- The Little Foxes
, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes."
Plot synopsis
The focus is on Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens, who struggles for wealth and freedom within the confines of an early 20th century society where a father considered only sons as legal heirs. As a result, her avaricious brothers Benjamin and Oscar are independently wealthy, while she must rely upon her sickly husband Horace for financial support.
Having married his much-maligned, alcoholic wife Birdie solely to acquire her family's
plantation and its cotton fields, Oscar now wants to join forces with Benjamin to construct acotton mill . They approach their sister with their need for an additional $75,000 to invest in the project. Oscar initially proposes a marriage between his son Leo and Regina's daughter Alexandra - first cousins - as a means of getting Horace's money, but Horace and Alexandra are repulsed by the suggestion. When Regina asks Horace outright for the money, he refuses, so Leo is pressured into stealing Horace'srailroad bonds from the family business. In order to acquire a larger share in the mill from her brothers, Regina threatens to report the theft to the police. In retaliation, Horace says he will claim he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, thereby cutting Regina out of the deal completely. When he suffers a heart attack, she makes no effort to give him his medicine, and he dies without anyone knowing his plan, thus enabling Regina to blackmail her brothers. The price she ultimately pays for her innate evil is the loss of Alexandra's love and respect.Production notes
Lillian Hellman's characters were thinly-disguised versions of her
Demopolis, Alabama relatives; Regina was based on her grandmother Sophie and Birdie was inspired by her mother Julia.The playwright and star
Tallulah Bankhead were at odds during the first Broadway run of the play. Bankhead accused Hellman of being a Communist due to her support ofRussia againstFinland duringWinter War , and Hellman was dismayed by Bankhead's unprofessional tantrums. After closing night, they did not speak to each other for thirty years. In 1975, Hellman said of Bankhead, "She turned out at first as I've written many times: very, very, very good. And later on in the run of the play, not very good." In herautobiography , Bankhead wrote, "Great as is my admiration for Lillian Hellman as a playwright, I could never again rejoice in her company." [ [http://www.hellmanwyler.com/tallulah.htm "The Little Foxes" at HellmanWyler.com] ]Original Broadway production
The play premiered on February 15, 1939 at the National Theatre and ran for 410 performances. In addition to Bankhead as Regina Giddens, the opening night cast included
Carl Benton Reid as Oscar,Charles Dingle as Benjamin,Frank Conroy as Horace,Patricia Collinge as Birdie,Dan Duryea as Leo, and Florence Williams as Alexandra. The production was produced and directed by Herman Shumlin.Eugenia Rawls replaced Williams later in the run.Broadway revivals
Mike Nichols directed a production that opened on October 26, 1967 at theVivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center, then transferred to theEthel Barrymore Theatre . It ran a total of 100 performances. The cast includedAnne Bancroft as Regina,Richard A. Dysart as Horace.Margaret Leighton as Birdie,E.G. Marshall as Oscar,George C. Scott as Benjamin, andAustin Pendleton as Leo. Costume design was byPatricia Zipprodt . "Time" said, "An admirable revival of Lillian Hellman's 1939 play in Lincoln Center demonstrates how securely bricks of character can be sealed together with the mortar of plot. Anne Bancroft, George C. Scott, Richard Dysart and Margaret Leighton are expertly guided by Director Mike Nichols through gilt-edged performances." [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837499-2,00.html 1967 "Time" review] ]Austin Pendleton directed a production that ran at the Parker Playhouse in
Fort Lauderdale for three weeks and the Kennedy Center inWashington, D.C. for six weeks before opening on Broadway, after eight previews, on May 7, 1981 at the Martin Beck Theatre. It ran for 123 performances. The cast includedElizabeth Taylor as Regina,Tom Aldredge as Horace,Dennis Christopher as Leo,Maureen Stapleton as Birdie, andAnthony Zerbe as Benjamin. Costume design was byFlorence Klotz . In a pre-Broadway opening article in "Time",Gerald Clarke reported nearly $1 million worth of tickets had been sold during the week following the first "New York Times " ad announcing Taylor's appearance [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922525,00.html 1981 "Time" article] ] . She was nominated for both theTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play and theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. Tony nominations also went to Pendleton for Best Direction of a Play, Aldredge for Best Featured Actor in a Play, Stapleton for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and the play itself for Best Reproduction.A 1997 revival, again at the Vivian Beaumont, ran for 27 previews and 57 performances between April 3 and June 15. Directed by Jack O'Brien, the cast included
Stockard Channing as Regina,Kenneth Welsh as Horace,Brian Kerwin as Oscar,Brian Murray as Benjamin, andFrances Conroy as Birdie. Murray was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, and John Lee Beatty was nominated for theTony Award for Best Scenic Design .Adaptations
Lillian Hellman wrote the
screenplay for a 1941 film version starringBette Davis . In 1949, the play was adapted for an opera entitled "Regina" byMarc Blitzstein .In 1946, Hellman wrote "
Another Part of the Forest ", aprequel chronicling the roots of the Hubbard family.References
External links
* [http://www.hellmanwyler.com "The Little Foxes" and Demopolis, Alabama history]
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