NET Playhouse; They
- Series
- NET Playhouse
- Episode Number
- 232
- Episode Number
- 184
- Episode
- They
- Producing Organization
- National Educational Television and Radio Center
- Contributing Organization
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/512-hq3rv0dx0z
- NOLA Code
- GLEV
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- Description
- Episode Description
- A Generation of Leaves ends on the frightening note struck by Marya Mannes in her novel, They. NET commissioned Ms Mannes and Charles LeMay to adapt They for television. It was produced in New York by Jack Kuney. They is set 20 years hence when a group of celebrated artists, over forty years old, have been exiled to live out their lives in isolation from They, the young who have taken over the world. Each artist expresses his own personal credo; each one laments what is lost to his particular art in todays rush to embrace the youth cult. As a time capsule for unknown future generations, the doomed artists leave a testament in which they reaffirm their belief in traditional standards of excellence and in the cherished values of civilization. Continued Description: This final episode in the "Generation of Leaves" series is an adaptation of Marya Mannes' novel, "They," published by Doubleday in October 1968. It is an original NET Playhouse production and features an impressive list of veteran performers, for each of whom a biographical sketch and pictures are forthcoming shortly. The story takes place in the year 1990 in and around a beachfront home in a deserted area somewhere on the Northeastern coast of the U.S. The inhabitants of this home are five people in their sixties who have been exiled from civilization because of their age. For the young are in control of the world, and most people over 40 are sent to special camps where they are expected to take their own lives when they become seriously ill or reach the age of 65, whichever occurs first. Yet these five have been treated somewhat differently. Because they were famous in the arts before the young took over they have been permitted to choose exile with each other rather than go to the camps. The same rules of self-extermination apply, and whoever disregards these rules is put to death anyway. The exiles manage to find some contentment in being able to live together, sharing as they do, a common outlook. But essentially they live in anguish, not only because of their isolation, but because of what has happened to their respective arts in the new world. As a representative from the year 1990 explains: "Individual and subjective criticism in all the arts has been supplanted by our infallible computer value scales." Art, in other words, has been totally depersonalized. Eventually, the time appears to have come for one of the exiles, Barney, to take his life or be taken from his friends and put to death. The others decide that instead of letting him be taken away, they will commit mass suicide, and after drugging themselves they are all killed when the house is set afire. But unknown to them, the government had been toppled some weeks before and the laws regarding age had been repealed. Cornelia Otis Skinner plays Kate, a novelist, who has kept a written record of the events at her place of exile; Gary Merrill portrays Barnoy, a painter; Maureen O'Sullivan is Annie, Barney's wife, and a former model; Jack Gilford plays Joey, a songwriter; and Joseph Wiseman is Lev, an erstwhile orchestra conductor. There is one other important part in this play, that of Michael, a young mute who comes upon the exiles under mysterious circumstances and lives with them until the suicide, finally setting fire to the house in accordance with their wishes. The play was taped on location at a house designed by architect Stanford White in Bridgehampton on the south shore of Long Island, N.Y. NET Playhouse #184 "They" is a National Educational Television production. NOTE: Maureen O'Sullivan has been forced to leave the cast of this production because of a back injury which became aggravated during rehearsals last week. Her role has been filled by veteran stage and television actress Carmen Mathews. Also, please note that the role of "Michael" in this play will be performed by a young actor named Robert McLane. This aired as NET Playhouse episode 184 as part 8 of the A Generation of Leaves sub-series on April 16, 1970 and as NET Playhouse episode 232 on March 25, 1971. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- This is an eight-part sub-series of plays titled A Generation of Leaves. It was announced by Jac Vanza, executive producer of NET Playhouse. The weekly series includes original commissions, presentations by such distinguished American authors as Marya Mannes and Thornton Wilder, productions from NET affiliate stations, and the pick of foreign television programs focusing on this theme. "There is a consistency of theme in these dramas from a wide variety of sources," says Venza. "The younger generation questions its inheritance, the older generation questions the values of the younger generation and herein lies the communications gap. Which is, by the way, nothing new." Its central theme is the seemingly world-wide breach between youth and elders. The title is derived from Homers Iliad, Book VI: "A generation of men is like a generation of leaves: the wind scatters some leaves upon the ground, while others the burgeoning wood brings forth and the season of spring comes on. So of men one generation ceases and another springs forth." A Generation of Leaves opens February 19th with America, Inc., an NET-commissioned work produced at WGBH-TV, Boston, with a highly experimental format; includes two one-act plays by Thornton Wilder, dramas from the Canadian Broadcasting corporation, the British Broadcasting Corporation, north German Television and WQED, Pittsburgh; and concludes in April with NETs production of They, a TV adaptation by Marya Mannes of her novel dramatizing a near future ruled by the young. Some of the plays in this series can be described as off-beat or experimental while other are conventional dramas. The sub-series aired under the NET Playhouse series as episode numbers 177-184. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Broadcast Date
- 1971-03-25
- Broadcast Date
- 1970-04-16
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Drama
- Topics
- Theater
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Actor: Wiseman, Joseph
Actor: Mathews, Carmen
Actor: Merrill, Gary
Actor: McLane, Robert
Actor: Skinner, Cornelia Otis
Actor: Gilford, Jack
Associate Producer: Bianchi, Lois
Executive Producer: Venza, Jac
Producer: Kuney, Jack, 1919-2007
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
Writer: LeMay, Charles
Writer: Mannes, Marya
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2325178-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Color: Color
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- Citations
- Chicago: “NET Playhouse; They,” 1971-03-25, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 30, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-hq3rv0dx0z.
- MLA: “NET Playhouse; They.” 1971-03-25. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. June 30, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-hq3rv0dx0z>.
- APA: NET Playhouse; They. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-hq3rv0dx0z