named Blanche, an orphan who is unlikely to win the approval of his mother. Henna reveals that she is pregnant and the man cannot be found; Bessie tries to find her a husband, eventually settling on recent Russian immigrant, Sam Feinschreiber. Axelrod, whose leering interest in Henna is evident and apparently rebuffed, takes the news in stride, although he admits he had hoped to marry her himself. Act II opens a year later. Uncle Morty, a businessman whose relative success places him above the rest of the family, visits. In a moment alone, Axelrod confronts Hanna about her marriage to Sam and recalls their own affair and what could have been. Ralph fears his girlfriend's relations will move her to Cleveland because he is unable to support her, but Jacob secretly hopes to provide Ralph with the means to make his own "revolution" by leaving him an income from his insurance. Henna's usually acquiescent husband Sam is upset by Henna telling him that the baby is not his, but Bessie and Myron placate him, convincing him that she was only kidding. Ralph, who was unaware of their initial deception of Sam, is angered when he realizes the truth. Bessie, in response, takes her anger out on Jacob, breaking his records and railing against him. Later that evening, Jacob falls from the roof and is killed. Act III opens a week later with the family in chaos after Jacob's death and Morty eager to settle the insurance. Axelrod tells Ralph that the insurance was left for him, but Ralph eventually decides to leave the money for his mother and make his way on his own, taking his grandfather's advice to "awake and sing." Axelrod asks Henna to come away with him and she agrees, also hoping to embrace her own future.
(This is a digitally remastered version of the original created by the Broadway Theatre Archive, an organization which collects and makes available Broadway plays adapted for television. This tape begins with a series of clips from other Broadway Theatre Archive releases, including the following: "Journey of the Fifth Horse" with Dustin Hoffman and Charlotte Rae; "Hogan's Goat" with Faye Dunaway and Robert Foxworth; "The Iceman Cometh" with Jason Robards, Myron McCormick, and Robert Redford; "Home" with Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson; "Paradise Lost" with Bernadette Peters and Cliff Gorman; "A Touch of the Poet" with Nancy Marchand and Roberta Maxwell; "Steambath" with Stephen Elliot, Bill Bixby, and Valerie Perrine; "Uncommon Women and Others" with Ellen Parker and Meryl Streep; "The Eccentricities of a Nightingale" with Blythe Danner and Frank Langella; "The Taming of the Shrew" with Marc Singer and Fredi Olster; "Tartuffe" With Tammy Grimes and Donald Moffat; "Alice in Wonderland" with Colleen Dewhurst, Kate Burton, Geoffrey Holder, Maureen Stapleton, Nathan Lane, and Richard Burton; "Hamlet" with Kevin Kline and Dana Ivey; "Fifth of July" with Jeff Daniels, Richard Thomas, and Swoosie Kurtz.)
The acquisition and cataloging of The Theater Collection was made possible by The Park Foundation, Inc., and the Verizon Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: March 6, 1972 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:44:56
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:71536
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Theater Collection, The
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1970-1978
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lewis Freedman … Executive Producer
- Norman Lloyd … Producer, Production (Misc.), Staged by, Director
- Robert Hopkins … Director
- Jan Scott … Art Director
- Clifford Odets … Writer
- Felicia Farr … Cast, Hennie
- Leo Fuchs … Cast, Jacob
- Robert Lipton … Cast, Ralph
- Walter Matthau … Cast, Moe Axelrod
- Ron Rifkin … Cast, Sam Feinschreiber
- Martin Ritt … Cast, Uncle Morty
- Milton Selzer … Cast, Myron
- Ruth Storey … Cast, Bessie
- John Myhers … Cast, Schlosser
- Bill Bixby
- Kate Burton
- Richard Burton
- Jeff Daniels
- Blythe Danner
- Colleen Dewhurst
- Faye Dunaway
- Stephen Elliot
- Robert Foxworth
- John Gielgud
- Cliff Gorman
- Tammy Grimes
- Dustin Hoffman
- Geoffrey Holder
- Swoosie Kurtz
- Frank Langella
- Nathan Lane
- Nancy Marchand
- Roberta Maxwell
- Myron McCormick
- Donald Moffat
- Fredi Olster
- Ellen Parker
- Valerie Perrine
- Bernadette Peters
- Charlotte Rae
- Robert Redford
- Ralph Richardson
- Jason Robards
- Marc Singer
- Maureen Stapleton
- Meryl Streep
- Richard Thomas